If images of lush trees and flowers come to mind as the Wetumpka High School Pride of the Tribe Marching Band opens its halftime show this year, then it’s a goal accomplished for the band..
Starting with Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World,” it should get the crowd into the mood of this year’s performance. Band director Jason Warnix said the fanfare of an Armstrong favorite is one of several songs to take the crowd through the “Elements.”
“We started with a show called ‘Elemental’ until the Disney movie ‘Elemental’ came out,” Warnix said. “I’m looking at renaming it right now. All of the music has to do with a different element. It is the idea of a different element. You have the four elements earth, fire, water and sky.”
PHOTOS: Wetumpka High Pride of the Tribe Band prepares for halftime show
Following Armstrong will be “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra, “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys, “Country Roads” by John Denver and finally “November Rain” by Guns and Roses.
The music is customized for the Pride of the Tribe.
“We have an arranger who does all of our brass and woodwind parts,” Warnix said. “I write all the percussion and the drill.”
Last year, band students helped in the halftime show selection process. This year’s show was handpicked by Warnix. He said the music is new to many students but even some of the old songs, the students know including “November Rain.”
“It is not necessarily mainstream,” Warnix said. “It is an epic rock ballad but they just were not familiar with it like the other songs. ‘Mr. Blue Sky,’ they are very familiar with. It was featured in a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy' movie.”
Warnix said the students didn’t know the Louis Armstrong selection but were familiar with the Keys and Denver tracks. But there is balance in selecting music for the show.
“We need to come up with a variety that will appeal to the kids but also entertain the crowd,” Warnix said. “You have such variety in your football crowd, you have to reach as many as you can.”
Warnix said the band started preparing four weeks before school started, at first learning the music then adding in the drill to create the moving show on the field. Band camp started July 10 with fours of music rehearsal the first week, six hours of rehearsal the second week and eight hours the third week.
“Band camp is all about preparing the halftime show,” Warnix said. “There is just not enough time when the school year starts to do that. That is why we do band camp.”
Some bands are just the marching variety. Shows by others are almost theatrical productions. Warnix said the Pride of the Tribe isn’t theatrical in its production but has evolved from a completely traditional show in the last few years. The band has started to involve frames with visual graphics to supplement the ideas of the show. The screens also provide a place to hide equipment only used in part of the show by the color guard and majorettes.
Warnix said he doesn’t foresee the band getting too much further in large productions beyond students playing music and marching.
“We are not into putting Eiffel Towers and TV screens on the field,” Warnix said. “Our philosophy here is we are focused more on the music and marching than props.”
