Marching bands passing up football

Something was missing from the biggest football game of the season for both Central Valley high schools this year.

It wasn’t tackles or touchdowns. It was the tubas and the trumpets.

Due to a busy competition schedule for the marching bands this fall, the spirit game between Central Valley and rival University – called the Greasy Pig – was without the band. Instead, a capacity crowd of 3,500 heard recorded music played over a loudspeaker.

“It wasn’t the same; we needed something there,” said Madison Frame, a University sophomore and band member. Even with the recorded music, “no one really got into it.”

The band puts energy on the field and into the game, Frame said. But marching band has become its own competitive sport, with little time left for cheering on the football team.

“Marching band has become a distinct art form. It’s moved beyond the let’s make a picture of the choo-choo train out there on the field with the pom-pom girls,” said Kevin Hartse, band director for Shadle Park High School. “I guess that’s just time marching on.”

Other schools in the Greater Spokane League, like Shadle Park, still have pep bands playing in the stands at most home games, but competitive marching has become one of the leading activities for high schools, with Mead and Central Valley schools among the top competitors.

As the football season comes to an end this week, University High band students will look back on a grueling season with more than 120 hours of practice.

“It’s changed so much,” said Keith Nielsen, who has been the University band director for 14 years. “This year, we literally went almost eight weeks where we had a game or competition every weekend.”

Practices were held two nights a week, and sometimes included marching more than a mile.

“We’ve got our own competition schedule to follow, and we work really hard,” said University band member Evan Drassen, 14. “I’d like to see the football players out there trying to do it.”

This year, the University High School band set a new standard for competition, making the final cut in all three of the out-of-town competitions the band attended.

Central Valley goes to four competitions each year and usually places somewhere at the top of the pack.

Because of the out-of-town competitions, the Central Valley band performed at only one football game last year. Tonight the band will make its third appearance this year at the final regular-season home game. .

“I know there is some concern about why we are not there (at the football games), but we’re driven by our festival dates,” said Mark Tietjen, Central Valley band director. “We love to be out there supporting the teams, but our hands are tied with the schedule.”

As with the athletes, the musicians are focused and determined to be No. 1 in their field.

“Those guys are concentrating so hard on the competitive aspect, the reason they go to the football games is to practice,” Hartse said.

He remembers a time when the football game was the place to be on a Friday night, with the band helping the crowd cheer on the team.

Now, the crowd will often get bigger when the band comes out.

“The football team runs off the field, and then the cheering starts,” Hartse said.

That proves band is not just for “band geeks” anymore, students said.

Drassen, who not only marches with the band but also plays freshman football, said his teammates are constantly asking him why he participates in band. The 14-year-old was so dedicated to the band he would skip dinner to go from football practice directly to band practice.

“Football is a big team sport, but I’d say band is even more so,” Drassen said. “Music is a lifelong sport.”