Band opens its marching season tonight at the Sobrato football
game at Live Oak High School
Morgan Hill – Members of the Sobrato High Swing Marching Band march to the beat of a different drummer, with a different style to their step than some high school bands,
Because Sobrato is, for the first time, a four-year high school the band has grown to nearly 90 members since it has a wider pool of students to attract. The group has also grown because of band director Erik Kalish’s efforts in recruiting new members from Martin Murphy Middle School.
“I’ve been really impressed with (the freshmen’s) enthusiasm and hard work,” Kalish said Aug. 8, the second day of the five-day band camp at the school.
To participate in the marching season, band members must go to band camp for a week consisting of 14-hour days. Members are required to arrive at the school at 8am, ready to march, and ending in near-exhaustion at 10pm.
“Things are shaping up,” Kalish said, of the band’s half-time show which they were perfecting during the camp.
The band’s style, he said, is different than other marching bands in the area. A noncompetitive band, Kalish said the focus is on entertaining crowds at home and away football games, and during other performances, and having fun.
“Enjoy yourselves, and when you do that, the crowd will enjoy you, too,” Kalish yelled through his microphone from atop his scaffolding tower at the band, as members danced in place during one of their show numbers. “The audience isn’t expecting to see you move like that, and then, when the song ends and you snap to attention like you’d never been movin’ around, they’re not going to believe it. When they see you do your dance, they’re going to be amazed.”
The band marches with a distinctive swing-style step, throwing in a skip every now and then and swinging their instruments as they move, a more free-style approach similar to bands such as the Grambling University band.
“We’re here to put on a show, to make it fun for the crowd and for us,” Kalish said.
