Riverside’s marching band performs its halftime show during fall 2026 home football game. Photo courtesy of Hillside Band Media Team/Devyn Edwards
For every 12 minute halftime show at a home football game, Riverside’s marching band spends hours memorizing steps, correcting notes and practicing in the senior lot.
The marching band launches its season each August with a band camp at school that runs for 3 weeks before classes begin.
Once school starts, the marching band practices on Thursdays from 4:30-6 pm.
“We’ll get our drums, head outside, get out on the senior lot, run through some parts of the show for the first half, work on specific parts people are messing up, or learn new things,” said sophomore Kinsley Meyers. “We’ll then come back inside for the second half, and work on the music side of that. It makes things a lot easier.”
Meyers has been part of the marching band for two years and plays the tenor drums, also called the quint. The quint is a set of five tenor drums that are tuned, connected and worn by a single percussionist.
During her freshman year, Meyers used to get a lot more nervous before stepping out into the spotlight than she does now.
“I was still new to experiencing this,” she said, “but now that I know what to expect, I kind of realize that not everyone will know when I make a mistake, so it’s gotten a lot easier.”
Sophomore Trot Sappenfield, another member of the drumline, feels nervous until the group warms up together.
“When warming up, junior drumline captain Illy Bouldwin gives a pep talk and reminds us that it is okay to make mistakes,” said Sappenfield. “It usually feels better once I’m out there and I’m focused on the music.”
When trying to memorize music and formations, sophomore drummer Daniel Polch said a helpful method is knowing where they are supposed to be going and having that in the back of their minds.
“We practice through that a lot so it becomes sort of like nature once you do enough,” he said. “By the time you’ve gone through something and really focus on it for a few practices or a week, you pretty much got it.”
Every Friday night game, marching band members meet at 4:30 to talk and rehearse through a few pieces or songs. Before each game, marching band members come together for dinner as a way to prepare for the performances on the field.
“Having dinners before performing on the field is a lot of fun. We all hang out, and that’s a lot of fun.” said Polch.
The marching band also not only plays at home games, but also plays at away games. When the football team travels, the marching band starts preparing after school. “We eat from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm, get dressed into our uniforms, and get all of our instruments out,” said junior captain Illy Boudwin. “By 6:15 pm, we will already be done loading our buses and trucks.”
For home games, the marching band heads out to the backside of the stadium and takes the field for the national anthem at 6:45 pm. They then head to the stands and perform stand tunes, which are quick, energetic pep songs to get the crowd hyped for the first and second quarter. At the very end of the second quarter, the band leaves the stands to start warming up to prepare for the halftime show.
At halftime, they’ll then march back onto the field and perform three or four movements of the show, which usually takes about 12 minutes. After, they go back to the stands. The band takes a break during the third quarter, then returns before the fourth quarter begins to play, and continues playing through the end of the game. After the game ends, the marching band continues to perform on the field.
“I’d say our main thing is that we’re always there, at every game” said Boudwin. “We’re always supporting the team.”
