In a village near Milwaukee, a high school marching band reigns supreme.
For 20 consecutive years, Greendale High School has won the Wisconsin School Music Association State Marching Band Championship in their division. And they’ve recently been recognized for their achievements by the Wisconsin State Legislature.
The school’s student body is around 900 students, and 200 of them are in the band. Members have performed in spectacles like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and most recently in Pasadena, California before the Rose Bowl.
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The band plays popular songs crowds would recognize, from Disney’s “Frozen,” to Beyoncé to NSYNC’s 2000 hit “Bye Bye Bye.” There is a color guard and even a singer. Dozens of students march and play with precise choreography.
“Ultimately, we’re in the entertainment business,” band director Tom Reifenberg told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.”
When Reifenberg started at the school in 2001, there were just 85 students in the band. They had never won a championship prior to 2000. He thinks the key to success is a philosophy that might sound uncommon in youth activities culture that prioritizes specialization and singular commitment.
First, there are no auditions — anyone can join the band even if they don’t play an instrument. Next, Reifenberg ensures that students in the band still have time for other extracurricular activities. He wants it to be a low enough commitment that students can still work or play tennis.
“Our philosophy is that we want you to do all those things because you’re in high school and should have a great high school experience,” he said.
Reifenberg and high school senior clarinet player Liliana Ramos spoke with “Wisconsin Today.”
The following conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Kate Archer Kent: Tom, you really make these events into full scale performances. It’s more than playing music. Can you describe what a show might be like?
Tom Reifenberg: If you go to a variety of high schools in Wisconsin, you’ll see anything from a halftime show of Beatles music to a really competitive show that is more artistic in nature. And we always try to do both. We try to appeal to anybody that’s showing up on a Friday night watching halftime. So for example, this year we did some music from “Frozen,” we did some music by Beyoncé . It’s something that anybody at the Greendale High School stadium will latch on to. But then we also mix that with some of the artistic elements that, in the competition circuit, a judge is going to look for.
KAK: Liliana, what drew you to the marching band?
Liliana Ramos: My older cousin was in the marching band and I saw that she got to travel a lot. And she made a lot of important friendships that she still has to this day. So that kind of drew my attention, because that’s something I was looking for heading into high school.
KAK: Liliana, does the crowd break out in song along with you? Or what is that energy like with your crowds?
LR: You can see students or families get really excited when they hear a popular song that we’re playing. Or at the end the crowd just feeds off of our energy and everyone’s pretty hyped and happy about what we just put on.
KAK: Tom, how do marching bands like Greendale get involved in performing in these really big spectacles like the Rose Parade or Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?
TR: There’s an application process for these big events and it’s always hard to get into your first one. But once you’re in, you’re in. Because these organizations want groups that they can trust and rely on to do a good job.
Like the Rose Bowl’s Tournament of Roses, for example, they say, ‘Once you’re in our family, we embrace you and you’re part of the Tournament of Roses family forever.’ And that’s true. Pulaski High School, up by Green Bay, is another school that has been in multiple times.
It’s important for us that we still have to keep up our performance level and have a certain number of students in the program. They want bigger groups there because the parade itself is so big and the stands are so big, they need groups that can put out a good amount of sound.
KAK: Liliana, On New Year’s Day, you were in soggy Pasadena, California. I was watching the TV on my warm and dry couch, and just feeling sad and happy for all of these band members who were trying to do their best in those conditions. What was it like?
LR: Honestly, I had a lot of fun. It was different, because not a lot of people can say they’ve marched in the Rose Parade while it was downpouring. I think it made the energy a little higher for us because it’s different.
TR: What Liliana just said with the energy, it was phenomenal. You could tell at first, when the rain first started everyone was like, “Oh no, we have to do this in the rain.” But then it was just like “We’re here. Let’s do it. Let’s bring it.”
And I think our kids brought that energy and also the crowd lining the parade route for the whole 5.5 miles gave that energy back to us, which was really cool.
We were worried at first that maybe the Pasadena locals might not come out because they come every year and if it’s raining maybe they won’t be there, but they were there in droves and it was awesome. I wouldn’t have changed the rain part for the world to be honest.
KAK: Tom, there’s also a big financial commitment for families with performances like these. What is fundraising like for the marching band?
TR: We do a lot of individual based fundraisers so that families can choose what they participate in and what they don’t participate in, because like any other organization there are families that can just write the check but then there are some that have to fundraise every last cent.
What’s fortunate about Greendale is the community support is phenomenal.
KAK: Liliana, when you’re out fundraising how supportive is the community in donating to the marching band?
LR: The community wants to see us succeed so I feel like that’s what urges them to help donate. I would say Greendale’s a very tight knit community as well. So everyone is extremely supportive of the band.
KAK: Liliana, for a student who is not in marching band but plays an instrument: Do you have any advice?
LR: I would tell them to join the band because you’re going to make some lifelong friends. You spend so much time with these people at rehearsals and competitions and trips. So do it, because nothing bad can come out of joining band.
