ESU Marching Band Members Participate in National Virtual Performance

by Gwendolynne Larson

Please Note: Corrections add three students to list: Celsea Butler, Henry Huck and Anna Vincent; corrects spelling of Dr. William Woodworth and changes number of students to ten.

Emporia, KS (01/07/2021) — Ten Emporia State students will be part of a virtual band performance during the College Football Playoff National Championship game on Monday night.

The virtual Intercollegiate Marching Band performance of "End of Time" by Beyoncé is the brainchild of the College Band Directors National Association and a group of industry professionals. The group asked member schools to nominate up to five students who play instruments plus five students in other marching band roles including color guard and dance teams. Nominated students then submitted videos to audition for their spots.

Participating from the Emporia Marching Hornets are:

Aleya Bearden, a junior nursing major from Tonganoxie and Stingers dancer,
Abigail Brown, a graduate student working on her Master's in Music Education from Shawnee and member of the ESU color guard,
Celsea Butler, a sophomore business educator major from Paola and twirler,
Natalie Chavez, sophomore nursing major from Emporia who plays alto saxophone,
Katelyn Hess, senior music education major from Lawrence who plays trumpet,
Henry Huck, a sophomore music education major from Lansing who plays sousaphone
Emily Kutz, sophomore English major and member of the color guard,
Alexa Smith, freshman biochemistry and molecular biology major from Choctaw, Oklahoma, and member of the color guard,
Courtney Troup, sophomore earth science major from Independence, Missouri, and member of the color guard, and
Anna Vincent, a freshman interdisciplinary studies major from Topeka and member of the ESU color guard.

The more than 1,000 members of the Intercollegiate Marching Band used the Our Virtual Ensemble product from GPG Music to practice their music and choreographed routines as well as submit their individual videos to produce the full two-minute performance video.

"I am so proud of these students for putting in the work to get their videos submitted in time and to be a part of this ensemble!" said Dr. William Woodworth, ESU assistant professor of music and director of athletic bands. "These students went above and beyond to learn and record the performance."

Other presenting partners on the project were CollegeMarching.com, StylePlus, Halftime Magazine and Guard Closet.

The video will premiere live in the stadium Monday night during halftime of the game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the University of Alabama Crimson Tide. At the same time, it will be released on the Intercollegiate Marching Band website (https://www.cbdna-imb.com/) and YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCOlpJxYxTkDdB0f2NqxCrw. A teaser video is available now: https://youtu.be/vF5s1g7Ipj8.