KEARNEY — The Kearney Bearcat Marching Band is preparing to enter “The Arena,” during this year’s marching band season.
The members of the marching band were found where they are most mornings in the fall, on the practice field prior to sunrise. On Monday, Aug. 28, the members were learning their drill coordinates on the Kearney High School (KHS) field.
Band Director Nathan LeFeber was up in the press box directing the students to different places during the second movement. Director Rick Mitchell was on the field helping with the drill.
Mitchell said the band is made up of 175 members, which is slightly down from most years, but it was noted there were 54 seniors who graduated.
The band was working on setting the drill for the second movement of the show Monday morning, Mitchell said. The students learned their coordinates for the first movement earlier during band camp.
Mitchell said a band camp session had been held at the end of June that combined leadership training and learning the fundamentals of marching band. During the first week of August the band came back together to learn the music and the drill.
When asked what stood out about the group of students this year, Mitchell noted that the incoming freshman had an unconventional start to band during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mitchell said the band features a great group of students, 36 of which are a part of the leadership team who undertook the training during the summer. He said their strength is that the band is a student-run organization.
The Kearny marching band is performing “The Arena,” composed by Rob Stein, with percussion by Trent Gronewold and Eric Shriver.
“This show is based on this historic speech by Theodore Roosevelt and explores the challenges that one encounters while on the way to achieving a goal – while in The Arena,” according to the Standing O Marching website.
Roosevelt delivered the speech entitled “Citizenship in a Republic” at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910. The speech is popularly known as “The Man in the Arena.”
“The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming,” the speech reads in part.
Mitchell said the show has four movements and they plan to incorporate some of Roosevelt’s quotes throughout the show.
Movement one is titled, “Entering the Arena,” which Mitchell said has a “majestic theme.” The show notes state that a snare drum and French horn will herald the start of the show. A unison woodwind feature will lead into the next movement.
“Dust, Sweat and Blood,” is the title of the second movement which Mitchell described as, “intense.” The show notes state that the low brass immediately impact the tone in this section.
The third movement, “Coming Up Short,” is softer and more flowing. This movement takes on a more mournful tone that will invoke a feeling of being at one’s lowest point, according to the show notes.
“Finding Success,” is the final movement and features fanfare-like music that will build to a powerful ending.
Mitchell said they plan to use the words: Perseverance, Courage, Hope and Overcome on banners on the field to coincide with the appropriate movement to help set the mood.
The Kearney marching band will be taking part in five different competitions this fall season.
The first event will be Saturday, Sept. 23, with the UNK Band Parade and the Bearcat Marching Festival, hosted at KHS.
The next weekend the band will travel on Saturday, Sept. 30 to take part in the Columbus Marching Band Festival.
As the calendar flips over to October, Kearney will head down the road to Grand Island to take part in the Harvest of Harmony parade and field competition on Saturday, Oct. 7.
The penultimate competition Kearney will take part in is the Omaha Marching Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 14.
“Hosted by the marching bands of the Omaha Public Schools, this invitational is sanctioned by the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association and follows a prelim/finals format,” according to the Midwest Marching website.
“All bands will advance to the Finals Competition. There will be a critique session with the judges for the participating directors and staff in between Prelims and Finals Competition. During finals, there will be caption awards for best music, visual, effect, guard, and percussion along with trophies for the top three scoring bands,” per the Midwest Marching website.
The final competition of the season will be the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association State Marching Contest, on Saturday, Oct. 21. The west festival site will be hosted at KHS.
Kearney was able to earn a division one, superior, rating during last year’s state contest.
“Bands compete in an open class event although individual class champions are announced and presented with an award. All participating bands receive a placement award and caption awards are presented for Best Percussion, Best Auxiliary, Best Music, Best Visual and Best Effect,” according to the NSBA website.
In addition to the competitions, the Kearney marching band will be performing pre-game festivities prior to Friday night football games and their show at halftime.
Mitchell said the band was all set to take the field on Friday, Aug. 25, when they had to be called off due to lightning in the area.
As the band takes the field this fall, they can remember Roosevelt words, “Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”