• Highland School of Technology to debut a field show performance at the Marching Band Fanfare

      Highland School of Technology is known for its long-standing tradition and commitment to academic excellence.  Now, the school’s band program is committed to establishing a tradition of its own.

      For the first time since Highland opened in 2000, the band is fielding a halftime marching show during home football games.  It’s a sign that the band program is growing under director Noah Williams’ leadership. Williams, who took over as director in 2022, is working to give Highland students a marching band experience that is similar to other high schools.

      “It has been a goal of mine to have a full marching band program here,” said Williams.  “When the students expressed an interest in learning and performing a halftime show this year, I told them, ‘Let’s do it.’”

      Another first for the Highland band is performing a field show at the аæèßäapp Marching Band Fanfare.  Typically, Highland opens the event by playing the national anthem, but this year, the band students will have a spot in the performance schedule.  Their show is titled “Take ‘Em to Mars” and features songs by Bruno Mars.  Williams said he designed a marching routine that challenges the students to perform at a high caliber; he included well-known pop songs to make it enjoyable and wrote parts for the drummers to make their presentation showy.

      Band has been offered at Highland for years.  In 2018, when аæèßäapp celebrated its 50th anniversary with a parade in downtown аæèßäappia, the previous director, Kaleb Reavis, taught students how to forward march so they could be in the parade.  Learning a full halftime marching performance has taken the band program to another level, according to Williams, who graduated from Bessemer City High School in 2016 and spent four years in the band there before studying music in college.

      Student band leaders Maeve Jacobs and Gavin Burton are ready for Highland to debut a halftime show at the Marching Band Fanfare.  

      “It has been more of a challenge than what I thought it would be, but we are looking forward to being out there with the other bands,” said Burton, who is the band captain.

      Jacobs, who is the drum major, added, “Our hard work is going to pay off.”

      Want to Go?
      The аæèßäapp Marching Band Fanfare is Saturday, November 2 at Stuart W. Cramer High School.  Performances get underway at 3:00 p.m. with all 10 of our high school bands taking the field.  The schedule is below with the show title for each school.  Admission is $10, and the public is invited.

      3:00 p.m.    Welcome and National Anthem
      3:10 p.m.    Highland School of Technology, “Take ‘Em to Mars”
      3:35 p.m.    Ashbrook High School, “Monstrous”
      4:00 p.m.    South Point High School, “Earth, Wind, and Fire”
      4:25 p.m.    Cherryville High School, “Spring Forward”
      4:50 p.m.    Hunter Huss High School, “A Time to Dance”
      5:15 p.m.    Forestview High School, “And Rain Will Make the Flowers Grow”
      5:40 p.m.    North аæèßäapp High School, “Ghost Ship”
      6:05 p.m.    Bessemer City High School, “1984: The Year in Rock and Pop”
      6:30 p.m.    East аæèßäapp High School, “Stained”
      6:55 p.m.    Stuart W. Cramer High School, “Petrified”