October 4, 2021
By: Bill Conger
Marching music blared across the field at Howard Gamble Stadium in Franklin Saturday (Oct. 2) as the D.C.H.S Fighting Tiger Band performed at Sonic Boom. Bands from Tennessee and Alabama entertained the crowd amid rain delays.
“The band played the best they have played in several weeks,” Band Director Don Whitt said.
Only participation awards were handed out after the event. Head band directors asked that with the intermittent rainfall, no one be officially judged. Instead judges offered comments on how bands could improve for future competitions.
“I told my students that they needed to cut loose,” Whitt said. “They are a young band and get a little stage fright. It is like those nerves from an exam that you dread when all I really want them to do is have fun and enjoy themselves. They already know how to play their instruments stylistically speaking. We go over everything from how to communicate stylistically, to articulation, to how to play dynamically (playing louder and softer). This show has all of the elements.”
In addition, the band’s “Blues Brothers Review” show provides for several funny moments from the band dancing to Jake and Elwood’s hijinks in the color guard.
“I listened to the comments from some of the judges by mp3, and they had a lot of positive comments and how to help our show. Yet, they were really laughing at the end when the guard who are dressed like police arrested the entire band.”
Drum major Serenity Burgess and solo saxophonist B.J. Mosley were interviewed in front of the crowd after the performance. Director Whitt says the Sonic Boom competition is more thoughtful and considerate of the smaller sized bands.
“A year coming off of COVID, many high school bands such as ours were not able to do band competitions or football games. What I enjoyed about this competition is that everyone seems to understand that it’s been a difficult year. Everyone that I spoke with was encouraging to one another from band directors to band students. I saw our band along with others encouraging one another giving fist bumps, and saying you did a great job, and it was sincere.”
“We are truly blessed. I look at our students and the people that are working with our students, and I just have to say we are so blessed with great administration, band boosters, staff, and volunteers. I know we are a young band. We may or may not have a lot of awards this year because we are in a growing period. We are laying a foundation so they can be winners in the future. What I am being encouraged by is that people that I speak with—everyone from people in Walmart or teachers in the hallway— says to give our Fighting Tiger band a year, and they will be a force to be reckoned with. I’m very proud of each one of my students.”
The band will play next at Friday night’s make-up football game in Warren County. The final marching band competition is set for October 30 at the Mid-South Marching Invitational at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville.