Bands

The Marching Mustangs are a competitive marching band that competes in four competitions every fall ranging from local competitions in Enka and Canton to southeast regional competitions located in such places as Raleigh, Charleston (SC), Bassett (VA) and Atlanta (GA). Currently the band consists of 76 members with wind musicians, marching percussion, mallet percussion and a colorguard group that spins flags, rifles and incorporates modern dance techniques to round out our unique performance group. The group rehearses after school three days a week from August 1 to November 1 and perform at all Smoky Mountain Football games. The Marching Mustangs have a show originally composed for them each year by a professional composer. Their show themes in the past have included “Going Home” (a modern E.T. film on the football field) as well as classics such as “Music of the Mountains.” This year the band is performing a show entitled “Surviving Everest” which is a marching band interpretation of the book “Into Thin Air” by Jon Krakauer. The band pride themselves on being original, entertaining audiences across the southeast and in doing it with class, dignity and integrity. The motto the students of the marching band have adopted is as follows: “A group of unique individuals who come together in the pursuit of excellence in performance and as role models that have a positive impact on the world.”

Our after school percussion ensemble is a group consisting of about 18-25 members. Some of the students are current percussionist but we also include wind players and those with no experience at all. This group starts rehearsing in November and the competitive season runs through the first weekend in April with practices taking place twice per week at the high school. The percussion ensemble attends four Saturday competitions with locations including SC, TN and western NC. This group has finished in the top 3 at the Carolina Indoor Performance Association Championships since 2009 and placed 10th in the entire country in the concert percussion category at Winterguard International Championships in 2011 held in Dayton, Ohio.

The Smoky Mountain Jazz Ensemble is an auditioned group consisting of Saxophones, Trombones, Trumpets and a rhythm section (piano, drum set, guitar and bass). The Jazz Ensemble starts in January and continues through the first couple weeks of May, rehearsing two to three days per week after school. This group does not currently compete, but has performed at festivals and received excellent ratings. They also perform at local community events including Relay for Life, Western Carolina University receptions and at the Smoky Mountain Performing Arts concerts. This is a great opportunity for students to gain in depth knowledge of jazz studies in an extra-curricular setting.

The Winterguard ensemble is comprised of instrumentalists, dancers and anyone who wants to learn more about dance and spinning a flag. These students learn a dance and flag routine to a pre-recorded song. This group also competes in the same circuit as our percussion ensemble and generally travels to the same places to have their competitions. In the past this groups has ranged in size from 8-16 members and has had regional success at the competitions and consistently places well at the championships each year. The Winterguard also practices about twice per week in preparation for their competitions and their season runs from November to the first weekend of April as well.