Imagine: a large fountain drink, a bottle of water, a can of Pringles, a bag of Twizzlers or some other candy, windows down, bare feet on the dashboard, and maybe an argument or two over the radio.
If that evokes memories of long road trips, then you’re in the right company with Marshfield High School Band Director Rick Castens and with his cohorts Aaron Tomczyk, Assistant Band Director, and John Bellich, Music teacher at Webster. The trio of band directors has spent the last several months planning and teaching what will soon become one of Marshfield's longest Marching Band productions to date.
“We do a marching band show every year, and this year we decided to choose a road trip theme that just happens to be on Route 66. The title of the show is called ‘Road Trip USA-A Tribute to Route 66’,” explained Castens. “We thought this would be the perfect year to do it: 100-year anniversary, it runs right through town, they just moved the gas station, and it’s kind of a cool thing.”
Most people know that the band performs on Friday nights during the football game.
“It’s such a joy to play for the community and the team and the school,” shared Castens.
But that’s only a taste of what the band does- because Marching Band season has its own set of competitions and responsibilities.
“In addition to football games, we go to competitions. We have 4 buses, three twenty-six-foot box trucks, and our flatbed with our gator on it. We have about 125 in the band right now…Last year we started a new pilot program where we bring 8th graders in to help us, so we will bring about 14-16 8th graders that are also in band to help move equipment…and we have a large parent crew, we couldn’t survive without our parent crew, we absolutley love them- they feed the band and help move equipment,” Castens explained while sharing about their competition season.
Band competition season runs concurrent with football season, starting with the Nixa Clinic the second week of September, where the band will play for different band directors and clinicians that are brought in from around the state and country to provide tips and feedback to improve their performance.
After that they band will travel to Hollister for the first competition of the season. The final competition will be held around the third week of October
So how does the Marshfield Band rank compared to other bands?
“We won awards at every single one of our festivals we went to (last year). The first festival was called Mount Vernon, and we were 3rd place band out of 28 bands that day. Then the next festival was Valhall, where we made finals and were 9th out of 38 bands that day. Then at Mountain Grove, we won the whole festival-we were the top band out of about 20 bands,” Castens shared proudly.
“Literally on these Marching Band festivals, anyone in the state can choose to come and participate,” Castens shared, while explaining that it doesn’t matter how big or small the schools are. “Some of these might be 1A, some might be 6A as far as football classification goes.”
The band itself is all student-led, according to Castens. “We teach the big picture during rehearsals, but when we perform, we (the directors) won’t start the band; we will have the kids start the band.”
“We are doing more than we have ever done before since I’ve been here. We have new software for the band…there are different sound effects-there will be a horn honking during the show, a time when we run out of gas-you’ll hear the engine die through the sound system and steam-the hissing sound,” Castens shared with excitement.
“Let me paint a picture for you-now it’s not just about the road; it’s more about the road trip that just happens to be on Route 66…all the students will be in ‘party mode’ where they are having fun and getting ready to go on this road trip and then run out of gas. Throughout the progression of Route 66 we will start marching and playing.”
Viewers can expect to hear songs such as: Rockin' Down the Highway, Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac, Running on Empty, On the Road Again, and Born to Run by Springsteen, combined with visuals and props like cars on the field, a 30-yard-wide map of Route 66, and five famous Route 66 landmarks including the Blue Whale of Catoosa and Cadillac Ranch.
It’s more of a theatrical production than your standard halftime show.
“We are going to tell a story,” shared Castens, who, along with Tomcyzk and Bellich, started planning this in December. “We started googling rock songs and road trip songs and landmarks and the road map…and asked what can we do here visually?” And while the band directors started planning months ago, the band members only just began learning the music and blocking at the end of July.
But this production isn’t one that you will get to see just by attending the first home football game.
The 7-and-a-half-minute Marching Band performance (roughly about 40 seconds longer than last year's show) will be performed in pieces at the home game, starting with part one and adding more at each game. The show will also be what the band performs at competitions.
“We are pushing them. It’s a longer show than we’ve ever done since I’ve been here; it’s more props than we’ve ever done, it’s more theatrics than we’ve ever done, it’s more technology than we’ve ever done…the kids are working really hard.”
“Every single day we get a little bit better at the show,” reflected Castens. “My goal for our marching band is to get better every single time we are on the field…my hope is tomorrow we are better than today…I am not an awards person-the awards are great, but if we do our jobs, the awards and accolades should take care of themselves.”
“I absolutely love doing what I do up here. The kids are the reason why I am here; they are awesome. Plus the community is amazing, and the support from the faculty, admin, and staff is just top-notch here…This is my passion-it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I was in high school, to teach music to kids. I am so proud of the hard work that the kids are putting into it.”
