Gallery • 7 Photos

Hailey Vanish

The guard members starting off their first song with their fabric draped hoops.

In its heydays of the 1980s, the Tyrone High School Marching Band featured a large color guard and majorette corps, but for the past several years the band’s halftime show has featured only a few color guard and no majorettes.  This year the band has been working hard to reverse that trend.

Tyrone band director David Hock worked with majorette instructor Marcia Fink and color guard instructor Corinne Creppage over the summer to increase numbers in the guard and bring the majorettes back to the band.

As a result of their collaboration, twelve new members of the color guard and majorettes took the field with the marching band this fall. They include six majorettes, two new guard members and four students who are doing both guard and majorettes. 

“Color guard has always been part of the marching band and football halftime shows since the dawn of marching bands. There’s been a few years when we didn’t have very many, but they were always there,” said Hock, “[But] this year was the first year since 2014 that we came up with a plan to include majorettes. They also have the option of joining competition marching band and doing a combination of flag and baton for the competition show.”

The new members are a mix of students with experience and those new to color guard or majorettes.

“Around half of the guard and majorette members had never done guard before, and even the ones who have done it before, haven’t done it for a few years,” said freshman majorette/color guard Mikenzie Weaver. 

Many of the new members come from the local Star-Lite Twirlers competition team and have been twirling for years. 

“Twirling takes practice and hard work. It’s rewarding to see the confidence it can build, teamwork, and work ethic that can also help with life in general,” said Creppage. 

Over the summer the majorettes and guard practiced many hours a day to learn the drill, movement, and choreography. The first week of band camp lasted from 8 am until 5pm. The second week had even more hours of hard work, from 8 am to 8 pm. Even with school in session, the majorette and guard practice three times for a total of ten hours a week.

The members of the majorette and color guard team currently consist of one senior, one junior, four sophomores, one freshman, and two eighth-graders. The youngest members of the group are in sixth and fifth grade. 

“I love being able to teach a trick and watch as they accomplish things they never thought they could,” said majorette instructor Marcia Fink.

The band’s halftime show is titled “Nature’s Fury.” The majorettes and guard are performing a routine that coordinates with the band’s music and theme.

Fink and Creppage chose flags to represent the weather during the show.

In the first song, the guard starts with hoops draped with a shiny gray material and flags with clouds on them, while the majorettes start with royal blue streamers and finish the song with one baton.

In the second song, the guard use swing flags that vary in shades from white to black, representing the sky before and during the storm, while the majorettes start with double flag batons and end with two batons.

In the final song, the guard uses dark flags with lightning bolts while the majorettes use light-up batons to represent flashes of lightning.

The majorette and guard members, along with their instructors, are proud of the work they put into this year’s halftime show.

“I hope to continue this trend and this opportunity for the color guard and the majorettes to continue growing in size and give students a positive and rewarding experience during the fall season,” said Hock.

Fink, Creppage and Hock encourage everyone in the community, especially former members, to support the band, color guard and majorettes by attending the football games to watch them perform.