Marching band highlights season with final concert

By STACY SABAITIS

Updated: November 14, 2012, 5:02 PM

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The Laker Marching Band takes the field before the start of the game

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Highlighting their football season as it comes to an end, the Grand Valley State University Laker Marching Band is ending the year with a free season recap performance that pays tribute to the Laker Nation and graduating seniors.

Bandorama, Nov. 18, celebrates the past season’s music in the Kelly Family Sports Center from 8-9:30 p.m., which is a new home for the annual event.

John Martin, GVSU director of athletic bands said it was started before he came to GVSU and thinks it’s been around at least 15-20 years.

Because the Kelly Family Sports Center is a large venue, the marching band has more space to do their normal routines when entering.

“We are going to march in around the track,” Martin said. “Then we will do a sit down concert that will go through every show we did this season, so it’s just a recap.”

Along with the bands, the color guard and baton twirler, Moriah Muscaro, will be on the field performing their routines from this season.

“It’s a performance to give back to our fans, to the Laker Nation, just a quick sizing up of a season,” Martin said. “It’s also good because we also say goodbye to our graduating seniors and the folks who have marched with us and are leaving for whatever reason, whether it’s student teaching or graduation or just can’t fit it into the schedule anymore, so it’s a big deal. It’s sort of a closing up of everything.”

Martin said the marching band performed five shows this season, beginning with a positive performance that featured the songs “All of the Lights” made famous by Kanye West, and “Ode to Joy.” Throughout the season, the band also played song tributes to modern day bands such as the Offspring and LMFAO, and several country music classics.

As GVSU’s baton twirler, Muscaro said she enjoys being a part of the marching band.

“I mean I have to find a spot around the band and obviously stay away from the band, but the band director’s do such a great job at writing me into the drill and giving me positions that I need so that I can do what I do,” Muscaro said.

Even though this is an indoor concert, some of the elements that fans would expect to hear and see at a football game will be incorporated into the evening.

“It’s not just going to be straight playing the whole time, it’s going to be some talking as well and different announcements and things like that just to make it more exciting,” Muscaro said.

Mark Gotberg, a member of the trombone section, said that this concert gives his family, along with others who didn’t make it to all the football games, a chance to hear all of the shows from the season.

“A lot of my family comes to Bandorama that can’t necessarily make it to football games, so we kind of get to play the music for them, and then they get to hear it even though they couldn’t come to all of the football games and that kind of stuff,” Gotberg said. “It gives us the opportunity to show off too, which is kind of cool.”

ssabaitis@lanthorn.com

Published November 14, 2012 A&E