Last year, in their first full year leading the band program together, band directors Ryan Middleton and Brian Zeglis established themselves, and they continue to carry the same momentum into this year. New traditions have already become standards for upcoming generations, the players have improved tremendously and the crowds have been cheering louder than ever. Now that the marching season is nearing its end, WSS compares and contrasts the 23-24 season to the 24-25 season.
Last year, new ideas and techniques were implemented during Zeglis’s first year at West. He originally taught at Davenport Central High School, where the band program focused on competitive marching. By incorporating these more challenging styles into his teaching, he can help the band improve exponentially.
“Coming from a competitive marching band program into this one, there’s just certain ways of doing things,” Zeglis said. He can use his experience to bounce ideas off of Middleton and trial-run any changes to see if they work or not.
New changes last year included the “W” form during pre-game and new sets. This year, these new fundamentals have now become a tradition.
“I don’t feel like we’ve changed a lot since last year. A lot of things that we tried have stuck, and I just think we’re doing them at a higher level and achieving them better. The students are more used to it, and [things are] going better, smoother, and quicker than they did in the past,” Zeglis said.
As the jump from middle school to high school can be jarring for some, there are things that many students need to give themselves stability in this change. For some, it may be sticking with the same extracurricular, feeling secure that the high school version will be just as fun and interesting as it was in middle school.
Having a presence in the middle school bands is extremely crucial for the band directors. They’re making sure that the students feel comfortable within the band space, and create a bridge between the two schools.
“I went on Mondays and helped with percussionists, and then their seventh- and eighth-grade bands, and Mr. Middleton went on Tuesdays and worked with their clarinets and their seventh- and eighth-grade bands, just to make sure we have a presence and hopefully create a bridge. They have incredible numbers there, and we want to support that however we can,” Zeglis said.
Last year, most of the band performances were limited to inside West High. This year, for the first time, the Trojan Marching Band will be participating in the Corridor Marching Classic at Liberty High School. “[We’ve] been invited in the past, but West has chosen not to attend. This year, we decided that we were going,” Zeglis said.
The theme for this year’s show is “The music of Michael Jackson,” chosen in the spring after the success of last year’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” dance sequence.
“I was very pleasantly surprised how everyone enjoyed the dance portion of ‘Bye, Bye, Bye’ last year, even the people that initially were like ‘blah.’ It seemed like the band had a lot of fun with that. So the Michael Jackson show kind of started with ‘If the kids really enjoyed that, let’s do ‘Thriller’ next year,’ and we can do the dance portion of that,” Zeglis said.
“Thriller” was the obvious choice for the show’s closing song, but the other two songs were a little bit trickier.
“In terms of just planning a show, we want to find things that are at different tempos, things that are in different keys, different styles, just to create some variety. We don’t want to do three tunes that are all 120 beats per minute in the key of F,” Middleton said. The other songs they ended up choosing were “Ease on Down the Road” from “The Wiz” and “Love Never Felt So Good,” a song from Jackson’s vault that wasn’t released until after his death.
This variety is more entertaining for the listeners, but it also provides more opportunities for education. Zeglis said, “The first piece is very syncopated. There’s lots of challenging rhythms, and then [in] the second piece, there’s a lot more choral things. Each piece kind of has a different thing for us to educationally push us into the Concert Band season.”
As the marching season comes to a close, make sure to see the Trojan Marching Band at their upcoming performances.
“[I’m] just really excited to get to perform and have more of an audience and more appreciation for [the band], and the work they’re putting in and what they’re achieving,” Zeglis said.
