It’s a cool November day as the many students get in buses and cars to complete the drive to Madison. Some students were heading to their second State Championship football game of their high school years while others were heading to the stadium for the first time.

Apart from the rest of the buses is a special coach bus carrying a group of students in red uniforms: the Homestead High School Marching Band, ready to play their instruments to keep the students entertained during the halftime show.

Many in the band didn’t know what to expect and a lot of them were blown away by Camp Randall.

Brian Franks, sophomore trombonist, described entering the stadium by saying, “I’m guessing most of you people reading this have been to a (Homestead) football game or at least hopefully seen the football field, and there’s two sets of bleachers, and then It’s just open space. But then you get to Camp Randall and it’s like ‘Oh, we are in an actual place. People do things here. This is a stadium.’”

While the rest of the student body met up with friends and found their seats around the 50-yard line, the band prepared their instruments and took up their positions. Throughout the first half, they played jingles and short pieces, but the real show was yet to start.

The score was 20-7 in favor of Waunakee as the band took to the field to perform the halftime show. Claire Foote, senior percussionist, described her experience taking the field, saying, “I was terrified that I was going to trip on the cord, and I was making sure John walked fast enough so that I didn’t get hit in the back with a bass drum.”
The band played their selection of music including Soul Finger and The Hokie Pokie, after which they left the field proud and excited and were free to join the rest of the student body.

Todd Spindler, band teacher of 29 years, said, “That’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those kids. I can envision 30 years from now, them talking to their own kids. Yeah. You know, I marched in state, we were on that field. Or if you go to a Badger game, when you see the band or people down on the field. Yeah, I was on there.”
Playing in the Marching Band and getting to perform at the State Football game is definitely a highlight of the year for many students, but it is far from the only fun thing students did.

Brayden Meyer, senior trumpeter, said, “Winter was a really exciting time in band because we spent time focusing on and perfecting music to perform for everything from Friday night basketball to formal concerts and the Solo & Ensemble Festival.”

Later into the winter and in the spring, the band continued to put their talent to use. Spindler said, “We did some concerts. We had an indoor concert in the auditorium, the Collage Concert. And then at the end of the year in May, we put on a huge concert in the auditorium, our benefit concert. And then marched in the Memorial Day parade.”
Band is special where it is one of the few classes at Homestead where you have freshmen through seniors in one classroom environment. This creates a very friendly and welcoming environment.

Kyle Schoeffler, senior percussionist said, “For the first tri of band all four grade levels are together in one collective class. It’s a lot of fun to have the underclassmen with us because we can kinda mentor them in a way. And it makes for a really friendly type of environment.”

Spindler talked about next year with optimism and about an end to COVID.

“We’re thinking about trying to return to our tradition of touring. Next year would be a tour. And so we’re thinking about maybe spring break going a little further than Madison, you know, like a lot further, um, maybe. We could fly, but we (will) probably be (on) a bus trip and I’m talking to someplace like a New York (trip) or an Orlando (trip) or something like that, which would be kind of the big focus of the year,” Spindler said.