Archived Edition: November 14, 2007 | Back to Current	Sep 09, 2010

Letter: Band member responds to Conventional Wisdom

I was quite angry to see the Record’s unwarranted categorization of the Marching Band as “cacophonous” last week in its Conventional Wisdom section. The band works very hard to sound good as well as have fun and encourage school spirit. Though we may not be the Berkshire Symphony, as a leader I see our members putting in a lot of effort to do something that they feel is important for our school.

We rehearse fun songs to appeal to our listeners (“Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Harry Potter” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” to name a few), sit in the rain to support our football team and even play for Convocation to celebrate the seniors. We also have a good time along the way because we do not take ourselves deadly seriously.

If you attended Homecoming, you probably saw a much larger Band than usual – alums remember their time in the band fondly, and come back to participate two, 10 or 40 years later (I believe our oldest member was Class of ’43 or thereabouts). I see no reason why having such a group on national television would be “the last thing we need.” I hope the Record refrains from such gratuitous disrespect of student groups in the future.



Leah Shoer

Williams Marching Band Student Leader