After a year and a half halt from music, Selma High’s Marching band is back and louder than ever.  

On Saturday October 30th, the Selma High Marching band, Parade band, and Color Guard set off to display their musical talent to schools around the region at the 56th Annual Rotary Marching Band Festival.

This was one of their earlier competitions, their only “home” competition and for some, their first march in two years. Because of the recent pandemic, playing music has become a difficulty and a bore.

“COVID…I think crushed a lot of people” stated the band director, Mr Lima,  

“We shut down right before championships, and then all that time in distance learning where we weren’t competing, we were not performing, we weren’t seeing each other,”Lima explained.

Many students experienced the lack of motivation doing school online, and trying to play through a zoom call was practically impossible.

“It was really hard because you’d be there in a zoom class trying to figure out what to do, and you can’t really do anything,” expressed senior  band member, Brian Rios.“It was really difficult because we couldn’t really play as a band together, or in general really.” 

This year’s Raisin Festival was a huge win for not only the band, but the community as well. Last year the parade had to be cancelled due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.

“Going to the festival was something me and my family did every year, so we were all pretty bummed out last year,” sophomore, Natalee Mares commented on the parade’s cancellation.

Because of this, the band was thrilled to finally be allowed to play for their community.  The parade band marches the parade route, and after the parade is over, they head out to the high school and the marching band then performs.  Several other schools came and competed, but the Selma High band only performed, not entering in the competition, as they are the ones hosting. 

Even with the Selma Band being undefeated throughout this season, making music is more about the experiences rather than the wins for band members.

“I think everyone just likes to perform,” Lima expressed. “Even though we don’t get to compete, I think this particular iteration of the band just likes performing to the community. We didn’t really need to because they just enjoy performing for their home crowd.” 

Even though they momentarily lost the band, the love for music never left them.