The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
SENIOR SHOW ADDS NOSTALGIA
Clippers to feature favorite music of senior students
Clearview Clippers High School Marching Band emerges Nov. 3 and presents favorite music of seven seniors during halftime for the first round Region 14 playoff game at Bellville Clear Fork.
And 17-year- old senior Elizabeth Gunter wrote the movements of the band to align with the songs, said Director Jennifer Smercina.
The marching band includes 65 students, Smercina said, with 150 youth in the overall band pro- gram.
The songs chosen for the senior show include “Peace Frog” by the Doors; “Love Her Madly” by the Doors; “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles with a trumpet solo by Elizabeth; and “Party Rock Anthem,” a modern dance tune, Smercina said.
Elizabeth said she has attended Clearview Local Schools in Lorain since preschool.
In the band, she serves as a trumpet section leader and as band president.
“I wrote the charts for the whole senior show,”
“It was challenging, but it was fun to see the outcome.” — 17-year-old senior Elizabeth Gunter
Elizabeth said, adding the extra work required about 10 hours over two weeks. “It was challenging, but it was fun to see the outcome.
“I was hoping (fans) would enjoy it and that they saw how much dedication there could be in the band.”
She said the trickiest part of writing the show involved the details.
“Making sure everybody had a place to go, and had enough time to get to their next move,” Elizabeth said. “I really like it and the
band really likes it, too. It makes me hope the fans will enjoy it.”
Every year all of the seniors vote on their favorite songs from their marching band careers, she said.
“( Band) is something I really enjoy,” Elizabeth said. “It means a lot to me; it’s fun. The people are like a second family.”
Senior Isabel Valadez, 17, plays clarinet and serves as a section leader in the Clearview Marching Band.
“My brothers were in the band, and I picked up an interest for it,” Isabel said. “And being around everybody in the band is like they’re brothers and sisters. To me it’s really
fun.”
She said the senior show stirs her deeply.
“When we’re practicing the senior show, I hear everyone playing the music and it brings back a lot of nostalgia to me,” Isabel said. “It brought me back to my freshman year. That’s why we chose that music.”
She said the band helped her step forward as a person.
“When I first started band, I was really shy, and I didn’t talk to anyone,” Isabel said. “Over the years, I’ve changed. You fit in, and the people around you.
“If they see you’re not talking and you’re isolating yourself from the
group, they come to you and they talk to you. You feel like you fit in.”
And to her, she said the performance is for the fans in the stands.
“I hope they enjoy the music and they see how much we worked to perform it on the field, and I hope our feelings for band and how much we love it will show,” Isabel said.
The director said she desires similar outcomes for her students.
“I hope my seniors are able to end the season on a good note, as they perform their show one final time,” Smercina said. “I hope they have a good memory to look back on from their high school career.”