Members of the Chaparral High School Marching Band perform at halftime during a high school football game at the school Friday, Aug. 25, 2023.
Monday, Oct. 9, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Leave it to the talented students in Chaparral High School’s marching band to use a medley of classic 1970s and ’80s songs to introduce the rock band Queen to a new generation of listeners.
The band’s field show this football season pays tribute to Queen with a full rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” then a medley of “Death on Two Legs,” “Under Pressure” and “We Are the Champions.”
Band members selected the show themselves unanimously. Some students had never heard of the revolutionary band, but plenty had.
“The ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ guitar solo is, I think, one of my favorite guitar solos of all time,” said drum major Christian O’Nolan, who plays guitar and alto saxophone.
Teacher Chris Pierson, one of the marching band’s two directors, gave his students a list of possible shows. They could have gone with Broadway show tunes or superhero movie themes. They chose the technically demanding Queen set, which Pierson said would be challenging, but that he knew they could handle.
To prime the students, he showed them the band’s Oscar-winning biopic, also called “Bohemian Rhapsody,” at summer band camp.
“After that, the music went from down here,” said trumpet player Seth Serrano, who had pushed for the Queen show, “to up here,” moving his hand from waist level to above his head.
The students feel the humanity behind music that was first popular when their parents or even grandparents were young.
“They seem to be getting into the emotional qualities of it and talking about the history and some of the issues that the band dealt with,” Pierson said. “They are engaged.”
That many of his students would already know, or newly embrace, Queen should come as no surprise, though, since last year’s show was built around another ’70s rock icon, Santana.
“Good music literature never dies,” Seth noted sagely.
“Chap band knows good music. And people know Chap band,” said senior clarinet player Kayla Wallace.
With only 46 performers, it’s not large by marching band standards. But overall, band is big at the east side school.
The entire program has more than 500 students between its five outfits — beginning band and marching band, which take all comers; the intermediate symphonic band; and the more advanced wind symphony and wind ensemble. About 1 in 4 Chaparral students is in a band class.
The reach gives the school a strong culture and camaraderie built around music.
O’Nolan, as the marching band’s drum major, holds an important conductor’s role — keeping the band’s tempo while displaying showmanship, flair and leadership.
“I get respect because I’m everyone’s friend,” and nobody wants to let their friend down, he said.
Gladiola Jimenez, a junior, had little musical experience before joining the band last year as a percussionist. She has grown tremendously, enough to become the assistant drum major.
“The people around me, I know they support me and I know I can support them,” she said.
Pierson said he gives his students a choice between their performance uniforms and jeans and matching band T-shirts for pep rallies. Almost without exception they opt to wear their full uniform — formal and military-sharp, with tall, bouncing orange ostrich plumes affixed to cylindrical hats.
“We have our four pillars that we talk about in the band: pride, dedication, family and love. I directly relate back to that,” he said. “They see that wearing a uniform is like a rite of passage, of pride.”
And so the Chaparral marching band is mighty.
In May, it won best marching band from the city of Las Vegas at Helldorado Days. Next July, assuming it has the funds, it will perform at the National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C. It’s Nevada’s only entry, on a nomination from the governor’s office.
To get the full band to the nation’s capital, the young musicians need to raise about $75,000 to $80,000. They’ve sold fireworks and candy bars but have only made a dent in their fundraising.
To help get Chaparral to D.C. next summer, donate online here.
