The FVHS marching band, the Fuquay Varina Marching Bengals, participated in the Cleveland Critique and Competition hosted by Cleveland High School on Sept. 30. The Marching Bengals placed second in color guard and third in percussion. This was their first competition of the season.

Junior Julia Blackmon is a tenor saxophone player for the marching band and has been a part of the Marching Bengals since freshman year.

¨From my point of view, the competition went decently well for our first competition. We had never run the whole show for an audience before so that was really fun,¨ said Blackmon

Their show is called ¨Into The Dark.¨ It is a four part show incorporating both band and colorguard.

Blackmon said, ¨It’s about us going up into space and exploring. Towards the end of the third movement, something happens and we all get into the dark and all end up dying.¨ 

Marching band is more than just playing an instrument. It requires so many different pieces and parts to come together to form something extraordinary through lots of practice and perfection.

Blackmon said the hardest part of marching band is ¨definitely the physical exhaustion because playing and marching at the same time requires so much air. It gets really tiring after a while and you have to keep going. When you get a really big hit in the show, you have to keep playing as loud as you can to get the effect across.¨

Freshman Tiffany Moore was a part of the colorguard that placed second in this performance. She thought her team did well, but knows they haven’t reached their full potential yet. 

“Something we did well was the flag feature. It’s the main flag hit of the show at the end of part one. But I think some of us, as a group, can improve on getting the counts right with the choreography,¨ Moore said.

While this is Moore’s first year ever participating in colorguard, she did get a solo.

¨It’s a dance solo in part three, the ballad. It´s two 32 counts and a 16 count. It’s exciting to have a solo as a freshman. I´m very happy,¨ said Moore.

Even though all parts of the Marching Bengals didn’t place, they are celebrating the wins they did get and learning from their losses. This is just their first competition, with many more to come. Their next performance will be at Middle Creek High School on Oct. 7.

 ¨I know we´re going to do better next time and that’s what matters. We set the bar and now we have to work to be above that everytime,¨ said Blackmon.