BMB indoors?

By Kaelyn Christian
Western Herald

Sunday, Nov. 15 at 3 p.m. in Miller Auditorium, the Bronco Marching Band will perform their annual Season In Review concert, where they will be performing music from throughout their season.

“We play every single song that we played at the games, the drum line does their cadence, and we do stand cheers. It’s basically a mock football game,” said Kelsey Arnson, a fourth-year member of the BMB color guard.

Shows performed by the Bronco Marching Band range from their Jazz show, featuring the music of Harry Connick and “When a Man Loves a Woman,” to their Michael Jackson show, which features a Jackson 5 medley and “Thriller,” among others.

“My favorite song to perform, well, ‘Amazing Grace’ will make me tear up. The Senior Guard girls will do that and I know it will make me cry,” Arnson said.

“‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ is one, because the band sounds sexy, ‘and Jai Ho,’ they rock it, it’s so good.”

“’Jai Ho,’ by the Pussycat Dolls, is my absolute favorite of the entire season. It’s a very neat arrangement that Mr. Montgomery chose for us. The song is from ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ and there’s a lot of choreography to enhance the experience. It’s very rhythmically challenging,” said Mark DeDeckere, also a fourth-year member of BMB and a second-year Drum Major.

In addition to the band playing each and every song they’ve performed this season, each individual section will perform a song of their own.

“The trombones will play ‘Low Rider,’ and their section leaders conduct that,” Dedeckere said.

According to Arnson, the atmosphere at the concert will be more like a football game than a traditional concert, and part of what makes the Season In Review so much fun, this year at least, is the band’s size.

“We’ve got right around 300 members this year. The drum line was kind of cut down, but they sound a lot cleaner than they ever have before,” Arnson said.

“This is my fourth year, and this is the biggest the band has ever been. This has been one of my most memorable seasons ever,” DeDeckere said.

The size of the BMB may seem intimidating, but Arnson and DeDeckere feel at home among the several hundred students that make up WMU’s marching band.

“It’s like having a 300 person family, everyone’s really close.” Arnson said.

“I spend a lot of time with people from BMB, even outside of band. I even live with someone from color guard.”

Bronco Marching Band is as much a part of the football season experience as the football team, and to Arnson and DeDeckere, one of the best parts about being involved is hearing reactions from fans and community members.

Arnson was out shopping after a game when the clerk recognized her Bronco Marching Band jacket and complimented her on the band’s performance.

“It’s really nice that the community recognizes the marching band,” Arnson said.

“One of my favorite parts of being a drum major is the reward of hearing the audience’s reaction to marching band,” DeDeckere said.

The annual Season In Review concert promises to be a great way for the Bronco Marching Band to show off all the hard work they’ve put into the season.

Tickets are $10 for adults, and $7 for students and seniors.

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Nov 12 2009. Filed under A & E. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Cody Kimball
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