By Katelyn Neumann/GG Staff Writer
The Front Ensemble is one of the percussion components in North Star’s marching band, however unlike drumline, they don’t march.
Front Ensemble stands out from the band in several ways, but the most obvious is that instead of marching, the group stands in front of the rest of the band to play their music. Front Ensemble members are also different, because they are required to learn and perform more than one instrument.
Section leader Jamison Albin said his favorite part of being in Front Ensemble is, “being able to share my love of music with the members and being able to teach the newbies the basics such as major scales and mallet height.”
Practices for the Front Ensemble, start in the summer and lead to 7 a.m. rehearsals during the school year. The group is also required to attend full-band rehearsals every Tuesday during first quarter.
Members are required to have their music memorized by the first competition, which is Sept. 24 this year. To ensure this, the group performs memory checks every week and a half.
As this group doesn’t march they are scored a little different at competitions. While the front ensemble helps with the band’s overall music effect score, their actual score is separate from the rest of the band and combined with the other percussion components.
The front ensemble is usually composed of ten to twelve members. All people involved in the group will learn how to play instruments such as xylophone, vibraphone, marimba and more.
The group shifts instruments on most every piece of music. It’s important that this happens quickly as the rest of the band cannot march until the Front Ensemble is set and there is a time limit for each band that performs. If the band is not off the field before the clock hits zero their score is invalid.
In order to transport the many instruments that are involved in front ensemble to and from football games and competition the group is provided with a Penske truck. The truck is loaded by the group’s members promptly after school on the days before a competition or game and driven to the location where it’ll wait to be unloaded by the front ensemble members.
