Ryan Garrity\r\nNew Orleans, 2005\r\n\r\nThe Band Plays On\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n To be perfectly honest and believe it or not, I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write this personal essay about. I am also enrolled in Dr. Mizell-Nelson’s other class this semester and I had already written my own Katrina essay for that other course. Of course, being the consummate history professor that Dr. Mizell-Nelson is, I was told to write a completely separate essay for this course. I actually considered the assignment an interesting challenge but being that I couldn’t tell my own story over again, I needed to find a story that was sufficiently different from mine or anyone else’s. For two weeks I passively listened to friends, neighbors, and even strangers stories of Katrina. None of them compelled me to write them down. I was just about to give up on finding the perfect story when on Saturday, November 5, the story I was looking for practically fell into my lap. Instead of writing this essay on a single individual, it will be written about an organization and its’ struggle to achieve success despite Katrina’s setbacks. The organization is the Archbishop Rummel High School Marching Band. I’m sure some of you are thinking to yourselves “what is so important about a high school band?” I promise that this is of the most heartening stories I have heard or experienced and it is one that deserves to not only be recorded in the new Katrina Digital Archive, but one that also deserves to be heard by everyone as an example of heart over adversity.\r\n\r\n When I was in high school, The Raider Band had begun to establish itself as one of the best programs in the state. By the time I graduated, the Band was one of the premiere bands in the state, consistently finishing in the top ten of the Louisiana Showcase of Marching Bands, which is extraordinary for a class AAA band of Rummel’s size. This year, Katrina changed everything. After a successful band camp and a successful first few weeks of practice, the show was beginning to take shape. The Band had even taken on a more difficult show than in past years, basing the show on the famous operas Pagliacci, Turandot, and Sampson and Delilah. On August 26th, the Band performed at the first football event of the season, the East Bank Jamboree. The next morning, the evacuation was called for and the students scattered across the country to flee from the storm.\r\n\r\n In Baton Rouge, my sister, who is a member of the Band’s auxiliary unit, the “Chapellettes,” worried about the future of the season. After the first week in exile, she had pretty much written off the marching season. As a sophomore, she wasn’t as upset about it as some of the older girls were but it was still frustrating that all the work they had already put in had come to nothing. The year was lost and they would never get it back. However, as is usually the case in times like these, things changed rapidly. Jefferson Parish was not as damaged as many initially thought it was. Within three weeks, the Archdiocese announced that Rummel and Chappelle, the two Catholic schools on the east bank of Jefferson Parish, would be re-opening in early October. Perhaps at least the halftime routines could be saved, but no one expected the band to even attempt a competitive marching season at that point.\r\n\r\n When my sister returned to school, much to her surprise, the band announced that they would still be attending the Louisiana Showcase of Marching Bands if for no other reason than to say that the storm wasn’t going to keep them down. The Band had no lofty goals of success; they just wanted to attend and be seen.\r\n\r\n With Showcase on November 5th, the band had about three weeks to prepare. Normally they have the entire fall semester before showcase. They had lost almost six weeks of practice to Katrina. To make matters worse (or better, depending on your viewpoint), the band had taken in students from the Rummel Transition School who had been in their own bands before the storm. The only problem was that these students had never been exposed to core-style marching and had to learn very quickly. After a tough three weeks of extended practices, lots of yelling and tensions high, the day finally came; and the band was ready to step up to the plate.\r\n\r\n On the morning of November 5, the Rummel Raider Marching Band drove to Lafayette for the festival. At 1:30, they marched through the tunnel at ULL stadium and onto the field of competition. The announcer gave the name of the school and then the names of the schools that all of the extra students attended. The only thing to say about the performance itself was that it was absolutely amazing. Everything went correctly and they sounded great! I was very pleased. However, I still didn’t think that they had done well enough to repeat their previous scores. The judges disagreed with me. \r\n\r\n The ONLY band from the devastated region, with students from 5 different schools who had three weeks to learn the ENTIRE show, won their division. The Raider band received superior ratings in Drum Major, Auxiliary, and Overall Band and an excellent rating in Percussion. The Chapellettes won 1st place in AAA for auxiliary and the Drum Majors won 2nd place in AAA. The Chapellettes also placed 2nd overall and the soloists placed 1st overall. The Raider Band placed 1st in Class AAA and 5th overall, the only AAA band to place in the top five. It was a truly historic and valiant performance from a program that proved that the heart and determination wins over adversity anytime. As the scores were announced, Rummel’s students were given a few seconds extra to cheer and scream than usual. The crowd knew what an accomplishment it was for them to even be there, much less beat 27 other bands at the competition on three weeks of practice. I went to congratulate the assistant director who is also in charge of the field shows and all she could say was “I can’t believe it.” No one could. As the band walked back to their buses, a look of joyous surprise was on everyone’s face. My sister put it best when she said to me “A month ago we weren’t even going to school this semester; three weeks ago we weren’t competing; and tonight we tied our best Showcase scores ever.” As they say in the theatre “the show must go on;” never was this truer than for the Raider Marching Band. Their show did go on, and it won more than any other show they had ever performed save one, and it tied that one. The Raider Band went to Showcase to prove that Katrina wouldn’t keep them away. They ended up proving a lot more than that.