The unsung heroes of a high school homecoming week don't receive the same fanfare as the gridiron gladiators but certainly know how to toot their horn.
"There's the whole band geek stereotype, which they own and take great pride in," said Kelly Neudecker, band director at Fulton High School. "I always say I get to teach the best kids in the school. They work all year long, not just for one season."
The marching band participates actively in the week-long homecoming celebration. They do the halftime show at the football game, march in the homecoming parade and play various events throughout the week.
This week, of course, is only another milestone in the year-long marching band season, said Neudecker.
"We will also be marching in the parade Saturday in Jefferson City," she said. "Then, we have a band competition on Sept. 24 in Wright City. It's one of three this year."
Colleen Van Norman, a senior at Fulton High School and a flautist in the band, said the amount of work the band puts in is mind boggling.
"We've been playing since summer," she said. "We're here every morning. Some play sports and have to get here earlier and leave later."
Neudecker said band camp is no small affair and is not for the faint of heart. The camp this summer coincided with a statewide heat advisory where temperature reached into the 110s.
"This year, we did Thursday evenings in June for two hours," she said. "We did some work on the music itself and on marching. Then we had two weeks of camp this summer. In August, we did 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. We also have a lot of kids who are athletes who practiced their sport on top of that."
The theme of this year's show, senior Drum Major Alec Fields said, is music from the second highest grossing movie of all time.
"The show theme is the movie 'Avatar,'" he said of composer James Horner's music. "The one with the blue people, not the guys who move the air."
Leading up to tonight's homecoming performance, Van Norman said the band has been working hard to refine their music, intonation and marching. The complexity of the music, she said, required hours and hours to master.
"It's really intense and a lot of fun to play," she said of the music. "In the beginning, we had a hard time playing with a lot of key and time changes, and there was so much we had to work on. Now, it sounds awesome."
Fields, who plays the saxophone, is one of three drum majors in band this year. The drum majors are charged with standing on a platform and making sure the band stays on beat. The task, he added, has a certain pressure associated with it.
"It's a lot of stress because this band has a long history of excellence," he added. "I feel like I have to uphold the tradition. It's your responsibility to make sure the band's ready to go and make sure everyone's ready. You also have to know and convey the thoughts and actions of the band director to the band."
The struggles of a drum major, Van Norman added, are well known by most band members.
"It's tough," she said. "Not everybody listens to you, and you need to learn to perform under pressure."
Regardless of the pressures involved, bandmates have a special bond that may even trump the bonds experienced by sports teams, said Fields, who plays on the school's soccer team.
"In band, I really feel like we're family," he said. "In sports, you pass each other and say hi in the hallway, but it's not like band."
The bonds between bandmates are a result of the countless hours spent together rehearsing, added Van Norman, a volleyball player.
"I feel like in band you spend so much more time together," she added. "That's the best of it all. In the morning when we come in, you get to talk to 90 different people."
The friendships formed in band, Neudecker said, is what really distinguishes band from other activities.
"(The most important thing) I think is the camaraderie they get with their bandmates," she said. "Also, that feeling of creating something beautiful and a sense of ownership and pride."
Neudecker, who teaches band throughout the district, has had the opportunity to see some of these kids improve over the years.
"It's awesome and very rewarding," she said. "That first concert we have for sixth-graders in October is way better than the honking you hear when the kids play for the first time. Now there are some kids in the marching band that started there."
The years of hard work, Fields said, are well worth the proud moments during the performances.
"Every time we're at a competition or football game, my favorite part is when the announcer asks the drum major if we're ready," he said. "That gets me every time."
Playing in the band is full of those moments, Neudecker added.
"That's the goose bump moment," she added. "They create that music, so they get that feeling you don't get anywhere else."
While some sports can foster a sense of hostility between competitors from different schools, Field said, band participants meet each other on a level playing field, which reaches beyond the color of their uniforms.
"Everyone knows what everyone else has gone through," he said. "You all know how much work we all put in. It's pretty cool."
Neudecker said the excellence of the band and the music they create could not be created alone, and she lauds her supporting staff.
"I'm very proud of them," she said. "They're great kids, and we have a lot of great parental support. We also have great administration, and the school board is very supportive of all we do. I also have a great support staff, my assistant director Sara Glynn and Rachel Diemler, who is doing the color guard."
Like all school programs, Neudecker said, the band is inclusive to families who can afford a new instrument or any of the other costs associated.
"We have a lot of low-income kids who can't afford an instrument," she said. "We want to keep band available to them. If anybody wants to donate, they certainly can do that."
For anyone coming to tonight's homecoming game, Neudecker said everyone in attendance can be sure they are going to get a good show from the band.
"Come see us," she said. "We have the whole show on the field. This is the most we've been prepared for homecoming for many years."
Tonight's Fulton Homecoming parade will start at 3 p.m. on Court Street. Before the game, the band will march into the stadium at 6:35 p.m. to play the national anthem. This will all lead up to their show performance, which will be during halftime of the football game.
