Life of a Student: Band doesn’t get enough recognition

Mackenzie Mueller, Staff Reporter

  Band. We’re there at every home football and basketball game. Apart from the players, we are first to arrive and last to leave. Band. We have more awards, plaques, and trophies than the WHS varsity, jv, and freshman football teams combined. Band. We put in hours of hard work to go to competitions that 90 percent of the school don’t even know exist.

   Now, let’s look at it from the point of view of a student who has never stepped foot in the band room. As far as they know, band is some people dressed in purple uniforms with shiny instruments who play the star-spangled banner at football games and sometimes assemblies. But that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what we do. We are so important to this school, it’s teams, and it’s spirit.

   Think about how bland football and basketball games would be without our music. Think about how lame sports teams sendoffs to state would be without the drumline marching them out. Think about how assemblies wouldn’t be peppy without the pep band.

   We don’t get enough recognition for what we do. Last year’s yearbook gave us a quarter of a page, a miniscule picture and three sentences. If anyone actually bothered to find that page, they wouldn’t know any more about band than before they had read it. Everyone takes the band for granted, and we have lived with it for long enough.

   So the next time you consider going to a basketball game, don’t do it just for the team, but also for the band. The next time you hear an announcement about how we did at one of our competitions, ask us about it. The next time the drumline marches a group off to state, thank them for doing it.

   Wenatchee High School, please recognize your band. Because without us, how would anyone recognize you?