Banded together

Northview’s Marching Band and Color Guard represent Northview’s student body in an International-night themed show

Junior Archana Pateria directs the marching band during their half-time performance.

Photo by Gavin Chen, Staff Writer

Suhani Mahajan, Staff Writer & Brandon Tung, Staff Writer

This year, the marching band and color guard celebrate Northview’s student body with an International Night-themed show. Split into three movements - European and Indian themed, Korean and Latin themed, and Chinese and American themed - the show highlights cultures that are represented by a significant portion of the student population.

Centered around cultural inclusivity, the show incorporates as much of Northview’s diverse culture as possible while still making the performances manageable. Senior drum major Mingi Park assisted band director Kelly Dickerson in selecting the countries represented in the show. The biggest challenge, he recalls, was properly representing the extent of diversity at Northview.

“When we began deciding the show tunes, we began by looking back to International Night and looking at the major cultures that were being represented in that show,” Park said. “And to represent the cultures more accurately, we asked students from the cultural backgrounds we’d selected for the show to recommend us tunes to play; that really added to the inclusivity of the show.”

Park is excited to share the entirety of the show with Northview. The theme’s diversity allowed the marching band to play many familiar songs, and Park looks forward to the student responses for the two movements still in rehearsal.

“I really liked the theme since I first heard about it because it felt like an opportunity to represent the diversity at Northview,” Park said. “Our director came up with this idea after seeing how hyped up we were about International Night. If it wasn't for this Northview tradition, we wouldn't be having this show.”

Senior Vinh Phung, who plays the trumpet in the marching band, has a solo in this year’s show. Practice, passion, and a pinch of nerves fuel his performance.

“At first, I was kind of hesitant on the theme, but as I got to know the music, I got really into it,” Phung said. “We're playing pretty cool songs.”  

Junior Sanjana Menon, the co-captain of the color guard, also enjoys practicing the familiar tunes of the show. Although she had no part in deciding the theme, she equates her excitement to perform the show with that which she experienced during her first International Night experience at Northview.

“I think it's pretty impressive that we're doing this theme, especially with [the] type of songs that we're doing,” Menon said. “It's really fun to hear the band play and have our dance - which is very active, very upbeat - go along with the beat.”

Since Menon is able to pick up the choreography of the show quickly, she is responsible for guiding the rest of the color guard as they learn the dance. She also teaches members how to use and take care of the flags, as well as other routine skills.

“Color guard is easy to enjoy as long as you like performing and dancing. You just have to really commit to it because there's a lot of hard work involved for marching band in general,” Menon said. “We head down to the field from 4 to 6 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday, and it's always so hot. But we still go because we're dedicated to it. If we weren't, then we’d want to quit. It's important to have that passion.”