Kiltie Marching Band Brings Marching Show Inside
Imagine the intricate movements of a marching band on a football field brought indoors.
The Alma College Kiltie Marching Band show performs its outdoor marching repertoire of show tunes, rock songs and galactic music at 8:00 p.m. Dec 9 and 10 in the Remick Heritage Center, Presbyterian Hall.
This yearly indoor event has been performed since 1996 and features the Kiltie Band marching in the auditorium playing the music they performed on the football field. Under the direction of David Zerbe, director of bands and percussion studio, the Marching Band features the music of Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Weather Report and others.
The band utilizes the entire performance area from platforms and risers to the balcony and wings giving a new meaning to the term surround sound. A light show, coordinated by Heritage Center Technical Director Brian Tarasiewicz, accompanies the performance.
“Some other schools also perform their outside marching shows inside, but the difference is, they normally will stand in an auditorium and play while we actually move all around,” said Zerbe. All of the movements are re-choreographed for Presbyterian Hall and they only have four days in the performance space to practice and perfect the show.
“It really is awesome. Out of all the things we do in marching band this is my favorite thing to do. It’s more exiting, we do a lot more music, and it’s not cold,” said Drum Major Ashley Jameson ’07, of Vicksburg.
The show is divided into two segments. The first half begins with all the pregame songs like Alma’s fight song, the Alma Mater and The Star Spangled Banner. This is followed by a bagpipe duet, the color guard’s winter routine and a rocking full-band routine with “Back in Black,” popularized by AC/DC and “White Rabbit,” popularized by Procol Harem.
The second segment begins with music from the Star Wars Episode Three, Revenge of the Sith, arranged specifically for the Alma band by former Zerbe students, Dustin Jussila and Nick Steward. The batterie percussion performs their traditional street cadences and the show ends with music from the outside marching show.
The show features several soloists and arrangements done by the students, especially the percussion for the outside show and the color guard choreography, which was arranged by either current or past members of the guard.
“The show is well attended because there is so much movement involved that it makes it different from any other concert. Plus, half of the music in this show folks haven’t heard before. It’s not just learning the music, it’s maneuvering along with it. We only have four days in the actual space so the musicians have to be extremely focused,” said Zerbe.
Tickets are $8 for adults and free for students. Reserved seating tickets for Remick Heritage Center events may be reserved or purchased by visiting the Box Office Monday through Friday from 1 to 5 p.m. or calling (989) 463-7304. VISA, Discover and MasterCard sales are accepted. You can also order tickets via e-mail at boxoffice@alma.edu. Free tickets are not released until the day of an event or on Friday for a weekend event. Reserved tickets not claimed by 30 minutes before performance time will be made available to the general public.
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Posted: Fri, December 2nd, 2005 at 2:57PM
