Most people don’t realize how much work the Puma Regiment puts into their performances.  These kids are practicing relentlessly, sacrificing an unbelievable amount of time. They work from 5-9 p.m. on Tuesdays, 2:30-5 p.m. on Thursdays, and not to mention, they have 0 hour every morning.

However, this is nothing compared to when competition season comes around. “I think that rehearsal during competition season is probably around 20 hours a week,” Marianne Kayer, woodwind captain and clarinet player estimates. “It’s stressful to balance with homework [but] it’s actually really fun.”

Physical activity is also required to keep the musicians’ bodies fit for performing.  Workouts include running, stretching, squats, sit-ups, core and abdominal training, kickboxing, and endurance.

The visual quality of the performance is vital, as well, but getting 100 bodies to move uniformly in time is challenging. The team pulls it off with the help of what they call a “drill book” containing coordinates, or “dots”, on the field. Comprising 60-80 pages of drill, the playbook lays out how each player gets from one spot to another over a certain period of time. “We’re all like one pixel in the image,” Maddie Ethington, senior baritone and brass captain, describes it, “Once you understand what the picture is, it’s a lot easier.”

The regiment is constantly perfecting their drill and musicality. “We practice like we’re the worst and perform like we’re the best,” clarinet player Sienna Samour says. That’s a maxim that the team has adopted.  Randi Ryan, baritone, blatantly puts it “If you’re not willing to try, your rep is going to suck and if your rep sucks the whole show sucks.”

Luckily everyone is willing to pull his or her weight and work together. “We’re really just connected like a big family. We all stick together and its really cool because we don’t’ have to act different around each other,” Ethington says. Ryan feels that band has allowed her to meet more people. “With the band kids you spend the better half of four years with them. The connections that you make with people and the friendships that you make are so life lasting.”