Behind the Curtains of the CHS Marching Band
By: Myah Webb
    The Camden High School Marching Band holds an important role in the extracurricular activities of Camden Central. But what goes on behind the curtains may surprise you. Each year the Marching Band has different music, marchers, and drill (the movement on the field), but many are not aware of all the money from fundraisers and funding by the Board of Education that has to be out into the Marching Band program.

    In the 2014-2015 band season, the Marching Band through various fundraisers, events, and football game concessions received an estimated $45,000. This money was used to offset the expenses of the Marching Band.

    Each year instruments must be serviced and repaired. The maintenance and repairs of instruments cost approximately $2,500 over the course of four months. In addition to the repairs and maintenance, new equipment must be purchased. The cost of the new equipment purchased for the 2014-2015 season was close to $4,300. This may include mallets, sticks, drum heads, reeds, valve oil, mouth pieces, cork grease, new instruments, etc.

    Each Spring, the band director, Mr. James Young, evaluates possible programs for the upcoming season. “I look for music that will challenge and best fit my students’ talents. I narrow it down to three options, and then present them to the Marching Band for discussion. After taking their suggestions and opinions into consideration, I then will choose our next show.” The score for the 2014-2015 show, “Relic,” cost $2,800. The next step to building the show is to get a commitment from the students who will be marching. Once a set number of marchers has been determined, the music is sent off to have drill written. The cost of this is estimated $1,750.

    Mr. Young hires instructors to assist him throughout the Marching Band season. These instructors come from Gibson County and martin every week. The instructors focus primarily on the percussion and color guard sections. With this added assistance, there is also a cost of nearly $6,500. The percussion and color guard techs attend as many practices, home football games, and band competitions as needed.

    The remainder of the beginning budget after all the above expenses was used for competition entry fees ($1,200), travel expenses in which includes buses and UHaul rentals ($12,000), and meals for the students ($3,500). All of the expenses that have been mentioned are only a fraction of the total costs of the Camden Marching Band program.