As Rocktown High School (RHS) has opened up, the band program has been split. Students are now either in the Rocktown Bands, or Blue Streak Bands. Students have faced the challenges of being separated from the people they’re most familiar with, and adjusting to the change in logistics.
Junior Carlos Lopez is a student at HHS and plays the clarinet for the Rock City Regiment, the combined marching band between HHS and RHS. To Lopez, splitting in spirit bands has introduced new opportunities.
“I feel like it’s something really new, but it’s not something bad. I really like the new opportunities we have, and also experimenting with something new that has probably only happened twice. It’s really cool to see happen,” Lopez said.
Being split between Rocktown and Harrisonburg has come with new perks and has brought in new opportunities such as new uniforms, and different rehearsal locations.
“Uniform wise, we’ve gotten new uniforms for shows, we get to not only practice on one field but two fields. We get to practice on turf, which is a really good and advanced advantage when it comes to competitions because when it comes to turf, it’s a little bit harder to march on. Now that we get to practice on that turf, it won’t be as much of a disadvantage as it used to be for us,” Lopez said.
For the combined marching band, Rock City Regiment, rehearsals consist of practicing on the HHS field one week, and then on the RHS field the following week.
“Some good things about going back and forth is definitely that we’re not making it feel like it’s one school, like one sided or the other, it’s equal. Making it feel equal between Rocktown students and Harrisonburg students, because we’re a combined band,” Lopez said. “I feel like that’s a really good thing, that we’re just going back and forth from one field to another to make everyone feel welcome, and not just one sided. A con might be that it just takes more time to go back and forth, but it’s not even really much.”
Aside from logistics, students have found themselves struggling with their mental health through the split.
“I personally don’t like the split, it’s caused me a lot of stress and mental health issues. It’s been really hard on my conscience. It’s also a good thing to get out of our comfort zones and figure out the people we’ve never talked to before, so it’s both a negative thing and a positive thing. For me, it’s mainly a negative thing because a lot of the people I know go to Harrisonburg while I go to Rocktown,” Jaffe said. “It’s hard and has taken a toll on a lot of us. It’s like going from people you see literally every single day to people you see only three or four times a week. It’s really rough.”
Junior Jose Rocha is the assistant drum major for the Rock City Regiment, he’s also found himself dealing with mental health.
“The split definitely has its pros and cons. Pros being not having a lot to deal with all at once, all the time, but then obviously the cons are not being able to see your friends all the time. Personally, I feel saddened by the split, mainly because of me not being able to see who I want to every single day,” Rocha said. “Some people feel a detachment from their friends and some people just don’t work well in the environment of change.”
Lopez finds the positives in the midst of the struggles that come with a split.
“We decided to combine our marching band because we want to keep seeing each other because we’re really good friends. I feel like the band is a family,” Lopez said
