(This is an archive story, please refer to the byline for journalist's name)
By Miguel Sesmas
When it comes to lifting spirits at school events, no one does it better than Brewer’s performing art teams. Many people have their opinions as to whether or not band and drill team are considered sports
Although these two extracurricular activities have artistic elements, they also have many athletic and physical elements that many people disregard. They are required to put in many strenuous hours of practice on a daily basis to perfect routines and perform their best at events such as football games and competitions.
Starting off with Band. The time and commitment, much like any other sport, can get difficult to balance - especially on top of school or other extracurricular activities. Band members spend many long, hard hours perfecting every note, step, and movement. Sometimes they practice at least 8 or more hours a day - drum majors have to stay even longer since they lead the band during practices and performance.
On top of long practice hours, band has to devote a great amount of time for performances as well. They have to give themselves time to load all of their instruments and equipment, perform, and stay long after the game or competition to re-load, which can be tiring after a while.
Band requires you to have physical strength. They undergo aerobic and cardio workouts during performances and rehearsals, as well as muscular development from carrying the instrument and using the correct marching style.Those instruments may not seem heavy, but having to hold it up and keep it steady in a certain position while walking around can get exhausting pretty quickly. On top of that, posture can affect the sound of the instrument, so it is essential to have the physical strength in order to do so.
Competitions, just like in any other sport, are an important part of band. Band competitions take place rain or shine, and no matter what the weather may be, you gotta follow through with every step.
Now let's move on to Drill team. The drill team members (Honeycombs) have to wake up at seven am each day to attend practice and perfect their performances. Each practice consists of deep stretching, talking about the plans for the day and learning or cleaning their routines.
Depending on the year, drill team can have four competitions where they have to learn five separate routines on top of the routines for football season! Three out of five competition routines are with the full team while the remaining two you would have to audition for. These five routines vary from very smooth and flowy choreography--known as contemporary to sharp and precise choreography-- known as military. All of these routines require a high level of coordination and teamwork. On top of all that, they are expected to learn all of these by February.
These two extra curricular activities are one of the hardest organizations within our school. With blood, sweat, and even tears going into each performance, it’s difficult to even consider them anything other than a sport.