By Russell Omo
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Instruments in hand and heads held high, the MHS Marching Band participated in the 10th Annual Menehune Classic Marching Band Festival held at Moanalua High School, performing their new original arrangement based on Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” for the first time in front of a panel of judges.
“For us (performing at events) is always important, because we get people to actually look at our show, give us feedback and comments on it, and kind of get to see where we are at in the season before we compete for first second and third place, so it’s kind of a big deal,” explained Marching Band adviser Derek Kaapana.
Though this was the first festival featuring this arrangement for the band this season, their performance was graded among the highest. In the areas of music, marching and color guard, the Trojans were given the rating of superior, the highest rating possible, and in the areas of percussion and drum majors, they were given the rating of excellent, which is the second highest rating.
Despite being praised by the judges, the band still saw some room for improvement. “I don’t think it was exactly our best showcase of what we are capable of doing, but it’s a point that we could learn from,” explained Drum Major Senior Kailee Goya, continuing, “I think it was just an eye opener that we just kind of need to be a little bit more focused and push forward.”
The arrangement was divided into three movements following the phases of the poem. The first movement sets the mood of despair, the introduction of the narrator and his melancholy, transitioning into the second movement, a ballad as the narrator thinks back to his lost love, Lenore, shifting the emotions that the performance evokes. The third and final movement drives the performance to its climax, the destruction of the narrator’s sanity as caused by the raven and its repetition of the word “nevermore.” “The pieces we played are very emotional and they tell a story that only a few can understand. But once it’s finally put together, then many will understand what the piece is about,” said trumpet player Junior Tyler Ono.
The marching band has learned from this experience and is determined to further their musicality and retain their sense of family to compete in future events this season.
