By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor
The entire Corbin marching band is huddled in a huge, twitching mass around the 30 yardline, and the crowd wants more.
The Infection, it seems, is spreading.
During Saturday’s Cumberland Falls Invitational, hosted by Corbin High School, the Marching Redhounds performed their concert piece, “Infection” in exhibition.
“I think this is probably the most bizarre show I’ve ever done, and it’s been the most fun, it pushes your creative limits,” said color guard director Nicole Younger. “I’m used to working with just the color guard and I got to work with the band members as well.”
Band director James Cornn, Younger and assistant band director Mark Neethery came up with the concept last year, long before a real life infection of swine flu hit area schools.
The 11-minute piece portrays an infection from exposure, outbreak and epidemic to the music of Mark Higginbotham’s Spiral Symmetry in three movements.
Junior color guard member Stephanie Miracle is the “Infector,” and her routine goes beyond the traditional flag and rifle spinning — she swims and crawls across the field, spreading an “infection” of the color red.
Senior tuba player Josh Teague loses the brass and picks up a bass in this performance. His red bass guitar represents the “musical infection” that combines with the “color infection” of the color guard — Cornn noted that whenever the guitar plays, an echo of the sound is heard throughout the band.
During the second song, a haunting ballad, members of the color guard unravel a long piece of red fabric which they wind among the band members.
“The first group that actually got the show concept was the guard, and to have them portray this and communicate it to the audience, that was the hardest thing to get,” Younger said.
The black, feathery plumes on the band members’ hats that start off the show are made from black boas glued around paper towel rolls. As the infection spreads, members one-by-one pull off their black plumes to reveal red ones underneath.
By the end of the performance, the entire band has been infected and defected from the show, walking off the center of the field in a huddled, twitching mass. Only the percussion continues to play, until they too become erratic and drop their drum sticks. The drum major, left with no one to lead, steps down from her podium and is touched by Miracle, the original red infection, and the drum major’s brown tunic is ripped off to reveal a red suit underneath.
While the drum major goes to join her infected band, the infection scampers to the other side of the field, presumably to continue to infect the rest of the world.
“To get any kind of scores and to be a front runner, it’s more than just going out there and playing three songs, it’s going out there and making people think,” Younger said of band competition.
“Infection” has created a level of excitement Younger hasn’t before seen from a high school band.
“They love it,” she said. “This year, from the ones that we have that are brand new up to our seniors, everybody is the same kind of excited.”
The kids have been practicing the piece since July, but more and more elements have been added to the show since concert season started, such as the red fabric and the plume change.
Cornn says the timeliness of the infection theme has likely helped when it comes to the judges. Younger joked that some have begun calling the routine “the swine flu show.”
Saturday was also the first time in about six years that Corbin High School has hosted an invitational tournament. Eleven Kentucky bands competed in Saturday’s invitational. As hosts, the Redhounds did not compete, but they performed in exhibition along with University of the Cumberlands’ Marching Patriots.
Volunteer parents and alumni really made the invitational possible, and all proceeds from ticket and concession sales will benefit the Redhounds’ band.
“This is the best group of parents since I’ve been in high school,” Younger said. “These parents are amazing. They are so supportive, and not just of their kids, but of the staff. It’s almost like we gained parents.”
“There’s no way that I could do any of this without the parental support,” Cornn added. “My first year it was like pulling teeth to get parents to help... and now I have parents that I can count on and trust... kids aren’t the only ones that have to buy into it, parents have to buy into it.”
And what they’re “buying into” is a marching band with a different kind of focus — a band that puts an emphasis not just on the technical aspects of music, but on the artistic interpretation of song.
“The performing arts are not what they should be in our area, and just trying to get kids and adults to buy into that has been a process that we’ve had to go through,” Cornn said.
“It’s just been really crazy how much has happened over the last four years,” Cornn added. “It’s a completely different band from when I came in four years ago.”
Today, more than 70 kids perform in the concert band and 50, including 11 color guard members, participate in marching band.
“My first year in marching band we had 25 people total, so it’s doubled in size,” Cornn said. “And the concert band, I think I had not even 20 people on my roster the first day.”
Younger said Corbin is still considered a “dark horse” in band competition, but “Infection” is really catching on. Of the four competitions in which the band has performed, Corbin has won three first place and one second place trophy in Class AA. They also won three best percussion and three best color guard awards.
Members of the Corbin community will have one more chance to catch “Infection” at home. The band will perform during half-time of the Oct. 30 home football game.
The band will be performing at the state quarterfinals the following evening, Halloween night, at Tates Creek High School. Semifinals and finals are Nov. 7.
“Our goal is, we would love to make state finals,” Cornn said. “The top four in your class make it to state finals, and right now we’re sitting nicely to make that happen, but there’s still three weeks in the season and, like any other sport, anything can happen.”
Last year, Corbin placed ninth in the state, the highest finish ever for the school band.
Younger said band leaders have also toyed with the idea of performing at the Bands of America Grand National Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana next month.
“You’ve got to have some jewelry (trophies) under your belt to take something like that to BOA, and everybody’s saying yeah, you should do it,” she said.
Younger said “Infection” has also set the bar pretty high for next year’s competition.
“We’re thinking about doing an architecture show (next year), and the only thing I can think to tell you is, it will take it to a more mature level of marching band, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” she said.
Samantha Swindler is the managing editor of the Times-Tribune. She can be reached at sswindler@thetimestribune.com
