Gautier High Band prepares for season

As high school football season inches closer, local high school bands are beginning preparations for their season. The Gautier High Band is in the middle of their band camp as they get ready for the start of football season.

A heat index of 99 isn’t ideal, but it’s not stopping the Gautier High School band. Band Director Brandon Wilson said, “We have to condition. We started in June with various conditioning things just to get used to the heat and just to get used to the amount of physical exertion that’s necessary.”

The start of the school year comes with football and the start of football comes with band. Color guard member Kathryn McArthur said, “We have a completely new show every single year to learn and it takes every single second to learn it and perfect it until the end of our season.”

And perfecting that show doesn’t come after one practice, which is why the Gautier band has already begun their practice for the new school year. “We start off and on in the month of June doing various activities and then once the second week of July hits, after the Fourth of July, we really crank up. We start with leaders and rookies that first week. This week we start with full band camp and we’ll continue on through next week.”

While it may seem uncommon that bands have already begun preparing for the season, senior trombone player Michael McCusker says there are misconceptions people have about band members. “A lot of people just think we’re getting on the field playing music while standing still, but there’s so much more to it than that. We’re doing choreography and we’re doing body. We’re doing so much physical stuff that we’re emotionally and physically tired with everyone.”

The band will make their debut this season on August 23^rd when the Gautier football team takes on Vancleave High School.