The Fallston High School marching band traveled to three different parades over this past weekend, traveling to Aberdeen, White Marsh, and of course the Bel Air parade. Being paid for performing at the parades, Fallston raised over $1,400 for the music department.
Saturday started bright and early. Fallston students showed up to school around 7 a.m., getting ready for the White Marsh parade. Suiting up for the cold with their marching uniforms and of course their orange Santa hats, Fallston was ready for their first parade.
Fallston memorized “Joy to the World” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” both arranged by Allen Gray. Consisting of over 50 performers, they were easily heard throughout the entire parade.
After the White Marsh parade, Fallston marchers had a lunch break before going to Aberdeen’s parade at 1:30.
The Aberdeen parade was the longest route, which might seem tiring, but not for Fallston as they were marching right behind the Indian Lake Church Camp float which had bubbles going the entire parade. Even if the band was being showered with bubbles, they never once messed up the songs and marched on.
“The bubbles were so annoying, they kept landing on my face, and I kept trying to play,” said sophomore flutist Sara Frist. The bubbles were “stressful in a fun way,” said junior trumpet Zack Patton.
Coming back to Fallston around 5:30, Fallston took a well-deserved break, resting for the Bel Air parade the next day.
Being the closest parade to Fallston, the amount of people the band knew was through the roof, and thankfully, all the nerves were out as they marched their third and final parade for the winter season.
Following the band was a Fallston Charlie Brown float with Gar-ly Brown hyping up the crowd as the band passed.
Looking back at the performances, band director Ariel Breidenbaugh said, “I knew it would be a good weekend when at White Marsh I couldn’t be with the band at the front and the drum majors ran it without any problems.”
While for some this was their first parade, “it was the best part of [the] band year so far,” expressed freshman flutiest Annie Letke. For others, it was their last – “to march alongside tons of appreciating people there to see us is the highlight of my year,” said senior alto saxophone Jonas Mendoza.
“It was a lot of fun seeing all the different bands come together from different high schools and play music together,” said Sara Frist.
Constantly being complimented on their overall enthusiasm, the hours waiting for the parades to start went by in a flash. “Even when we weren’t marching it was still fun interacting with all the other bands,” said Zack Patton. “The overall social experience was a lot of fun.”
“The energy the band had hanging out over the weekend was sick, and I hope that pushes us to a successful winter concert,” says Ms. Breidenbaugh.
If you didn’t see the classic orange uniforms this weekend, make sure to mark your calendars for their winter concert on December 21!
