Marching Bulldog Band ready for a ‘scary’ good time
A year ago, Cedartown High School band director Jeff Gossett was trying to keep the band together and performing during halftime of football games with a lot of questions about how it would go.
“Band is a family, and every year you’re starting over with new aspects of family coming in. We get to learning each other and getting to know who is who and all that kind of stuff,” Gossett said.
“We found out through COVID that the kids really miss being with the kids, period. One of the things I think that helped when we finally got back last year is we never knew if anything was going to happen all of the sudden and the rug was going to be pulled out from under us.”
Gossett said there’s been a new resurgence this season of band members coming in, ready to work and firing on all cylinders.
“They really are enjoying the show we’re playing. Something a little different than what this band’s done in the past but we’re looking forward to it,” Gossett said.
This year, with what everyone hopes is the worst of the coronavirus pandemic over, the Marching Bulldog Band is ready to have a party with the ghost with the most.
The Cedartown marching band’s 2021 halftime show will be themed to Beetlejuice, with the show featuring songs from both the 1988 Tim Burton film and the hit Broadway musical, which is based on the film and opened in 2019.
Gossett said he didn’t know much about the musical, but once he looked into it he could see why it had become such a hit and how they could work it into the show.
Opening with the classic Danny Elfman theme from the movie, the band will then play a medley of three songs
from the musical. That will lead into a pair of songs from the movie — “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and “Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)” — that will include some fun visuals for the audience.
Gossett said “Day-O” will include a reenactment of the
famous dinner scene from the movie, while “Jump in the Line” will include a special effect sure to lift spirits.
“It’s a production. Chris Reaves, who is over the drama department here at the high school, and myself just clicked on all that. He’s helping us with all of the drama parts and he’s a former band kid too,” Gossett said.
“One of the things I always try to do with the show when I’m designing it is think, ‘Is it fun for the audience?’ If the audience is not entertained, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing the right notes or not, or how hard the movements are in the field. I want the crowd to be waiting for halftime and waiting to see the show.”
Gossett said he and head football coach Jamie Abrams have talked about making the band a bigger part of the game experience and will be working on a new pregame performance.
Also, this season will see the marching band return to the homestands of Cedartown Memorial Stadium on Friday nights, this time at the north end. It keeps the band out of the eye line of fans watching the game and makes it a short trip from the band’s new headquarters on the lower floor of the school’s fine arts building located just behind the home stands.
“It’s a little different, but
we tried it in the spring and kids liked being down there. It made everything more convenient,” Gossett said. “They were like, ‘yeah, no, this makes sense.’”