Behind the Beat: Southeast students learn lifelong skills from time in marching band

December 19, 2024

Lincoln Public Schools understands the importance of quality journalism to help inform our community and shine a light on the people, programs and events that make our school district unique. Student News Desk is our ongoing effort to promote excellence in journalism and public education. We select a story written by student journalists from our high school publications classes to be featured on the Lincoln Public Schools homepage and social media each month. Congratulations to Mollie Moses of Southeast High School for being selected for December!

Written by Mollie Moses, Southeast High School

TOUCHDOWN! The crowd screams delight and, in the background, a symphony of instruments cheers along with them. That sound comes from the LSE Marching Knights. But…what do they do outside of games? A majority of students recognize them during the games for their aid in cheers and halftime shows, but what else do they do?

The Marching Knights go through a competition season just like basketball, softball, football, etc. Since Marching Band is recognized by the Nebraska School Activities Association as an official activity, they go throughout the state and compete with many other schools.

During the regular season, the Marching Knights perform at four competitions. Assistant Band Director Alex Hoffman said that their first competition of the year, the Wildcat Classic Invitational, was a strong start to the season.

“I was really happy with their performance at the Wildcat Classic,” Hoffman said. “It was a tough day to compete between it being a sunny 90 degrees out and the fact that it was the first competition performance of the season. We got some really good feedback from the judges there which is going to be helpful as we move forward in the season.”

The LSE Marching Band has a long tradition of excellence and trombone section leader, Robert Murrieta (12), sees it as one large community focused on improving themselves in various ways.

“It’s a good time. You develop skills; leadership skills, friendship skills. You talk with other members; younger members, older members, it doesn’t matter. We develop a sense of community.”

Community building begins before the school year with Band Camp, which is the first two weeks before school starts. During camp, the band is pulled together and all the new members learn to be part of a team.

“We come back together and start basically from ground zero,” Murrieta said. “We learn how to march. Then once we get that, we learn how to play and march at the same time. That’s fun. Then we start putting the show on the field … it’s a long process, but that’s how we get our success.”

Hoffman values how camp grounds the band and sets the tone for the rest of the season.

“Camps are a great way to transition from the summer into the school year,” Hoffman said. “It tends to be a pretty hot and grueling two weeks, but the progress the students make by the time school starts up makes it all worth it.”

Freshmen are important because they keep the band populated and going. Each year seniors will graduate and new students are needed to fill in their shoes.

“As a staff, we try to make an effort to get 8th graders interested in high school band with school visits and mini-concerts, hosting an 8th grade night where middle schoolers from around the district join us on the field and in the stands at a football game, and a winter concert at Pound Middle School,” Hoffman said. “We want prospective members to not only see what marching band is like, but to also meet current students at LSE and have a chance to ask questions and talk with them.”

For many, marching band becomes more than just a group of students performing on a field. It becomes a tight-knit family and a support-system.

“It’s been a really important part of my life,” Hoffman said. “It always makes me happy to see how much fun everyone has with their friends.”

For Murrieta, not only is it a fun activity, but he has also enjoyed the mentorship from upperclassmen.

“It’s been lots of fun learning from older members and then passing that down to newer members,” Murrieta said.

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