On Friday, August 18th at Seymour High School Bulleit Stadium, the Marching Owls put on a powerful performance for the football team. The Seymour Marching Owls are one of the largest groups active at SHS, with 250 students participating, including the cheerleaders. The band includes three directors, four drum majors, and eleven student leaders for every section.

The Marching Owls theme this year is Epic Rock. The band started their year with a performance of three songs. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana was their opener which won a Grammy award for best rock song. While the cheerleaders did their routine, the band played “Fire”, arranged by Gordon Henderson. For their last song the band played “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin which was released in 1971 and was on the Grammy Hall of Fame. Mr. Cottrill explains that it is sometimes hard to get 230 musicians to listen to instructions, but the band’s performance was excellent and they “will continue to refine their performance skills.””

This is the first year for Color Guard at Seymour High School. The color guard is taught by Steve Nauman who is the chief financial officer for the administration staff. The guard has 32 members and according to Sophomore Derikka Locke who started color guard in May,  “Mr. Cottrill had the idea of the there being a color guard for a while, and this year Mr. Nauman decided to teach at the school.”  Both student and director say the Color Guard did an excellent job as a first performance. Some marchers said that it was different and sometimes scary having a color guard but the band pulled together and pulled through making the football game’s half time worth staying for.

The band works hard every purple day at Seymour. For class band members go immediately outside and march to the stadium. They practice until almost the end of the class period. The Thursday before every football game the band has a two hour practice. The Marching Owls work hard to entertain the people watching.