Over the years, Venice’s marching band has gained popularity. This year has proved to be a year of growth as many new members have joined the band.

In earlier years, marching band struggled with adding new members since they didn’t have a conductor. Now with Mr. David Lee in the picture, the band has gained 16 new members during this season alone.

“We have a little under 40 and we’re getting close to the point where Mr. Lee is going to dye his mustache blue. It’s going to happen a little after 40.” said percussionist Daniel Ayala, as Mr. Lee has promised to dye his mustache when they reach 40 members.

With such a new and large group, practices have proved to be a “steep learning curve” as Mr. Lee said.

“You have to do formation, you also have to play music, on top of that you have to memorize the music, and on top of that you have to be on the correct foot,” said Mr. Lee. “There is a lot of things going on.”

Despite the learning obstacles that marching band members had to endure, their season is going well. They are currently learning their new drill, which is their formation during the songs. In addition, Mr. Lee is in the process of trying to get marching band to count as P.E. credit for students. This will surely benefit many of its members and may even attract new students.

It is currently too late to join marching band for this fall, but people who are interested have winter color guard and drumline to look forward to. If you are really interested in marching band, you can join next semester when the new season starts.