This year, around 20 incoming freshmen joined Pali marching band and committed one semester worth of their Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to attend practices on the football field after school.

The band also welcomed a new director, Tyler Farrell, and two new drum majors, junior McCartney Hutchinson and senior Brian Jang. Members of the marching band had generally positive opinions about how Farrell, Hutchinson, Jang and the other student leaders ran the class and treated band members. These students say they are optimistic about how the group will progress for the rest of the year.

Hutchinson and Jang are two of three drum majors, working together with returning drum major and junior Ava Ruggiero. A senior in marching band, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the drum majors have very different styles, but the leaders work well together. He also noted that Farrell knows how to enforce rules and control the class well, and interjects fun and excitement into the curriculum. The senior said that he hopes that the rest of the year will continue to run smoothly and is excited for more chances to work with Farrell.

This senior’s hopeful view is shared by the new members of the band, who are mostly freshmen. Ezekiel Ito, who plays the alto saxophone, said that Farrell and the drum majors “all work really, really hard.”

The incoming members say they are looking forward to working for the rest of the semester, but some admit that a love of music was not the lure.

Some students, especially incoming freshmen, say that they joined marching band in order to bypass the Physical Education graduation requirement. One freshman pointed out that he doesn’t like to be forced to exercise in a certain way and prefers to have control over how he gets P.E. credits. Another band member said that because some students do not get the P.E. teacher or period of choice, marching band is a better option. It’s held after school, freeing up time to take another class in the block schedule.

Junior and tenor saxophonist Ashley Ramos said that she joined marching band by mistake. She accidentally signed up and attended the program but stayed when she discovered it was the right choice for her. She explained that she was enticed to stay because “[she] made friends, and at the same time, the music was wondrous.”

Freshman Bernard Kim, who plays the clarinet, said that he joined the band because it seemed like “the thing [he was] supposed to do after middle school band.” Freshmen, like Kim, mention that they were also looking forward to making new friends and improving musically via the mandatory summer band camp as well as future practices and performances.

The marching band has performed at Back to School Night, weekend competitions and at all home football games, and look forward to performing in their future shows.