Many students enjoy going to the home football games and watching The Marching Mustangs’ halftime performance, but not as many have witnessed the success The Marching Mustangs achieve at competitions.

This year was another highly successful competition season for The Marching Mustangs, who often placed first in their division. At the Sandwich Marching Contest on October 18, The Marching Mustangs won the title of Grand Champion out of 19 bands. They also received various awards such as Best Percussion, Best Drum Majors and Best Flags. In addition, at the competitive Chicagoland Marching Band Championships at Wheeling on September 19, The Marching Mustangs took third place in class AA, along with Best Flags and tied for Best Music.

Drum Major senior Charlotte Mueller credits her fellow Marching Mustangs as to why they had such a successful season.
“Our success was only due to everyone’s willing contribution to the cause,” Mueller said. “It’s always so inspiring to see people fall in love with something I am passionate for, as well as watching everyone improve throughout the season.”

The Marching Mustangs are the combination of the two Instrumental Ensemble classes (percussion), the Concert and Symphonic Band winds classes and the color guard. Together, they perform at the home football games and travel to other schools to compete.
This year’s patriotic-themed show, “Revolution and Triumph” was the first time a production was narrated. In order to propel the story that the music, drill and flag routines were trying to tell, the show was narrated using the “Declaration of Independence” and the “Constitution of the United States of America.”

“Our main goal is to make [sure] every time we take the field, that we put on the best performance of the season up to that date,” Marching Mustangs sponsor Chris Buti said. “The students definitely met and even exceeded that goal.”

Competition preparation began during the summer at band camp. This is when The Marching Mustangs get to know each other and begin working on the music. Once the music has been memorized, section leaders often prepare for competitions by reviewing previous performances and seeing if there is anything their section could work on during rehearsal. The section leader is in charge of enabling their section to be the best they can be and serve as a resource for them.

This year, junior Robert Heck made the transition to a leadership role as front ensemble section leader.
“This year’s show was a much different experience for me,” Heck said. “It was an adjustment to go from taking orders to giving them, and it was much different having to analyze how my section could improve.”

The Marching Mustangs are graduating 18 seniors, including Mueller, who has invested a lot of time into Marching Mustangs over the last four years.

“I will miss music, my directors and oddly enough, I will miss the work,” Mueller said. “It’s through the work that I was able to bond and make new friends in the group.”

In the future, The Marching Mustangs are hoping to improve for next year’s season, and take even more titles.