Marching into the History Books

   Quinn Collins

     Determined to take on a new challenge, the Platteville Marching Band has decided to compete for the first time ever in the Wisconsin School Music Association (WSMA) State Marching Band Championships. In Mr. Cooley’s second year at Platteville, he has already taken on the ambitious goal of competing with the greatest marching bands in the state. The band will compete at noon on October 13th at UW-Whitewater in the Class A division, the division consisting of the smallest schools. Mr. Cooley had a lot to share about what this opportunity means to the band. Mr. Cooley said, “One thing most people don’t realize about marching band is that every single person on the field is doing a different thing at the same time. It’s like having 50 different people playing 50 different positions.” Even members playing the same instrument often move to different places, so everyone has to be responsible for themselves. Another big challenge for the band is memorization. Cooley also shared that, “Trying to memorize three movements of music along with all of the marching is a much greater challenge than memorizing one song for parade marching.” All of these challenges may seem daunting but Cooley also commented that he was so excited about the entire marching season that he couldn’t pick a single thing that stands out for him. He believes that if the band is up for the challenge of memorizing 15 more unique movements than last year, our band will definitely make waves at the competition this year. The band invites you to watch their show Man of Steel at the Platteville Homecoming game on October 5th.