Arteries seem to rise with the twirling flags while red rifles are tossed in the air.

An ominous voice calls for "the bells!" while a steady, driving beat creates a growing tension.

On a crisp Friday afternoon in a parking lot of Westminster High School, 99 members of the Westminster High School Band practice hard to bring the stories of Edgar Allan Poe alive in music.

"The Heart of Madness" is an original show written by Mark Lortz and Brian Drake, the school's band directors. The dark tone of the Poe performance disperses each time the music stops and the instruments come down -- revealing smiling, joking teenagers.

"This is my favorite show ever," says Kelsey Winters, 16, a flag guard. "You can get so into it. At football games, they stop and listen."

"It's all original," notes Matt Perisa, 17, a senior mellophone player. "It's never been done before."

For years, according to Lortz, he and Drake have thrown the idea around of doing a Poe-themed show. Last year, they decided to give it a go.

"We started discussing the show last year in November," Lortz recalls. "We started writing and composing in February."

Lortz compares the process of writing the show to that of writing a film score. The marching, he says, adds a whole other dimension to music.

"As a composer, you hear the sound back in your head," Lortz explains. "This is better than what I heard in my head. From the kids' excitement to the visual elements of the flags, rifles and kids' movements ... it adds another element."

The Marching Owls will take their Poe-themed half-time performance to Georgia this week to compete against 33 other bands in the Bands of America Super Regional Championships.

While the band has competed in New York, Indianapolis, Orlando and Williamsburg, to name a few, this contest will be its first performance in Atlanta's Georgia Dome.

"The dome makes it interesting both acoustically and environmentally," Lortz says. "It's an echo chamber. We'll put cotton or earplugs in their ears (during practice). In the dome, it isn't very clear. The sound is a little different."

On Saturday morning, Nov. 1, the Owls will present their performance. If they score high enough, the band could qualify for the evening's competition.

"The students are very prepared," Lortz says. "We set a goal in the beginning to make every performance better than the last one. I'm hoping we are peaking next week."

After numerous stops and starts, the band runs through the entire performance non-stop before breaking for dinner. Local middle schoolers watching on the sidewalk applaud before joining the group for pizza.

"We'll have 250 students from eighth grade to 12th playing tonight," Lortz says, noting the band's homecoming tradition of allowing eighth graders and non-marching band members to join in the festivities by playing various songs for pregame and in the stands.

"In middle school, they don't see anything like this," Lortz adds. "It entices them to be a part of it next year

"It has worked," he adds. "Our enrollment has increased."

Lortz is celebrating 13 years as band director. Drake is in his seventh.

"We keep saying it is probably the best show we've put together since we've been here," Drake says of the Poe performance. "They're a great group of kids. They work hard."

This is Kirsten Bickford's second year as drum major for the band. The 17-year-old flute player is proud of her group.

"I'm really excited about the show," Bickford says. "I love the experiences and the relationships you build with other people -- and the life lessons it teaches you."

---

user comments (0)