Small towns, big sound: Hundreds of Montana high schoolers join Montana State marching band for Band Day

BOZEMAN - About 270 Montana high school students stood shoulder to shoulder with the Spirit of the West marching band in Bobcat Stadium on Sept. 19 at Montana State University.

For many, it was rare to play with more than 12 musicians in their rural towns. Others had learned to march for the first time just hours earlier, wrapping themselves and their instruments in ponchos to rehearse outdoors in the rain with Spirit of the West, MSU's 41-year-old band that performs for athletic, campus and community events.

It was time to put what they had learned to the test at half-time during MSU's home football game against Central Connecticut State University. They stretched from one side of the field to the other, a 470-member ensemble before hundreds of fans.

"It's definitely nerve-wracking, but it's so exciting and rewarding at the end when you get to come off the field and say, 'I did that,'" said Sally Lippert, a freshman trombone player at Broadview High School.

The Spirit of the West has invited hundreds of Montana's high school musicians to take part in the free Band Day experience in the last 10 years. Students receive coaching from college musicians and band director Nathan Stark throughout the morning before joining the marching band's pre-game and half-time performances.

Lippert, who hopes to attend the Juilliard School one day, said she appreciated when MSU band members helped the trombone players change their tuning slide technique to prevent their sound from wavering on high notes. She is one of 25 students in her hometown band, which is double the size of many that attended Band Day this year.

Of Gardiner's 12-member ensemble, nine students joined the Spirit of the West on Sunday. Cody Carlson, who has directed the band for five years and attended Gardiner High School growing up, said the experience honed students' teamwork, discipline and artistry as they created complex formations to the tune of "Holiday" and "Land of a Thousand Dances."

"In the morning, I got the first taste of it by walking into the rehearsal room and getting chills from hearing 20 sousaphones and like 80 trumpet players and all the music happening here," Carlson said. "It's really fun to see the students get excited about playing in a section, not having to be the leader, but leading as a group and being in the stadium and on the field. To see the level of cheering that happens in a big stadium, I think they can bring that energy back home to Gardiner."

Stark said some bands may feel isolated in their part of the state, so it's important that MSU creates a space for them to become part of a shared experience that is bigger than themselves, and to gain knowledge and inspiration they can bring back to their schools.

"It's pretty special when Hardin and Park High students can hang out and stand next to a college student who's an engineering major from California and say, 'Hey, we all play trombone. Something about that instrument attracted us to it, and now we have this shared experience,'" he said.

Abby Carlson, clarinet section leader for Spirit of the West, had more than an instrument in common with the high school woodwind section. Years ago, Carlson was in their shoes as a high school sophomore from Roundup learning to march and memorize music for the first time at Band Day.

The warmth exuding from Spirit of the West members was the reason Carlson attended MSU and is now a junior studying philosophy. The chance to perform with young clarinetists this year was a full-circle moment, Carlson said.

"It's honestly just heartwarming," Carlson said. "Seeing them still interested in playing and maybe going into a university level to play is very inspiring. It shows that music is still very alive in these students."

Mylee Clark, a senior flutist from Whitewater, kept a close eye on student leaders like Carlson throughout the day as an aspiring music education major. She said she learned how to communicate clearly and kindly by watching section leaders manage their teams, and she was inspired by how they projected confidence on the field, even when they made mistakes.

Opportunities to improve her musicianship are valuable to Clark, who is one of the most senior members of her 20-member band. She said Whitewater High School includes grades six through 12, so her band often plays music that accommodates all skill levels.

"Our school is really small, so if our band teacher is gone, usually the substitute will be like, 'Mylee, get up here and help teach the class.' I think it's really cool getting an example of good leadership [at MSU], especially in band," she said.

Advice coming from musicians who students admire can be more impactful than advice from teachers they see every day, said Chris Pippin, who is in his second year directing the 23-member band at Florence-Carlton High School.

Saturday marked the school's first Band Day, though Pippin has attended in years past as a band director in the Saco school district. Pippin said his group this year included a first-year band student, who he saw soaking in the techniques the student will use to march in Florence's homecoming parade later this fall.

"It's going to be a memory that they carry with them, he said. "I brought four students today, and they'll be talking about this forever."