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Marching Wolves Make First Appearance on National Stage

Hundreds of hours of practice pays off for Wesleyan's 52-member band.

It was July 25 of this year when 52 student rookie and veteran musicians gathered on the campus to begin putting together the 2011 Wesleyan Marching Band halftime show. 

On Nov. 5, they will gather on the campus of UT-Chattanooga for the Southern States Championships.  This is a “by invitation only” national competition event sponsored by the United States Scholastic Band Association, and the first time Wesleyan has appeared on a national stage.

Assembling a terrific team of experts to assist him, the Director of Marching Band, Jeff Foster, has led the 2011 Marching Wolves through hundreds of hours of very intense practices, perfecting new techniques, increased movements, and reaching a new level in musicality and technicality. 

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The result is nine minutes of “Dessert Dances” featuring Jai (Jay-Ho) and Latika’s Theme from Slumdog Millionaire and the Danse Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah.  The program includes beautiful desert dancing girls with swirling flags, heart pounding percussion, and exotic melodies from a perfectly executed band moving in a wavy snakelike formation. 

These 52 individuals have become one unit that not only moves together, but also appears to breathe together. Their synchronization and precision has impressed not only the attendees at the football games, but at competitions as well.

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Having already participated in two local competitions involving 27 bands ranging from 20 – 200 members, the Marching Wolves have brought home 12 First Place trophies, including three “Best of Show.”  The categories judged are Overall Band, Percussion, Color Guard, and Drum Major. 

A team of competition judges ranks the bands on visual, musical, technical proficiency, and overall effect.  The Wesleyan Marching Wolves have been gaining a lot of attention in the marching band community this year.

When you have a High School enrollment of 450, and compete with an extensive list of extracurricular activities, it is very challenging to build a Marching Band program.  Foster has seen the program consistently grow from a handful to their largest group this year.   

“The Marching Wolves are establishing a tradition of excellence that I believe people want to be a part of!," said Foster. Their talent and love of what they are doing is very apparent, and the band director's infectious enthusiasm has permeated the group.

Bringing national attention to the Wesleyan Marching Band program will no doubt lead to new opportunities and even higher goals of excellence in the coming years. A famous quote by comedic actor Steve Martin, sums it up, "Be so good at what you do that people can't ignore you."

Wesleyan's marching band will be hard to ignore this year as it steps out onto the national stage.

Editor's note: Jennie Mitchell is a proud Wesleyan band parent. She has a daughter Caroline who is in 9th grade and is a member of the Color Guard.

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