By TATYANNA CABRAL
Music brings joy and happiness to many people. It can soothe the mind, or just make people want to dance. This year, the goals of Malden High School’s marching band are to bring up the school spirit, shower and represent the city with amazing performances.
Marching band director, Matthew Tavares, is starting his seventh year directing the MHS marching band. This year he believes that the band will go out with a bang. He loves working with the young musicians. He said “there is no one better in this entire world than the MHS band students.” Tavares is impressed with how hard they work, and how much effort is put into their work. He knows that these students are very passionate about music. He considers them the “finest people you will ever meet.”
Once the finished set is completed and handed out to the students, it takes them months of practice to get every step right. They practice on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. In total, from when the material is written to when the performance is well done, they have worked over 2,000 hours. Having this much time spent on practicing on the same material and knowing what they are best at, Tavares believes that the MHS band is best at playing “different, weird, and quirky” songs. He said that once they know their personality, they will understand what they play best. This year’s music production is called “Out of Darkness.” The show includes the Muse, Pink, the Fray, and Florence and the Machine.
Most band members have been together since fourth grade, but there has been no drum major for the past year. Because of this, it was “difficult for everyone to remain as one unified unit on and off the field,” senior Winnie Chen said. The band contains more than 60 students, which makes unifying the band even harder. Chen expressed, “although it may be hard work, it is worth it in the end when everything turns out well.” Freshman Emily Zou said “every time [she hears] a good outcome at the end of practice, [she gets] that our-work-has-paid-off feeling.”
In the competitions they have attended, they have done extraordinarily well. They have won the Visual Effect caption in both shows that they were in this current school year. The Color Guard had also successfully won an award. In one show, they won best Visual Performance. Tavares said “every year is challenging, because every year has its own unique set of challenges and skill sets.” He is aiming towards satisfying them emotionally rather than score wise. Once they know they can accomplish one thing, they can move on from there.
Tavares feel that “music said what you will never say out loud, there is no better way to express yourself”, and that is what makes music so deep and interesting. That is what the MHS band does at the football games. They get people’s hearts racing and its booming brings music all around the city. They bring out people’s spirits, and act as one big voice, as if it is saying that they are one, they are whole, they are Malden.
