LITTLETON, Colo. — Our final stop on our “Hearts of Champions” tour takes us to Littleton High School. Last year, this marching band achieved a milestone by placing sixth in the Colorado Bandmasters Association’s (CBA) 4A state championships held in Colorado Springs.
It was the first time in school history for "The Pride of Littleton” marching band program. Instrumental Music Director, Don Emmons has led the school’s music program for the past 28 years. He said last year was their best season.
“We achieved our highest scores ever, our highest placement ever, made it to the state finals down at the Air Force Academy,” Emmons said. “We want to do the same or better and so we’ve kind of started with that benchmark in our mind to say, ‘If that’s what we did last year, we can do the same thing this year.'"
This year, the group of about 90 marching members were hard at work putting in long hours on the practice field during their summer band camp. The two-week camps usually take place before their first classes begin where students get in shape and learn the basics of marching and playing so they can learn to perform about an 8-minute show. A show they’ll perform while marching, running, playing their instruments and spinning flags. It’s a part of the season senior tuba player John Keran loves.
“We’ll drill the fundamentals enough to the point where our beginners and our veterans will get more comfortable with what we’re doing,” Keran said. “My favorite part is everyone grinding to put hard work in and seeing everything come together.”
Keran grew up hearing stories about the camaraderie of band members from his father and decided to follow in his footsteps. He said even though he grew up thousands of miles away, those stories still motivate him today.
“I lived in the Philippines for eight years and lived in India and my dad would always tell me his stories about his marching band from high school and it got me super excited about it,” Keran said. “So, I decided to try my first year here at Littleton High School and I’ve been hooked ever since.”
It’s that same personal spirit that this marching band wants to carry over into this season. Senior trumpet player Eli Barbour said his final season will be special.
“I’ve invested so much time and the past year hasn’t been easy for me from a personal level…my mom passed, so I want to play this show for her,” Barbour said. “I want my entire high school experience to be complete and to feel like the ending of a cycle and to feel like I left the band in a better place and better condition than I found it.”
Emmons said their philosophy is to get as many kids involved as possible and then give them an opportunity to realize their potential. It’s a way of teaching he’s emphasized over the past two decades.
“The biggest factor is watching students grow from point A to point B,” Emmons said. “And that’s what we’re most proud about with our kids.”
The marching band’s finish last year proved that they’re living up to their name by proudly representing the school and community that supports them.
“We try to represent the school as well as we can,” Emmons said. “We’ve gotten an awful lot of great support administratively from our faculty, from our staff and especially from our community and our wonderful band parents who are just amazing at doing everything for this program.”
Editor's note: This story is part of 9NEWS' "Hearts of Champions: Marching across Colorado" series, where we highlighted marching bands across the state. Share your photos and memories with us using #Bandon9.
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