New School, New Song
Band members prepare as Elkhart High releases the music for the school fight song.
After winter break, the music for the official Elkhart High fight song was released. Band members are already preparing by learning the music.
January 22, 2020
Elkhart students and the community are getting closer and closer to the merge. Construction is taking place at Memorial, sports teams from both high schools are meeting with each other, and staff at both schools are coming together and communicating about the future of Elkhart High.
Another fundamental is the new school song for Elkhart High. The chosen music was released on social media when students came back from winter break.
“I really like the new song. I think it has a good rhythm to it and overall it sounds like a school song should,” junior Alex Kratzer said.
Currently, the music used to accompany the Elkhart Memorial fight song is the same as the University of Oregon. This song is played at athletic events, pep-rallies, and during school on Friday’s.
In preparation for the merge, band members are learning the new song which is the same accompaniment that is used by the Auburn War Eagles.
“I think that it’s going to be fun to learn something new,” junior Breanna Holderread said. “and I’m excited to get a new school song stuck in my head even though I will miss playing our school song.”
One obstacle is that freshmen just learned how to play the Charger Fight Song and now they have to transition to a new song, which is a difficult task, but rewarding in the end.
However, change can be a challenge and not everyone always agrees. Some students are not as fond of the song choice.
Sophomore Ben Weimer explained, “Both school songs [Central and Memorial] were about two times as long as the new one and they both were a lot more catchy to hear. The new one just didn’t really click and didn’t seem like something I would recognize.”
Weimer plays percussion, which includes, snare drums, xylophones, chimes, tambourines and other instruments that make the song elevate in sound.
Junior Rosie Bostic who plays the mellophone, agrees with Weimer.
“I dislike it because it doesn’t have a ‘flavor.’ The higher pitched instruments don’t stand out like they do in Mighty Oregon,” Bostic said.
While learning the new song will be challenging, it will also be rewarding in the end as our band members play it loud and proud next year at events that give Elkhart High a great start to the new school.
“It’s definitely going to be difficult to adjust at first because personally I’ve been playing the same song for three years, but I feel like once we get some practice with it, over time I feel like the band will do well with the new song,” junior Cecilia Macedo said.
