ACGC Marching band rehearsing on August 12th.

em>Pep band Drum Major Kylie Chandler displays the bell covering she and other brass and woodwind players are using. The band will have ACGC branded covers this fall.

The Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center High School Marching Band has been preparing to kick butt and COVID-19 at their annual band camp this week.

The band has been working together each weekday morning on their fall show, which Director Kyra Babcock says will feature the NFL countdown song, music from the Skyrim videogame, and the song “Monster” by Skillet which she says are sure to get everyone’s blood pumping and excited for another season of marching band. Drum Major EmmaKay McClain says they’ve been taking COVID-19 guidelines seriously as opportunities to play in summer parades were taken away, “As a band we’ve added covers around all the instruments and their bells so that keeps spit from flying around or going into the air. We stay distanced when we show up. We try to stay outside as much as possible so we’ve enforced a lot of the social distancing and COVID guidelines and we’re just reminding everyone to go home, wash their hands, use hand sanitizer, so hopefully everyone stays safe and healthy.”

Babcock mentions a benefit of having the bell covers is that it helps improve the students’ breath control. She thanks the Iowa High School Music Association for their guidance in helping get student musicians back in their uniforms for this fall, “They were really quick to jump on board with this Colorado University research that they’re doing with aerosol. And then they came together as a music association and put together guidelines and rules and they shot it out to us. We did two different emails and we’ve had lots of online trainings and chats and it’s been helpful. I’m going into this year knowing what I need to do which is a little bit different than faculty coming back to here. So it’s been great knowing they’re a support system, they’re helping us through it and they’re pushing for us.”

The band’s first performance will be at halftime during the home football game on September 11th. You can hear more from this year’s drum majors and Babcock during a two-part Let’s Talk Guthrie County program.