Mac High marching band to play Thursday

News-Register file photo

McMinnville High School’s marching band will perform for the public Thursday, Nov. 7, at Wortman Stadium on the school campus.

The free performance will start at 7 p.m. If weather is inclement, it may be moved to the Mac High gym. The theme of the eight-minute show is “Blackout,” which portrays police chasing convicts.

The marching band is made up of 59 students who play woodwinds, brass and percussion and take part in the honor guard. Some of the students are not involved in other musical groups, said David Barton, who is the director of the marching band and other bands at the high school.

He started the marching band program when he joined Mac High in 2015. The band had grown to nearly 80 members before the Covid pandemic, and now is growing again.

“We have a very low attrition rate,” Barton said. He joked, “band members love it — which is weird, because it’s so hard.”

In addition to after school practices, the band plays at numerous events. It marches during halftime at Grizzly football games and in parades in the summer, as well, such as the festival parades in Carlton, Sheridan and other Yamhill County towns. On Thursday, in addition to the evening performance, it will play at Wascher Elementary School in Lafayette.

The MHS band performed Saturday at the Northwest Association of Performing Arts band competition, held at Hillsboro High School.

The annual event is one of two NWAPA contests in Oregon. Bands of up to 60 members compete at Hillsboro and larger bands at the University of Oregon’s Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

Barton said students, who’ve been practicing after school on Tuesday and Thursdays and on Saturday mornings, were a little worried about the weather for the event. But they had practiced well in the rain, he said, “so they know they can do it.”

Ideally, he said, all their performances would take place in warm, dry weather – that’s not as hard on the instruments.

But dealing with weather and other circumstances teaches students to work hard and show dedication, Barton said.

In fact, he said, the marching band teaches numerous “employability skills” that are focuses at Mac High this year — collaboration, communication, commitment, teamwork, etc.

“Band does everything for kids,” he said. “It teaches way more than music.”