RALEIGH COUNTY, WV (WOAY)- College move in day is right around the corner for most, but collegiate band members across the nation have started heading to campuses for band camp.
Three Raleigh County students are bringing their marching skills from southern West Virginia, all the way to Morgantown. Anticipation is in the air for recent grads Piper Dangerfield, Jessica Berry, and Cooper Gibson.
They move to WVU this weekend to begin training for “The Pride of WV” marching band. They started the audition process earlier this year. When they got their letters of acceptance, it was a whole new feeling
Piper Dangerfield, rookie piccolo player.
“So, I got the email while I was at my dad’s choir concert, and I was just sitting there trying not to cry because I was just so overwhelmed,” Piper Dangerfield, rookie piccolo player. “Just watching their band since I’ve been young, I really wanted to be a part of it and it’s just I’m really excited to go there.”
Getting those letters is just the start, they go to band camp to finalize their placements in the band. Then they begin practicing and memorizing pregame and half time. Though they have started clearing off some cobwebs in preparation.
“A lot of it is to kind of shaking off the dust of, old skills, old songs that we played. Obviously, we auditioned back in May, we haven’t played the pieces in a while. So just breaking out the pieces again,” Cooper Gibson, rookie piccolo player. “Talking to a lot of the current members of the pride and just, seeing what all they really need to focus on. What are they normally have issues with? Specifically, getting into marching again. It’s been a quite a while, about a year for us since we’ve done anything marching related. So got to get back into that kind of feel in my body. Ready to go out and work.”
Even though they will be learning a new show for every home game, it takes time and hard work to get it all together every time.
“Trying to like keeping that my mindset is it takes time,” Jessica Berry, rookie color guard member. “Everything takes time to get used to actually, you know, like the auditioning process. Everything takes a lot of time.”
For various reasons, they all decided to continue in band at the collegiate level, and they all agree that it’s a dream come true. They leave southern West Virginia with this thought in mind.
“Let’s go mountaineers!”
Dangerfield, a 2024 Woodrow Wilson graduate, will dual major in Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.
Gibson, a 2024 Shady Spring graduate, will major in Music Education.
Berry, a 2024 Woodrow Wilson graduate, will major in Animal Nutritional Sciences, hoping to go the pre-vet route.
