By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
On Saturday, Nov. 2, the Michigan Competing Band Association will host its State Finals at Ford Field in Detroit.
And for the fourth straight year, the Plainwell High School marching band will be included in the festivities.
PHS band director David Hepinstall is grateful for the opportunity to take his band back to Ford Field.
“One of our core values in this program is providing our students with memorable experiences,” Hepinstall said. “We’re not a program that is intentionally trying to churn out music majors at the college level.
“Most of our seniors will never play their instruments again after high school. But we want them all to leave our program at graduation feeling grateful for the time they had in high school to make music with their friends.”
Playing at Ford Field provides one such experience.
“To be on the same turf as Jared Goff, to get to go down in that tunnel, is truly a memorable moment for these students,” Hepinstall said. “They get to look back on this experience as adults and feel grateful for the chance to perform on a huge stage like that.
“Four years into this experience, the seniors are pretty locked into the moment by now. They’ve been there and will be really focused on performing. I like to look at the freshmen in particular as they exit the tunnel and look at the stadium from the field point of view.
“This place they’ve seen on TV dozens of times suddenly gets real. The enormity of the moment gets real. Awe and wonder. Educators love getting to share these moments with our students. I like to let them take it all in for a few minutes before reminding them all the field is still 100 yards and all the yard lines are the same as the ones at home so that they get locked in for their best performance just before they wave the green flag.”
Plainwell earned the right to compete at the State Finals by virtue of finishing sixth in a competition against the other MCBA bands in its flight. The top 10 bands in each flight punch their ticket to Ford Field.
Making it to the State Finals is the culmination of what has, according to Hepinstall, been a very successful season.
“Nearly every student has shown tremendous dedication to the band’s growth and success this season,” he said. “One of my favorite things about them is that they all share a strong desire to see themselves and their teammates be successful.
“Ultimately, the mark of a good season in marching band is being able to see noticeable growth in the students as performers—watching them grow, learn from and push each other to be their absolute best by the end of the season.”
In the week leading up to the State Finals, Hepinstall said the goal was building and showcasing confidence during the band’s performance.
“Communicating and executing visual and musical clarity and mentally breaking through the fatigue that can wear down a performer in the second half of a show that can affect that clarity will be our focus,” he said. “Our show designers created a show the judges have been very excited about this season.
“Our students now just need to execute those ideas with as much clarity as they can. A well-designed play in football only works if the other 10 guys hit their blocks. In marching band, a well-designed show idea only works if every member hits their mark the same way at the same time.”
And while he wants the performance at the State Finals to be as good as possible, Hepinstall said the score the band gets isn’t what’s most important.
“We might not get a medal on Saturday, but that doesn’t diminish the accomplishments of our students and everyone who supports them,” he said. “We’re providing the experiences and musical excellence that make choosing this band program worth the time it takes. We have much to be proud of already and I am excited that we still have more that we can accomplish in the coming years.”
