NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Embracing change can be tough. But the North Little Rock High School Marching band is finding that change can be a good thing.
This year, the band is under a new Head Director, Michelle Smith.
"I was excited. A little anxious and apprehensive about some of the changes I was going to be making,” Smith said. “We’re doing something a little different than we've done in the past and turning a corner for the program."
"We're really just going back to the basics of how to march, and what that should look like, because we've lacked in the past with that,” Senior Drum Major Ben Whittington said. “We want to be on that top level."
"I can really tell a difference in the band,” Senior Drum Major Cami Curtis said. “I think we have some good discipline with the kids which is needed when you have 100 plus kids on a field. You need to make sure everyone knows what they're doing and wants to be there."
The North Little Rock Marching Band’s 2019 show is titled “The Arena.” It takes on a gladiator theme, which is different than the pop music style shows they’ve done in the past.
“When I showed them some of the mock-ups of what was going to be on the field, they were like, ‘we're gonna have props!’ They were excited about it,” Smith said.
"I think we've always been so traditional, but now I think we have new marching fundamentals and we're really gonna change things around and I think people will be taken aback,” Curtis said.
"Once people see how we've changed they're gonna be like, ‘woah who's North Little Rock?’ It’s gonna be a big change and I'm all for it,” Whittington said.
"They're performing at their highest level and doing everything they can, leaving everything on the field and giving me everything they have,” Smith said.