A Look Back on the Marching Band Season

Amelia Borger 
Staff Writer 

          The 2016 Apex High Marching Band has gone out with a bang! They ended the season at Northwest High School, winning 4A/5A Grand Champions and Band of the Day. 
This season had tough losses at the Panther Creek Invitational, Providence Cup, and the Mustang Classic. But the marching Cougars pulled out two wins at George Wythe High School in the beautiful Wytheville, Virginia, and Northwest High School in Greensboro. This is the first year the Cougars have had multiple Grand Champion wins since the 2013 season with their Jimmy V show. 
        This year, the AHSMB performed the show A Celtic Fantasy, which wowed crowds with stunning music selections like “Kirkpatrick Fanfare”, selections from Riverdance, and “The Irish Washerwoman”. Our very own Visual Ensemble tackled the task of Irish soft shoe dancing under instruction of Autumn Herbert, a former VE member who grew up Irish dancing. The Visual Ensemble was also under direction of Michael Grasty, a Drum Corps and Winter Guard International alum with teaching experience on the national level. The one-hundred member marching band is once again under the direction of band director Mr. Jarvis. They have worked hard under the direction of him and marching tech William Young, who is an AHSMB and Drum Corps International alum.
           Jarvis has described senior drum major Detrich Morrison-Jones as “the best drum major he has ever had in his ten years of teaching”. Detrich has been drum major for two years now, has not disappointed crowds and judges across the state. He has not won anything less than first place this season. 

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         The marching band has officially ended their competition season, and the parade season ends at the Cary Christmas Parade on Dec. 12, but that is not the end for the band.
        Every other year, the band takes a trip to somewhere new. This year, seventy members of the marching and concert band will take a trip to Jacksonville, Florida. They are currently practicing twice a week to prepare for the trip. The marching members will perform a modified show in competition, and both bands will perform in the pregame show along with the other bands in the Taxslayer Bowl. The band is excited to travel to Florida after an eventful season, and we can’t wait to see what the marching Cougars are going to accomplish next year!