Behind Friday-night LASA band performances are months of planning, rehearsals, and a community working toward one shared goal: creating a show that feels seamless to audiences. For the directors and students, the process starts long before the school year does, and it continues until the end of the fall semester.
Before students even arrive on campus in August, band director Ponder East and the design team are already deep into planning. East explained that while musical preparation begins early, the marching drill cannot start until Aug. 1, which is when the bulk of the work begins.
“We start early, we front-load everything as much as we can,” East said. “Usually, before the first day of school, we try to be able to play all of the music.”
For junior Josephine Dittmar, the vice president of the band, the structure of rehearsals becomes second nature during the season. Each practice builds the show in small pieces until the band can run their performance from start to finish.
“We’ll take maybe 30 seconds of the show, rehearsing it over and over,” Dittmar said. “At the very end, we always do a full run of the entire thing.”
Even after the show is designed, performing it is even more difficult. Senior band member Vita Istomina explained that the hardest part is simply getting through rehearsal, especially in the Texas heat.
“It was so hot outside most of the season,” Istomina said. “You have to memorize all your music and learn the whole show in that heat.”
Although the marching is very important, East emphasized how every design decision — from props to music — aims to create a cohesive experience for the audience and for the students performing. Each element is chosen with purpose, reinforcing the story and theme for that year’s season.
“We want them to see the show and go, wow, that all fits together,” East said. “And from the kid’s point of view, we want them to have a good feeling about it from the moment we announce it.”
Dittmar experienced that emotional payoff at the band’s final performance of the season. They had their last show at the USBands Central Texas Championships in November, where they placed 6th in the Finals overall.
“Our very last performance was our best performance,” Dittmar said. “We were all so proud of ourselves.”
There is much more to band than just the rehearsals and performances. East believes the heart of the program is the community that is created.
“I get to watch you become this person that you’re becoming,” East said. “When we’re all present in the moment making music, there’s nothing really like it.”
