LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — On Wednesday, Nov. 20, the Los Alamitos High School marching band hosted their showcase for their 2024 fall show, “Fate of the Suits.” The show began at 7 p.m. and was open to all family and friends to send off the band to their championships this weekend. 

The bleachers were packed with friends, family and community members, all there to support the band and see their incredible show.

Before the show started, they had a short ceremony for all the members of the band and color guard who will be graduating this year. The director called up each student individually to share three words to describe their band career and their advice for future musicians. The students walked with their parents through a walkway with all their peers surrounding them and cheering them on. It was a beautiful way to make the seniors feel special and appreciated. While it is sad for them to leave, many are ready for new adventures.

“It (is) certainly sad; however, I am prepared to move on as well! I have lots of plans for once I graduate, and although I’ll miss this chapter, I’m excited to move on,” Joshua Cucchi, a senior and the president of the LAHS marching band, said.

After this, Mr. Buchen, the LAHS marching band director, announced all of the parent volunteers who devoted numerous hours to making the marching band season memorable for all of the students. These volunteers were invited to come out of the stands and received a Krispy Kreme coupon to thank them for their hard work. The field was then cleared, and the show began.

Through their music, the marching band told the story of a make-believe land filled with different playing card suits, spades, diamonds, clubs and hearts and the different tensions among them. Throughout the show, the joker, played by a member of the color guard, was depicted as the main villain, alongside the other characters, the king and queen of hearts. The show ended with a battle between the clarinetist king and the queen of hearts, ending with the joker destroying all of the other musicians. 

To portray this story, the marching band mixed complex music with impressively complicated formations and quick steps. The students put in numerous hours of practice to perfect both their instrument playing and marching.

“We have daily practice, play tests and at-home practice that all of our members have to balance on top of their rehearsals and rigorous schedules,” Cucchi said.

While the students put in many hours of training, the directors and volunteers put in just as much work to make the show happen.

“There’s the pre-season planning where we’re developing our ideas (and) developing a story. Then from there, we start rehearsing, getting the basics of marching and playing together,” Mr. Buchen said. “After that, we move to the actual execution of the story and putting that into play with the props, music and visuals.”

All of this hard work was presented to the community through their showcase and has paid off in past competitions. However, it will become completely worth it when they head to the championships this weekend to perform one last time. 

“The whole season comes down to this last performance, so whatever scores and issues that we’ve had with competitions and performances in the past don’t matter (anymore),” Mr. Buchen said. 

The band will leave Friday afternoon and head up to Fresno to compete in the Western Band Association Grand Championships. They will be competing against 13 other high schools in the 2A division and are feeling pretty good about what the outcome of the competition will be. 

“I’m super excited about this competition. We’re more than capable of (winning a medal), but the chance of rain is nerve-racking to me. I am confident we will do well regardless, though,” Cucchi said. 

After their showcase on Wednesday night, the LAHS marching band can compete at championships knowing that all of their friends, family and community members will be cheering them on no matter what after seeing the immense talent and hard work in their show.