BY SOPHIA WENGIER
On December 29th the Cooper City Sound of Pride took their long anticipated departure to New Orleans, Louisiana for the Sugar Bowl. During this five day trip, the band and color guard competed with bands from across the nation, performed in the Sugar Bowl halftime show, marched in the New Year’s Eve parade, and explored the rich and exciting culture of the city of New Orleans.
The Sugar Bowl is an annual college football game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. For the halftime portion, high school bands from all over America are chosen through an application process. Along with the Sound of Pride, bands from Chicago, Alabama, Illinois, and South Carolina came as well as a few bands from Florida (Piper High School and Seabreeze High School). These bands are given music to prepare before the event and then perform in one mass Sugar Bowl band during halftime. The selections for this year included Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman and Jump Jive and Wail by Louis Prima to pay tribute to New Orleans (NOLA) jazz history.
Through this event, members of the Sound of Pride had the opportunity to meet bands from all over the country and learn about their state and marching band programs. Many walked away from this experience with a little more information on the world, music, and marching band while some even walked away with new friends. Overall, the Sound of Pride got the incredible experience of playing in the superdome for an audience of over 70,000 people.
Prior to the halftime show performance, the band and colorguard participated in a competition portion where they performed their show “Lunar Effect.” This was the same show that they had been preparing since August and had been performed at the FMBC states competition in November. Much to the excitement of the Sound of Pride and of Cooper City, they won first place, sweeping all categories.
The Sound of Pride also had the opportunity to march in the New Year’s Eve parade and perform in Jackson Square. They performed their usual stand tunes such as Neck, Mag 7, and The Horse. With their high energy and big sound, they drew a crowd of onlookers who stood by to enjoy the music and even pulled out their phones to record. These two public performances allowed the Sound of Pride to get their name out there, even getting them on the local news in New Orleans.
The Sound of Pride is looking forward to many more opportunities now that they got themselves on a national stage and are hoping for big things to come.
“This remarkable performance has paved the way for Cooper City’s time in both national and international spotlights,” saxophone captain Christian Porras said. “Through our determination we have expanded the opportunities of the Sound of Pride to include the 2016 London New Year’s Day Parade.”
