2 weeks of hard-core practice

♦ Rome High School’s band prepares for the upcoming season.

A lot of music could be heard in and around Rome High School this past week as around 255 band students and their directors assembled throughout the campus to practice for the upcoming season.

RHS’s Band Camp is taking place July 9-20 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Skip Stubblefield, assistant band director, talked about the new material that the students are learning, as well as old material that they are going over in order to prepare for future football games.

“Our half-time show this season is called ‘Machine.’ We are working to keep true to the theme, as we will use several props where our audience will be able to physically see the transformation of our auxiliary unit’s form into different kinds of machinery. It is going to be awesome and we are so excited,” said Stubblefield.

“Truly, our main focus of this week is to get as much of the show on the field as possible, and to clean up as much as we can as we go,” said Stubblefield, which could be seen as the students gathered on the practice field to combine and go over what they have been learning the past few days.

“The kids always work really, really hard,” said Stubblefield, “and they could choose to do anything else but this and they choose to be out there with us, which is really special.”

As far as an end goal for the band, the directors just want to have their kids to perform on the highest level possible.

“It’s fun watching them learn to grow as a team, because band is more than just dots on a page. Marching band is lines on a field. It’s about teamwork and working together, which is such a great learning experience all around,” said the Sound of the Seven Hills second Assistant Band Director David Warren.

“I am beyond ready for this season to start and am so excited to see the kids play this show,” smiled Warren, “It’s a really thrilling show — we can’t wait for the community to see how hard we have been working this summer and to see the cool things that a large group of high school students can do.”

/ Rome City Schools Section leader Cal Teems observes his crew during Rome High band camp, which is continuing through July 20.

/ Rome City Schools The RHS band’s saxophones and mellophones rehearse inside before hitting the field.

/ Rome City Schools David Luna practices on the tuba as part of Rome High’s Sound of the Seven Hills band practice.

/ Rome City Schools Abraham Figueroa (left) and Emily Alvarado with Dante Montgomery in back row.