RAYTOWN, Mo. — The Raytown High School band member are pros at performing during high school half-time games. What they’re not used to is performing in a professional stadium in front of thousands of fans.
“It’s an amazing experience to be able to go to the BCS Championship in New Orleans,” said junior trumpet player Stephanie Fox, 17. “I’m just so excited.”
The Raytown High band, along with around 1,000 other high school band members, will perform the half-time show for Monday’s BCS Championship Game in New Orleans. The song they’ll play was specifically composed for them.
“I like the music,” said Carl Von Sirls, an 18-year-old percussionist. “The reason I like the music is it has something for everybody. I like the way it sounds and feels . It’s a little difficult in some areas but, we got it. ”
That’s because the musicians have been practicing for three months straight. Thursday afternoon was their final rehearsal before the big performance.
“It’s a mixture of like jazzy and them there’s a little bit of gospel in it,” said Fox. “It has that New Orleans feel.”
“It’s not really about what the final product is,” said Von Sirls. “It’s about how well we journey through that project. It’s just about how far we’ve come from where we used to be to where we are now.”
While the trip is meant for work, the band will get to play as well. Topping their to-do lists are trying Cajun food, listening to jazz music and visiting the bayou.
You can catch the half-time performance during the BCS Championship Game on Monday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Central time on ESPN.
