By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
The Marching Eagles don’t mind if you call them band geeks. In fact, they’d actually prefer it.
“Being a band geek is a good thing for sure,” said senior trumpeter Alex Gaffney. “Being able to entertain a crowd is really what drives me to keep going in band and just the joy of playing music is really a good thing.”
It was a sunny Thursday afternoon and the Colonel Crawford Marching Eagles were on their practice field preparing for that week’s halftime performance. Some were in comfortable tennis shoes; others ditched their kicks to march in striped socks or went barefoot. All of them possessed an excited enthusiasm.
“That’s the first time you got the roll,” band director Shaun Shotwell announced from atop the scaffolding where he had an eagle-eye view of his students and their formations. One of his female students screamed a congratulations to her bandmate.
“I have great kids, that’s really what it comes down to,” Shotwell said. “This may be my third year, but I’ve been around here a long time.”
Former Colonel Crawford band director Elmore Beale was a mentor to Shotwell, who graduated from Mt. Gilead High School in 2006. So far, Shotwell hasn’t been afraid to push his marching band to new heights, though he won’t hesitate to call up his mentor for a little advice.
“These kids, they’re great at everything they do,” Shotwell said, referring to the numerous after school activities many of the students are involved with in addition to the marching band. “They’re involved in everything out here and they’re great at everything they do. It’s a blessing to get to work with each and every one of them.”
Shotwell admitted there are challenges to directing a marching band. He laughingly referred to the Wynford-Colonel Crawford football game just two weeks ago. Despite nonstop rain throughout the entire game, the Marching Eagles gamely took the field at halftime to perform their show. The uniforms may have been soaked and the wind instruments may have been protected by garbage bags, but the Marching Eagles played on.
“The Mud Bowl?” Shotwell said. “I told the kids it wasn’t a Mud Bowl, it was a Fish Bowl. You roll with the punches as it comes and you think on your feet.”
Being a band director is a big job and Shotwell believed one of the things that really helped him keep going was the local Band Booster program. Parents of band members volunteer their time to help the band, whether it is supplying water, helping with uniforms, or working the concession stand.
“The saying we use a lot around here is: ‘It takes a village,’” Shotwell said. “That’s how we operate; that’s how we function.”
The Marching Eagles are 52 members strong and feature the standard marching band instruments, including three tubas, a whole complement of low brass, and a percussion line.
“We’re proud of that (percussion) line and everything they do,” Shotwell said. “They start picking up the drums the week after the Fourth of July and they don’t put them down until the end of the season. This year they won’t even put them down then because they’re going to play at a couple of the basketball games for a little floor show with the drumline.”
This season the Marching Eagles will be doing shows that range from Heroes and Villains to country hits by Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, and Garth Brooks. Once the weather turns a bit colder, that’s when Shotwell will get his kids grooving to the music.
“It’s something that’s certainly grown,” Shotwell said about marching bands performing dance numbers during their halftime shows. “Groups like the Ohio University Marching 110, they do a lot of that type of stuff.”
Shotwell graduated from the University of Louisville where the marching band performed a hybrid of drill formations and dance steps.
“It’s in moderation; it’s balanced,” Shotwell explained. “There’s some kids that really love to do the dance stuff, some kids that really love to do the other thing.”
As for the audience’s reaction to the different styles, Shotwell said they have always supported the marching band.
“I remember a couple of years ago where we went and did a show where we had a storm warning effect over the (speaker). I got goosebumps at our home crowd all standing up and cheering once they realized what was going on. That was just, for me, one of my personal favorite moments,” Shotwell said.
“The reaction from our home crowd here in support of the group – every time we’re out there, every time we’re coming through the parade routes and people are yelling ‘go Eagles’ . . . the kids hear it and the kids love it. It feeds them and it gives them the support they need. They play that much more louder (sic) and that much more passionate every time they hear that.”
Bridget Kohls, a trumpeter, now has four years under her belt as a Marching Eagle. The senior said it has been a great growing experience.
“Your freshman year you’re just kind of getting into the idea of it because it’s so different than everything else,” Kohls explained. “Each year you improve. You kind of don’t notice it, but then you improve your confidence.”
Kohls’ and Gaffney’s favorite show came in their freshman year when they got to perform and dance to “Wipe Out.”
“We did this amazing dance where the whole band was in it at the same thing,” Gaffney explained. “We all did it perfectly, really.”
“I’ve seen videos of it and it looks so uniform,” Kohls said about performing dances during their shows. “When everyone’s watching you and the stadium lights are shining on you, it’s just an unexplainable feeling. You get chills, and you just see everyone being able to put together a great show and having so much fun doing (it).”
Performing a dance routine among your fellow band members is one thing but performing solo in front of a crowd is another.
“I’ve had some previous solos, like in our Bon Jovi show. The one that I’m really excited about is our senior show this year,” Gaffney said.
The senior trumpeter will be performing a solo to “House of the Rising Sun” during that show.
“It’s kind of awesome because the whole song – I’m going to be featured in the entire song,” Gaffney said. “So I’m going to be in the middle and the whole entire song will be revolved around one trumpet. I’m pretty excited about that.”
Eighth grader Alan Burkhart plays the symbols in the band and has enjoyed his first year as part of the Marching Eagles.
“Marching band is like really great. You get to do all this cool stuff – plus, you get to go to Cedar Point,” Burkhart said.
His fellow eighth grader, Trinity Gatten, plays the mellophone, an instrument used in marching bands in place of French horns.
“I like the experience; it’s a good experience for music,” Gatten said. “It’s a better experience in marching band because you get to actually interact on the field.”
Gatten said she messed up badly at their first marching band performance but, once on the field, it all came into focus.
“I was so scared but once I got on the field everything went out and I just knew it – I loved it,” Gatten said.