Final march

On Saturday, November 12, 2022, the Waseca Marching Jays held their final performance of the year’s Indoor concert titled “Flip Flop.” The Indoor is a longstanding tradition to close the marching season in Waseca. Mary Williams, member of the Waseca Marching Classic board since 1988, said after the show, “My advertising pitch has always been ‘The best of family entertainment,’ and they’ve proven it again tonight.”

The Marching Jays Indoor performance begins with the brass fanfare. This year, the brass section kicked the night off with “The Sound of Silence” from Simon & Garfunkel and Disturbed. The brass players’ instruments were fitted with lights in red, blue, and purple that lit in response to the vibrations when they played, and the song was performed with the lights down to best show the effects as the marchers’ movements created various lighting displays. The fanfare was followed by the entrance of the full band in a high-energy performance of Bon Jovi’s “Bad Medicine,” as arranged by Tom Wallace.

This was followed by the indoor version of the Marching Jays’ 2022 field show, “A Fine Line.” The show was inspired by the works of Vincent Van Gogh and sought to translate the unique beauty of his paintings into music. Transferring the field show from a football field to the indoor floor requires change – some visual elements of the show needed to be altered or cut for safety and logistics purposes in the smaller space. What the Marching Jays seek to never leave behind, however, is their showmanship. The field show included solos by junior clarinet players Addie Bomsta and Isabelle Wilhelmi, senior accordion player Eddie Herman, and junior pianist Norah Schimming.

Following the field show, a slideshow of the Year in Review was presented. The Marching Jays had a very successful season, according to Director Devon Lawrence, with two grand champion, one first place and 5 second place titles as well as five additional caption awards. At the Minnesota State Championship, Youth in Music, the Waseca Marching Jays placed second in state. The Year in Review also showed time spent in practice, both serious and silly, making memories along with music.

“Top Velocity,” a group comprised of the top performing marchers in the band, was next to take the floor. They marched a fast-paced performance to the song “Upside Down and Inside Out” by OK Go. The routine included many challenging “sets,” or movements from place to place, requiring marchers to be both quick and precise. The floor lights were once again turned down low as the marchers wore illuminated gloves and made use of the rare opportunity to march with their hands free to add visual effects to their performance.

The traditional Children’s March was next. It began with a student-written skit following Marty McFly and Doc Brown on a wacky tour through time as they tried to find and meet the “musical geniuses” who wrote Marty’s new favorite song. They never found the artists they were looking for, but they did meet some interesting characters and make it “back to the future” before inviting the “future of the Marching Jays” to the floor to march through time together. This is something Director Lawrence knows is special to the kids and the community – many of his students talk about their own chances to join in on the children’s march. Following intermission, another set of future Marching Jays took the floor in the eighth-grade band feature, Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold.” The number allowed middle school musicians to take their first steps into adding visual performance to their music. Current Marching Jays members work with the eighth-graders as they prepare for their part in the Indoor performance, forging connections between future and current members and giving the next generation a taste of what they could soon be a part of.

“Girls – and Nathaniel – just want to have fun,” said master of ceremonies Karen Pfarr, announcing the start of the color guard feature. The guard performed to an arrangement of Cindi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” produced by guard instructor Alli Larkin. Soloists hammed it up, performing as a young girl pleading with her parents for the freedom to have fun before the call came to “speed things up” and “add some color,” prompting a costume change from black and white dresses to tank-tops and neon shorts for a high-energy finish. The woodwind section was featured next, performing “Live and Let Die” from the 1973 movie, arranged by Paul Murtha. The marchers dressed in their best spy clothes, featuring suits and sunglasses galore as they performed the classic piece, which Pfarr noted younger audiences may instead recognize from Shrek 3. The final section feature was for the percussionists – drumline and frontline. The drumline put on another light show as the combined section performed an arrangement by Marques Eckhoff which combined Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” and Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive.”

A second slideshow was played, giving tribute to the seniors, before the whole band graced the floor together for a finale performance of Green Day’s “Still Breathing,” arranged by Tom Wallace. The band dressed for grunge rock and roll and put their hearts and souls into their performance, ensuring a fun number for both band and audience.

The finale was followed by Director Lawrence’s acknowledgements, before the band came out for the final time of the season. They sang “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before grouping tightly together with their arms around each other for Michael Smith’s “Friends.” Both songs are sung and played throughout the season when band members come together as a team and as a family: This traditional closing of the Indoor is a highly emotional moment. Even as the first notes began, tears could be seen. According to tradition, each grade level left in turn during “Friends,” beginning with the freshmen, until the seniors had the floor alone. Despite their tears the 24 seniors let loose, trading musicality for unrestrained passion. In the final bars of the song, the senior class closed into a circle to be together in their final moments as a marching band.

“There’s been something extraordinary in the water here in Waseca,” said Janean Hall, longtime supporter of the Waseca Marching Jays through volunteer work and music education, referring to generations of excellence in the band program. Director Lawrence couldn’t help but agree. “It feels good,” he said about working with Waseca’s band. “It’s a lot of work, and it’s a lot of hours, but it’s the kids that make it worth it.” He also expressed his appreciation for the community. Lawrence is from Rosemount, which has a program well known for being large, well-funded, and highly successful, but said that the enthusiasm and participation from the community there can’t match up to Waseca.

The students are what the band is about, and who makes the band great is a chorus repeated again and again. Brittney Ross, senior clarinet player, talked about the feeling of performing and how special that can be. Her favorite thing about marching band, she said, is “when we finish a competition, and then go sit on a hill and watch other bands compete. I’ve had so many wonderful conversations and memories there.” Senior drum major Lindsey Kopetzki, previously a mellophone player, said that her favorite things are competing, especially at the Sioux Falls competition, and the Indoor. She talked about this year’s Sioux Falls performance, where the band had an especially successful day taking fifth in the field championships and Parade Grand Champion, plus the Sweepstakes Award and the award for Outstanding Drum Majors. “I was already crying, you know, before they even announced we’d won Best Drum Majors,” Kopetzki continued. “As we were leaving the field after awards, Director Lawrence says to me that he’s got more news–I won a scholarship from the Youth in Music competition. Only eight people got that scholarship.” She doesn’t know yet where she wants to go to college, but she’s considering a pre-law program. “Music will always be a part of my college career; wherever I go I’ll want to be in the band.”

On the flipside, Kopetzki’s younger brother Allen is a freshman trumpet player in his first year. He said that, with his sister as drum major, he felt obligated to join the band. “It’s a lot to take in,” he said about his first experiences, “but the first week of new marchers’ training I wanted to quit. Then we got to band camp, and it was still a lot to take in, but around the second week I found myself thinking, ‘Hey, this is actually fun.’ Then comes Indoor, and I see everyone and I’m thinking, ‘These people are slightly insane.’ Now, I know why everyone was so crazy about it. It was really fun.” Allen said he’s glad he stuck with it through his initial desire to quit – an impulse shared by many first-year marchers over the generations – and that he’ll definitely be in band throughout his high school career.