photo by Benita Heath

Flutists Kayla Ariyan, foreground, and Rebekah Swartzwelder, practice Christmas music during a recent rhearsal of the South Point High School Band.

And the winner is … South Point Band

By Benita Heath | The Tribune

Published Wednesday, November 18, 2009

SOUTH POINT — It was about time, in all senses of that word.

Time was the theme of the routine that brought the South Point Marching Band not one, but two top awards. And time was what it took to turn a group of teenaged musicians into winners.

Earlier this month, the band — under the direction of Brent Hunt — took their first ever superior at the state band competition, outside Columbus.

The next night, they proved they were champions again as they received another high honor in the Mid-States Band contest where they competed against 24 bands from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan. Their performance of the Chronometry (the study of time) routine that had brought them the superior rating the night before put them in the top 10 finalists at Mid-States.

In a second round of competitions, South Point took fourth place.

“It was exciting for them,” Hunt said. “I wanted them to see that all the work that they did paid off. It was very rewarding for me. (Mid-States) is a little more difficult circuit. I want to push them to the next level.”

It was especially significant for the seniors in the band as they come to the end of their high school music career.

Brianna Barnes, drum major and trumpeter, admits to a few nerves as the band got ready to compete at state.

“I was nervous and excited,” Barnes said. “When they said South Point-one. I thought ‘Yes.’”

It was a feeling her classmate, Marty Truesdell, tuba player, understood only too well.

“We finally got one,” Truesdell said. “We had been hoping for it.”

Then the next day it was the adrenaline rush all over again as they went onto Mid-States.

“All those bands, you know they will be good,” Barnes said. “To get fourth place, it seemed so much cooler than state.”

The tears came quickly for Kayla Ariyan, flutist, who appreciated the wins more since they came during her senior year

“All those years of just doing Okay,” she said. “I love marching band.”

The band got to their victories after weeks of hard work starting with summer band camp that would last sometimes all day long as the musicians practiced routine choreography while making sure they got the notes right.

“It’s constant dedication, always settling for no less than their best,” said Hunt who came to South Point three years ago from the Green school district. “I can always make them better if they give their best.”

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