On September 30th, Summit’s marching band program won Prelims and got second place in Finals for their show Rise From Ash at Lafayette High School’s Contest of Champions. The show is a custom show written by band director Jeremu Loui and the other directors. From there, they worked with composer Alex Thode, who wrote the music for the show. Loui said the story is about a Phoenix but it also represents the cycle of life. 

“On the surface the show tells the story of a phoenix, the mythical bird that catches fire and is reborn. The show can be thought of as the full life cycle of the bird following it from life on fire, to death, to rebirth. However, on a deeper level, the show is about the cycles in our lives- how we struggle sometimes, how we overcome, how we rise up. The narration in the show comes from the lyrics of Katy Perry’s song “Rise.” The words speak to this idea of strength, overcoming challenges, and growth,” Loui said.

 Senior Aidan Barrett plays the flute, which adds high and bright notes to the music in a marching band. Barrett said to say the least, he is shocked.

”Lafayette was an interesting competition, it was the first time in a while we haven’t taken first. We ended up with a higher score than we did last year and we only lost first place by 0.4 points. The flute section did pretty good, especially the freshman. They have been performing really well, both their playing and choreography, better than how freshmen normally perform this early in the year,” Barrett said. 

Marching band includes color guard enhances the band’s music with visual elements, building the plot of Rise From Ash. Freshman Skylar Holtgrewe, color guard performer, said team building gave the band an advantage regardless of the tough competitors.

 “It was different from our first competition because the first competitions just had prelims, not a final. I think it was special because we kind of fell into a rhythm and understood what we were doing more. I also think that we did so well because everyone was committed to what they were doing and more excited. Most of the team is freshman, we have 6 freshmen so it was a really big learning curve for everyone but like I said, by the second competition we fell into a rhythm and were closer by then,” Holtgrewe said.