Color guard captains Sarah Kwok and Amanda Thorne as well as three drum majors receive multiple awards on the night of Oct. 22.By Ella Scott-Wallace & Jennifer Trend, Staff Writers
With a few performances and competitions already underway, the Fountain Valley Royal Regiment (FVRR) looks toward success and plan to perform their best this year.
This year, FVRR’s theme is called Four Corners. In each performance, there are four major movements which tie in the directions of the Earth – north, east, south, and west. The band has found ways to incorporate music from all of these regions into their show. Compared to last year’s dark theme, this year’s consists of a variety of different moods due to the all the movements the band has integrated into their performances.
“If you look at our show, you’ll see a lot more movement and somewhat dance, [including] ripple effects,” commented Ryan Terry, a senior and co-head drum major of FVRR.
Later this year, the Royal Regiment will be attending a major event in Fresno where some of the major bands across California come together to compete. Before they go in and perform their competitions or shows, however, they must prepare both mentally and physically. Not only do they go through the show beforehand and try to minimize their mistakes, they also relax in order to make sure that they’re in a good condition and mindset to perform to the best of their abilities.
Currently, FVRR’s score is around 76, but their goal is to break it and achieve a score between 85 and 90 by the end of the year. With the help and support of the band directors, staff, parents and boosters, FVRR is in good hands to succeed and reach that goal. But that’s not all FVRR brings to the table, as every year, more and more freshmen come in, adding to the band’s talent.
Though FVRR is competing with other talented marching bands across the state, they consider themselves their main competitor.
“Our band director, Mr. Irons, always tells us our only competition is ourselves,” commented Terry, “so one of our main goals is to just always be improving – to see our scores get better and better.”
Using everything they’ve got, FVRR is more than capable of working their way to the top and become the best they can be.
“Within the next couple of years, I think we’re going to be towards the top of our game that we’ve ever been,” said Terry.
