The Spartan Marching Band of Greenbrier East High School participated Saturday evening, Sept. 7, in the annual Marshall University Marching Band Day during halftime of the Thundering Herd’s 55-0 victory over Gardner-Webb University of North Carolina. The Greenbrier East students were among 800+ high school band students playing with the Marching Thunder of Marshall University. Several Spartan Band alumni are members of the Marching Thunder.
Also participating were bands from Summers County High School, from throughout West Virginia and southeastern Ohio.
The Marching Thunder will perform at halftime of the Marshall at Virginia Tech football game Sept. 21 while Greenbrier East’s Spartan Marching Band will begin its Tournament of Bands competition season that same day at Preston County High School near Kingwood.
The Spartan bandsmen will continue the competition season by helping the Greenbrier Valley Shrine Club host the annual Shriners Marching Band Festival Sept. 28 in downtown Lewisburg and at Spartan Stadium in Fairlea; then the Spartan band will compete in the The Mountain State Forest Festival TOB competition Oct. 5; St. Albans TOB Festival Oct. 12 before hosting for the first time ever the Championships of the West Virginia Tournament of Bands high school bands Oct. 19 at Spartan Stadium.
Qualifying Tournament of Bands high school bands as a result of the competition season will have the opportunity to perform in the Tournament of Bands Final Championships Oct. 26-27 in Hershey, PA.
Jim Allder, director of the instrumental music department at GEHS is the director of the Spartan Marching Band. In addition to performing at halftime of the Greenbrier East/Woodrow Wilson football game, the Spartan Band’s Drum Ensemble participated in a friendly “drum off” with the Drum Ensemble from Woodrow Wilson High School following the game, much to the delight of the East and Beckley fans.
