As if Friday night wasn’t long enough, Granite Hills band members had to return to school Saturday morning for a competition at Fresno State.
Granite Hills had a football game against Strathmore High School on Friday night and the band performed because it was a home game. They had their usual halftime performance and played music throughout the game.
It was a long night as band members got home as late as midnight, and they had to be up bright and early to be at school by 10 a.m. the very next day.
Band member Valeria Pedraza had mixed feelings about the late Friday night and long Saturday.
“It was pretty fun but cold,” she said. “It was interesting seeing all the other bands perform. It was pretty busy and very stressful having to perform for the football game and a competition, but overall it was worth it and super fun.”
The band was set to leave Granite Hills at 10:30 a.m. Taking all their equipment with them, the band had two buses – color guard, percussion, and pit in one and the rest of the band in the other. The band members needed to take their uniform, shako (hat), gloves, gauntlets, shoes, and instruments on the bus with them.
They stopped in Selma to get lunch and got back on the road around 12:50 p.m.
They soon arrived in Fresno state where the Sierra Cup Classic was being held. As the band members were walking another band was walking back to the bus, wishing our Grizzlies good luck. Many band members were nervous because it was the first competition of the season. They marched on the field and waited for their performance to start. When it started many band members were still nervous but it didn’t matter because they were already performing. There were judges on the field watching them and commenting on their show on their recorders.
“I was nervous because I felt like I was gonna fall,” band member Emma Hernandez said. “And it was too hot for my liking and I felt like I was gonna explode.”
The Grizzlies finished their show and marched back out, wishing luck to the other band that was soon to perform after them. Soon they went back to their buses, put everything away, and changed out of their uniforms. Their dinner was provided. The parents’ chaperons cooked hot dogs, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, and quesadillas. After they cooled off and ate they headed back to the stadium and watched the other field shows.
Many of the bands after them had props and visuals. The other bands did very well and their shows were entertaining. But many of the Granite Hills band members were tired and couldn’t wait to go home. At around 9:00 pm the Fresno State Bulldogs performed. Their show was very flashy and very good. All the bands were blown away by their performance. “Thank God we’re not competing against them,” many band members kept joking.
After Fresno State’s performance, the award show began.
The Granite Hills band earned a score of 70.04. Even though the Grizzlies didn’t win an award, they still did very well. The Grizzlies’ score of 70.04 was higher than last year’s score at the Sierra Cup Classic.
“The band has been putting a lot of work into our field show and it has paid off because we earned a higher score,” Band director Mr. Milligan said. “I’m proud of the students for getting past their nerves and putting on a good performance for the big crowd at Fresno State.”