Band’s annual glow show lights up Hutch Field
November 12, 2019
During a typical football performance, junior drum major Emma Noonoo steps into her position above the band and raises her hands up, the band frozen in place, ready to start the show. This performance, however, has one key difference; the field isn’t lit up by the stadium lights. The band does their performance in the dark, with glowing elements attached to their instruments and persons. This is the PHS annual Glow Show.
“I marched in the Glow-Show the last two years and it’s definitely a little bit harder,” Noonoo said. “It’s difficult to hit your marks every time, but since everybody around you is also glowing, you can normally tell where people are and still be able to line up with them properly.”
While the audience tends to focus on the performance being in the dark, Noonoo acknowledges the importance of the band. “I think the most important element of the show is still the actual marching and music,” Noonoo said. “All the stuff that is done is really cool and really interesting to watch, but at the heart of it all, you still have a really good marching band out there doing what they know best.“
Senior Logan Jones performs in the Glow Show and attests to the hard work of his bandmates.
“What goes into it is basically a lot of practice, because this whole semester, we have been practicing every day,” Jones said. “We’ve been going out to the field or working on music in some way, inside or outside, and all the hard work we put in makes the performance even better, makes it sweeter.”
Band Director Cooper Neil prepares the students for the challenges of playing in the dark but admits that a performance like this is difficult.
“The Glow-Show is more challenging because it’s done with the lights off, and it is more difficult for students to see yard lines and fix orientations,” Neil said. “One of the biggest challenges is we’ve had shows that require a lot of musical endurance. It’s difficult to already have been playing loudly and screaming in the stands, and then to go out at halftime and make sure that we’re ready to go for that, but then to have also played through a second half, and then go out and play the show again.”
Neil also acknowledges the way the band feels about the Glow-Show.
“It’s important to them and they have a good time, the students really enjoy doing it, and it’s just fun to watch,” Neil said. “It’s different. You know, there aren’t a whole lot of things like that, it’s an enjoyable thing all around, and I have fun.”
English