The new marching band theme, “Unbroken”, embodies mental health through the props that are used.
“We’re trying to promote mental health and bring awareness to the stigma that surrounds it,” junior Marlene Claris said.
The new theme shows how they are not fragile and are able to overcome difficult things like depression and anxiety if they stick together and help each other rather than going through it alone. Throughout the school year, marching band is using props to symbolize the unbroken theme.
“We have little shards of shattered glass made out of cardboard that we’re going to be using,” junior Charlotte Pham said. “We also have tables that symbolize shattered glass.”
The props are supposed to represent how individuals can go through difficult things and break apart, but they will come back together through unity.
“The new theme brings awareness to how we all are imperfect and we can break apart and then still come back together,” Pham said.
One of the props the band uses in the first movement are tables that represent shattered glass. They put the tables together and take them apart during parts of the show. At the beginning of the show, they are together and then they will break apart. This indicates mental health struggles then they will come back together showing unity and strength.
The first movement makes viewers feel the emotions it is portraying.
“It’s supposed to represent a very dramatic feeling of emotions,” Claris said.
Marching band will be performing the third movement later on in the year called “Antifragile,” where a K-POP dance will be featured. The dance is supposed to represent how they all struggle with difficult things, but they aren’t fragile and don’t break easily.
The first movement is very delicate and soft, compared to the second, which is very bold and strong. The third movement is much more harsh and more in upfront to their audience.
“Unbroken” is vital to the student body because many students are able to relate to the struggles of mental health. Students should know that they are never alone and they can overcome difficult situations because they are strong and have an emotional support system on campus, whether it be through friends or teachers.
“High schoolers’ mental health is a very big thing, especially in our generation, and we often think that we can’t repair those broken pieces, like depression for example, but we can,” Claris said.
This is the first time marching band has done a more abstract theme rather than a more solidified theme.
Last year, “Chaos” was their theme which is a less abstruse theme compared to the theme this year which is about mental health. “I like ‘Unbroken’ because it is fun to try these new things as compared to in the past we’ve done more solidified themes based on maybe new schools in the past or other specific things, but now we’re kind of moving towards more abstract themes,” Pham said.
In their future projects, the marching band will be focusing more on symbolic and complex themes, rather than themes that are more solidified.
“For this theme, we have certain themes that go along with it, they have costumes that match the theme,” Pham said.
The new marching band theme is also being implemented in the costumes for color guard, where they will be adorned in costumes that are blue to represent sad emotions that mental health can bring.
Marching band has implemented this theme to make students feel more understood and realize that through compassion, they can all get through difficult times, while bringing awareness to mental health struggles that are unfortunately common. It’s okay to not feel okay but know that there are always people there you can lean on for help.
When you feel like you’re falling apart by leaning on others and sticking together you can get better because you are not fragile or broken. It’s important to bring awareness to mental health to educate people on it and make them feel understood so they are never alone.
This theme is very important because students can go to marching bands performances and feel connected to the music and be able to relate to the theme.
