Elkhart Memorial High School - Monolith Yearbook (Elkhart, IN)

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150 marchers sweat through band camp Teaching marching drills for the show is very important at camp. Mr. Litherland uses pop,gans to mark rank positions in the band. bi round the end of August : b, every year a strange thing “ happens at Memorial right outside the band room. One director with assistant, one aux- iliary director, one flag drill designer, five horn instructors, 12 bus parents, 12 toothbrushes, 199 hair dryers, 150 summer- weary musicians, 300 pairs of shoes, 2,165 tee-shirts, 981% pairs of socks, 150 aussie hats, and 32 poles complete with flags con- verge upon six buses and depart for Syracuse, Indiana. When the convoy arrives all of the above is unloaded and the e ; Peer a fun starts. “One of the biggest “weapons’f the staff is ge . When one happens to be a Me one ha Saeiaa Nereis ey ae io member of the Crimson Charger ays =- Command, fun is defined as: sweat, marching, cabin 8-C, the bell, sweat, the Freaky-Deaky, sweat, the Dexter Snud Nuts, horn sectionals, flag work, 97 degrees, sweat, The Birds, The Skyliners from “New York, New York’, “Can-Can,” “Tuxedo Junction,’ “Man That Cat Is High,” and “Home.” This is band camp. “I don't wanna go! Let me out!” is the hopeless plea of Laurie Wilson. But it’s too late. The bus doors are already locked. Nancy McKibben takes a break between toots to make a comment, probably to photographer Bill Lovejoy for disturbing her concentration. band camp 17

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The drill team first learns the crowd appealing flag toss while the steamy sun beats down on the Smith-Walbridge field. The brass section waits patiently in a company front before proceeding to the next move. Many found this the worst part of camp. Concentrating on counts and position, the drill team runs through a production drill. Flag work is gradually worked into the drill. 16 encore! encore!

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Elkhart Memorial High School fielded a completely new march- ing unit in 1978, and they were a unit, in every sense of the word. There were many factors con- tributing to the new image of the band. The band donned $25,000 worth of new uniforms, finally giving every member the same style of attire. Another change was the fusion of the flag corps and drill team into one corps, and the girls proved the intelli- gence of this decision by winning the outstanding drill team award at the Chesterton Invitational. There was only one more wrinkle in the transformation, and this was ironed out when the band took the field at the The saxophones file out for their feature in ‘“Tux- edo Junction” while the color guard prepares to lay their flags down for their dance. The guard waits for their Miusic cue as drum major Andrew Holtz leads the band through the pre-game show of “Battle Hymn.” Kokomo Haworth Invitational with their new name, the Crim- son Charger Command, and marched off the field with the highest placing of any band in the history of Memorial, second to the Chesterton Trojan Guard. The Command next marched at its own invitational and, with important changes in the show, performed at the NISBOVA dis- trict competition to once again place in the elite top five in as many years. Command wows ‘em with new image There was only one competi- tion left before State. The show was at Chesterton, and the Com- mand placed second only to powerhouse Kokomo Haworth, with their highest score to date of 89.5 out of a possible 100 points. The climax of the 1978 march- ing season was the Indiana State Championships at Terre Haute. The judges rewarded the Com- mand with the honor of fourth place in Class A.