Established in 2019, the annual Bands of Cary exhibition has been a cherished event amongst the local band community for years. Green Hope had the honor of hosting the event this year, bringing together the four local high school band programs: Green Level, Green Hope, Panther Creek and Cary High.
Starting at 7 p.m, Green Level displayed their performance, followed by Cary High, and then Green Hope. Each school adhered to a theme during their performance, making it engaging and highlighting different musical components that emphasize their strengths as a band. Cary High performed with a Hook theme, Green Level performed with an Aim From The Heart theme, and Green Hope performed to a Transcend theme.
Cary High focused on Captain Hook, featuring songs with more of a pirate theme to bring a sense of fun and wonder that night and Green Level featured an Aim From the Heart theme, using creative visuals such as arrows on their instruments to enhance the ambiance of their music, bringing a more immersive experience.
Green Hope performed to a transcend theme, centered around their progression towards success. The performance was well-rehearsed and showed off the practice the marching band has been doing to prepare for the event.
The Transcend theme reflected the essence of the word itself: to exceed and go beyond. The music was intentionally written in the first piece to sound like something of “an argument.” The second piece sounded more put together as the band incorporated different elements to improve the quality and harmony of the first piece. Green Hope’s show also contains a third piece that builds on the second piece, although this was not displayed during the exhibition. The iterative nature of the pieces perfectly encapsulates what it means to rise above and beyond.
Green Hope High School Band Director, Mr. Creighton Flowers, spoke on the event and what it means to the Green Hope Community. “The idea was to create comradery amongst the four Cary bands, and to create an event that is not competitive” Mr. Flowers highlighted. “It’s to get the students together and have them support each other before the competitive events begin.” Mrs. Barbara Magee, an AP Environmental Science teacher at Green Hope, also had the opportunity to attend the event and highlighted the community nature of the event.
“Even at competitions at the local and state level, if there’s another Cary band there, they always support each other, regardless of how intense the competition might be” Heavily involved in the band community, Mrs. Magee recounted when Green Hope students made a tunnel with their hands for the Cary High band students – one of her favorite moments as a band mom.
Junior Alice Huang (‘25), a member of the percussion section, cherished the event. “Though the event was inside, I had a really good time eating pizza with the other members of the percussion sections of each school. We were able to get to know each other better and talk about our shows and the experiences we had putting them together over the summer.” When asked what her favorite aspect of the event was, Huang expressed the excitement she felt as she watched the other students perform, seeing their progress and how their summer work had manifested.
Even within the competitive nature of marching band, there are moments of comradery- moments where music has the ability to build connections, foster sportsmanship, and strengthen a community of dedicated students.
Though Bands of Cary serves as just the first event of the season, marching band students spent hours after school rehearsing for the event and their hard work manifested in a phenomenal performance. Throughout the next couple of months, you might see the marching band out on the field after school perfecting their routine and preparing for the competitive season that follows Saturday’s kickoff.
The Green Hope marching band will have its first competitive event on Saturday, September 23, at the Panther Creek Invitational.
