During halftime of Foran football games, students, staff, and parents get the chance to see Foran’s band perform popular songs. Each year the band has a different choice of music and performance. 

     There is a lot of work put into the band. The band starts practicing in the summer just before school starts to get their halftime routine down. During school, the students typically practice five hours per week, which includes marching down to the football field and running their routines to perfect them during period 5.

     Choosing the songs that they perform is actually an important process and students can give input. Band director, Ms. Jessica Turner says, “Choosing the songs for our marching show is a collaborative process between the students and myself every year. We wanted to put together a show that would engage our audience. We were looking for songs that could tell a story.  This year’s show, Blinding Lights, Shut Up and Dance and I’m Still Standing is a broad telling of our experiences in the last two years.”

     Even though we see all hard work paid off in all of the performances. Band President Barry Held speaks about his band experience throughout his years in the band. Held states, “What really sold me on joining the band is all the experiences that come with it. My favorite thing is being able to connect with so many different people across all grades, it’s more than music. It’s a really great and inclusive atmosphere.”

     Held has been a part of the band all four years of his high school career and also states, “Band is something I cannot envision my high school experience without.”

     Even through Covid-19, students have still continued to do what they love and make music. New underclassmen have joined the band even though the struggles they might face. With the pandemic hitting just as they are entering high school underclassmen were not able to enjoy the feel of performing live till this year.

     Sophomore Lindsay Wiederhold states, “It was weird coming in last year and being so far apart, high school in general was just hard with everyone being online. This year I got to finally perform live for an audience and it felt so nice after a year behind screens.”

     After their football game performances this season, the band hopefully has more in store.