Photo credits to Jason Alexander

Fossil Ridge High School has always been known to have a splendid marching band program, and this year their performances did not fail to impress the school and others in Ft. Collins.

The marching band’s production this year, titled “The Pale Blue Dot,” challenges the audience to look outside of their lives and take a look at how the Earth is but a small part of a vast and mysterious universe.

From the start of the band season, every single one of the 202 band members invested countless hours of their lives to perfecting their part of the show. For a few weeks this summer, the band practiced 6 days a week for 7 hours a night, and got straight to business when the school year started. The start of the school year signaled it was time to get down and dirty and focused on the season ahead of them. They had practiced every day after school for hours on end in order to be at their prime when it came to performances.

Sydney Hansen, the Drum Major and voice for Juniors in the marching band, was proud of the band in the course of the season and believes that “the season was super successful overall.” The marching band is more than just a band to the members, it is also one big family.

“We may not have won state, but we do not base our success on that. We base it on the relationships we make with each other and how we can affect the audience with our performance, and I believe we were successful at doing so. I guarantee you that any band member would not be sad or disappointed about our performance at state or throughout the season, and that is how you know we were successful as a whole” said Hansen.

This family is just as passionate about what they do as every other club at Fossil Ridge. Hansen went on to say that “Every single person works so hard. It is difficult to explain. We spend more than 200 hours together. Everybody asks why do you do it. We do it because we love it and have a fiery passion for music. Sometimes we complain, but we all love what we do.” They are not just a family because of how much time they spend with each other, but because they all share the same passion.

From another perspective, Corinne Howlett is the senior drum major in the marching band. She is extremely proud of what the band has accomplished over the course of the season. “I think the season went very well. We all started our hard work back in August and kept at it all the way until state. It took a lot of time and effort, but personally I am very happy with how the season ended and the journey there was one of the most memorable parts of the season for us all.”

Howlett was especially ecstatic about the band itself. “One thing that makes marching band different from other activities is that there is no junior varsity or varsity that have different levels of skill. There are members of all high school classes that have to be at the same level as each other. I am so proud of all members and the hard work they put into learning their piece of the band.”

“Coming into this season, it certainly felt different than it did as a freshman. As a freshman, I was coming into a new activity where I did not know everyone and I was very shy. I was quickly welcomed into the family that is the marching band and soon felt like I definitely belonged somewhere” said Howlett. Going into this season, her feelings were juxtaposed greatly to those she had as a freshman. “This season I knew most people and I was completely out of my shell that I was in freshman year. I was super excited for another amazing season that would end my marching band career, and I would not have had it any other way than the way the season turned out.”

The band finished second overall at state, but each member worked harder than ever before and it showed at every single practice and competition. This season, the family that is the Fossil Ridge High School marching band showed the rest of the school that it is not just an activity, but an important part of more than 200 peoples’ lives.

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