West Potomac Marching Band to Compete Saturday

The West Potomac High School Marching Band will compete in the Virginia Band & Orchestra Directors Association (VBODA) Saturday, Oct. 27 in Winchester, Va. The band is looking forward to the competition and hopes to get honors as they have for the past two years.

A few senior band members have experienced the performances and watched the band progress over the years. Trevor Woods, who has been playing percussion for four years, said they practice often throughout the week in preparation and being a senior comes with a little more pressure.

“We have marching band practice three days a week, and in a leadership role there’s more pressure, but it’s just great to see the program improve,” Woods said.

Woods is just as excited to finish up his high school band career. He wants to continue band through college and is glad for the experience and memories he has from participating. He said he thinks being a part of the band will give him an edge over other members once he goes off to college.

Senior trombone player Hannah O’Neil is anxious to end her high school band career on a high note. She said the band really needs to get honors on Saturday, and she does feel making honors will be a huge accomplishment for the band before she graduates in the spring.

In her freshman year, senior drum major Emily Marr said the band wasn’t an honors band. However, with hard work, the band has made honors for the past two years and plan to do the same on Saturday.

“I think we’ve worked really hard. It’s going to be hard because we have younger judges who tend to judge harder, but I think we’ll do well and we’re well prepared,” Marr said.

For the competition, the band has prepared a routine that includes four movements, one medley of songs, a ballad, one jazz number and one big band piece.

“I think we’ll have a lot of adrenaline.” Marr said. “And we do well when we work off of adrenaline.”

The marching band will also compete in The 16th Annual Godwin Invitational in Richmond on Nov. 3.