By Elizabeth Cloutman

LAHS Marching Band and Color Guard complete a successful season

The halftime shows by the Los Altos High School Marching Band and Color Guard may last just 20 minutes and band competitions several weekends in the fall, but these performances take many days of practice to perfect.

The 85 students who comprise the band and color guard began practicing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at band camp the week before school began. During the next three months, the group rehearsed 7-8 a.m., four days a week, as well as Tuesday and Thursday evenings, plus an occasional Saturday. They also spent three days at a band camp in La Honda.

Their hard work and dedication paid off. The band and color guard took first place in their class at the Vintage Reserve Band Review in Napa. Earlier in the season, they took second place in their class in parade at the Foothill Band Review in Pleasanton, and third place in their class in parade at the Pacific Grove Tournament.

According to band director and teacher Ted Ferucci, the band is a young group with only seven seniors. “Our goal and philosophy (was that) we wanted to do our best,” he said. “We met all of our goals.”

Les Berger, vice-president of the Los Altos High School Band Boosters, which helps to raise funds for the band and color guard to participate in competitions, agreed.

“You can see them develop and grow from week to week,” he said. “By the end of the season, they were like a well-oiled machine.” Berger’s daughter Ali plays the saxophone in the band and is also the pit percussion leader.

At Los Altos High, the marching band members are all volunteers, Ferucci said.

The band and color guard also participates in the school’s homecoming parade in October and the Festival of Lights parade every year. And for those patient neighbors living near Los Altos High, who are serenaded during those early morning practice sessions in the fall, the group gives a special thank-you performance each October.

For the next several weekends, as a fund-raiser, the students are scheduled to provide Christmas gift-wrapping.They will wrap Friday through Sunday, and Dec. 8 and 9 for customers who purchase items at the Barnes and Noble store at 3600 Stevens Creek Blvd. in San Jose. The store will provide the wrapping paper. All donations will go to the marching band and color guard program.