On May 9th, 2024, the La Sierra High School Marching Band, with the LSHS Concert Band and other bands across Southern California, performed the Star Spangled Banner during the Angel’s Game Performance at the Angel’s Stadium in Anaheim, California. With that being said, the performance by the group of school bands provided a spectacle to all watchers, on television and in person, performing our national anthem.
In the eyes of La Sierra High School Band Director, Mr. Lemus, the whole experience was “surreal” and “overall successful.”
“I saw that some of my students weren’t really excited for the performance, but once they started walking down the tunnel, it got real and they were like ‘Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Look!’,” Mr. Lemus said.
When talking with him, Lemus mentioned how and why Concert Band and Marching Band performed at the performance.
The origins of the decision was in 2023, when Mr. Lemus found an old post on the social media site, Instagram, where a band back in 2018 performed at a stadium, giving him an idea on what to do. “So I did my research and I contacted the Angel’s Stadium and I was like ‘Hey, how can I possibly do this?’ and they told me I had to be invited, but they put me on a wait list, and I was like ‘Okay.’ So then they told me that in two or three years, they would contact me, but they actually contacted me this year and were like ‘hey we have an opening! Do you want to do this?’ and I said ‘Heck yeah!’, so that’s what happened.”
With that, the Marching and Concert Bands had been performing up until the day of May 9th, where they performed continuously, however easily due to prior experience. “It was not that tough because the students did the national anthem before and those were in the Marching Band, and they already knew the National Anthem for football games. They actually know the harder version of the National Anthem. This one is a more simplified version, so I think this was a little easier for them to learn,” he said.
Despite that, the major problem, despite not postponing the game, was the problem of parents being on board and involved, according to Lemus. He explains how there were many parents who were not on board or interested in involving people in the Angel’s Game and performance, which was an issue, though an issue that did not prevent the performance.
As for the performance itself, it was successful and provided a once in a lifetime experience, where students of ordinary schools performed in front of and for all of Southern California.
