by Susan Mott, Hancock Band Director
The Hancock Middle-Senior High School Panther Marching Band traveled to Orlando, Florida September 17-21 to march in a parade and participate in a workshop at Universal Studios. After sending in a video of one of the band’s marching performances, the band, made up of 27 members earned the opportunity to march in one of Florida’s most visited attractions, Universal Orlando.
After marching the one-mile parade through the streets of Universal Orlando, drum major Peyton McCoy said, “I can’t believe we just did that! We went from four players in the high school band a few years ago to a full marching band marching through the streets of Universal Orlando!”
Many students and parents remarked that this was an amazing experience for our band students and parents alike, one that we will never forget.
While in Orlando, the band also had the opportunity to work with a professional producer/director and professional sound recording engineers on creating background music, voice-overs and sound effects for a scene from the movie “Despicable Me.”
The band received digital copies of the music in advance and prepared the music in Hancock. Once the band had recorded the music track for the scene, students were asked to re-create the voices of the characters in that scene. As the recording engineers layered in the voices over the music, the band started to work on sound effects for the same scene.
I think I learned as much from the experience as they did.
Once the band’s performance experiences were complete, they got to spend time in City Walk, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios riding roller coasters, taking in some amazing shows, enjoying the pool at the Endless Summer Surfside Resort and all that Orlando has to offer.
The boosters organization took the band to the Hard Rock Cafe where the band was able to view some incredible memorabilia from famous rock bands of the past.
