MARCHING TO THE BEAT

Debbie Wortmann, a drum majorette, directed the band.

The Jackson Marching Band is made up of 155 students.

Joseph Myers played the saxophone during the band's performance.

High school sports teams aren't the only ones with rigorous training and practice schedules. Area marching bands spend plenty of time on the field practicing for their performances.

Band members always have to be on their toes -- almost literally -- during the football/marching season. Joining a marching band often is as much work as competing on a sports team.

"It's a commitment," said Ron Nall, one of three band directors at Central High School in Cape Girardeau. Band students are expected to attend three after-school practices each week and must be ready to play first thing in the morning, he said.

Neil Casey leads the marching band and Mark Ellison is the percussion instructor at Central High School.

School bands don't just march at home football games, they also compete in festivals and contests.

Marching band competitions are structured differently than a football game where two teams compete against one another. "It's more like a track or swim meet where there are a number of teams at once," Nall said.

The Cape Central Marching Tigers compete at band festivals across the state during their season. The band heads to Washington High School near St. Louis for a competition Saturday.

The 131 members of the Marching Tigers placed fifth in the final competition last weekend at Lafayette High School in Ballwin. They earned first place for their music and a third place overall in the "open division." The final competition is Nov. 2 at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis.

But there are some non-competitive festivals closer to home. About 20 area marching bands will parade down the streets of Jackson at the 52nd annual Jackson Band Festival. The parade begins at 1:30 p.m. and the festival at 6:30. During the event, area bands will pay tribute to Missouri's 175th anniversary and history.

A mass band practice begins at 2:30 p.m. at the high school. It gives students a chance to practice together before the event, said Nick Leist, band director at Jackson High School.

"It requires a good deal of planning," he said. But cooperation is the real key.

"I suspect that because it's not competitive that there is a camaraderie," he said. "The spirit of cooperation is unbelievable. We have band directors helping and kids helping other kids."

At competitions, much like football games, band members come with a fierce determination to win. "It's not that cutthroat atmosphere," Leist said of the band festival.

Many of the marching band members attending the festival made history when they played for the President of the United States. For most schools, it was their first performance since the visit came before they played at their first home football game.

About 500 area band members from Southeast Missouri played during a presidential campaign stop in Cape Girardeau in late August.

"I don't care what your politics are, it was a chance to play for the President," Nall said. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime deal."

And playing music is what being in the band is all about.

Bands don't get the same recognition as sports teams, so the Jackson Band Festival was started in 1944 as a non-competitive event to give students a chance to play music. Only seven bands performed the first year.

By 1960, the group had grown so large that it split into four divisions. Other band festivals are held at Poplar Bluff, Kennett and Perryville.

Much like the festival, area bands keep growing. The Advance Marching Hornets had about 100 members last year. There were only 150 students enrolled at the school.

Both Cape Central and the Jackson Marching Indians have more than 100 members in their bands. But size isn't everything.

"You need proficiency in marching and playing," Nall said. Some bands sound great but can't march. Others can march and perform well but don't have very many members, he said.

Marching and playing simultaneously is always a difficult task for students, Leist said. "It's always so cute because the younger ones will come up and say `Mr. Leist, do you want me to march or play? Because there's no way under the sun that I can do both at the same time."

Leist charts all the halftime drills and routines for the Jackson Marching Indians. The Central Marching Tigers hire a drill consultant to create their marching routines each season.

The school doesn't write its own music. It buys published music and "we don't expect to do our own drills," Nall said, adding: "We are teachers, that's our job."

The band spends a week before school learning the marching drill and another week learning the music before it puts the show together.

The band performs the same routine at each home game, which gives the parents and fans a chance to see the band improve, Nall said.

"We even have some roadies," he said. Often, younger band students or siblings of band members will help when the group travels to competitions.

But competitions aren't part of all bands. The Perryville Marching Buccaneers played at the halftime show during the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., earlier this year.

And the band members at Egyptian High School in Tamms are planning a trip to Walt Disney World for the Magic Music Days in June. The group will perform at a concert at one of the theme parks and stay at an All-Star Music Resort during the trip.