Hoping to bring home a win at their first competition, the Tigard High School Marching Ensemble is hard at work on the football field at their regular Wednesday night rehearsal.

They may be small, but the THS marching band is mighty. With only a few more than 50 members, the group is an A class band. Three classes make up a marching band competition: A, AA, and Open class; A being the smallest. “The size of our marching band gives us, as a group, less room to make mistakes, and in turn we work harder to look and sound great,” senior drum major Matthew Washington said. “So in short, having a small band gives us [a] better performance.”

The band has only two more rehearsals before their first competition, so the pressure is definitely building up. “I don’t usually get nervous until we’re walking to the field to perform,” said senior soloist and color guard member McKenzie Henderson. “It’s a little bit scary, but it’s also really fun to know that out of everyone, they wanted me to be the first one to dance.”

The marching band’s first competition takes place on Oct. 7 at Hillsboro Stadium. “You guys work really well together and the amount of hard work and crazy dedication that you guys have shows in your performance,” band booster parent Sean Hotchkiss said. “I expect to be more wowed then I was [last year].”

Marching band has been working hard on their show “White Blank Page” since late August. They have eight plus hours of rehearsal every week and everyone is always super determined. “The people who do [march], want to be out there,” said marching band director Kati McKee. “The level of dedication is high.”

“The first performance I don’t expect us to be flawless, but I don’t expect us to be bad either; it’s a learning experience for everyone to see what we can fix and improve on for the next performance,” Washington said. “That being said, every year I have been blown away with how amazing and talented everyone is in this band so I do think we will do well for our first competition.”

Although this is only the beginning of the season, the Tigard High School Marching Ensemble has made tremendous work and progress thus far.