Directed by Russ Batch, marching band is Madison High School’s largest varsity sport. The Madison Marching Dodgers placed 3rd in the 2024 New Jersey state championship for group IV schools.
Marching Band is different from most sports because teams don’t compete with each other, rather their performances get rated by judges, practices that start at six o’clock rather than three o’clock, and they play with eighth graders. There are fifteen different musical instruments in marching band so it is very imperative that the team maintains a close relationship because there is a lot of variation within the team. The band has a camp over the summer where they spend twelve hours a day for four days practicing and socializing, this helps to boost the team chemistry and does a lot to improve the band as a whole.
One of the team’s senior members, Cailyn Kouh, had this to say about the camp “It’s really intense, but it kind of has that mentality of the people you struggle with like those are the people you are going to remember and you have to be close with them because there is no one else who knows that experience like you do.” This camp also helps a lot with getting the team ready for their competitions.
However, the marching band does not only perform at competitions they also play at football games and pep rallies. During the football games the marching band sits in the stands and plays music during the game, but then during halftime and the pep rallies they perform on the field.
Every year the marching band has a theme that works its way into every performance, this year’s theme is the legend of the wychwood forest. This theme is a darker one that falls more in line with the theme that placed them third at states last year. The wychwood forest is a real place in England that is an urban legend, during performances the members of the marching band will be trees and the band as a whole will represent the forest
When asked what is like being on a team with eight graders senior Alex Sadowski said “obviously they don’t really know what they are doing yet, they’re still in middle school, but they put themselves into the family, they really become a core part of the marching band by the end of the season, Mr Batsch always likes to say that by the end of the season there are some eighth graders that are marching better than most of our veteran members are, so really by the end of the season they catch on, they know what they are doing, they become pros.”
Another senior Amal Fakhar added “I actually started when I was in eighth grade, and after I came to the highschool like for ninth grade I was greeted by all the seniors and everyone who were in marching band with me and the actually gave me a hug and said hi welcome to the high school, so having the eight graders be there before they actually come to highschool, for them personally, makes a really great transition and it also kind of gives them a space to go when they come to highschool, and it’s just a really cool opportunity for the eight graders because there isn’t really another chance that they can get to do a highschool sport while still in middle school.”