Marching to new heights: Athens High School’s Indoor Marching Arts takes center stage
Published 9:29 am Saturday, March 15, 2025
Justin Travis | The News Courier. Members of Athens High School's Indoor Percussion Band practice Thursday, March 6.
Justin Travis | The News Courier. Athens High School's Indoor Winds band practices their routine Thursday, March 6.
Justin Travis | The News Courier. The Athens High School Indoor Marching Arts band gets ready for their practice Thursday, March 6.
Justin Travis | The News Courier. Athens High School's Indoor Winds band take note of their steps for their routine Thursday, March 6.
Justin Travis | The News Courier. Athens Indoor Marching Arts Band warms up Thursday, March 6.
The Athens Indoor Marching Arts Band, composed of 56 talented students from Athens High School, is the latest addition to the school’s renowned band program — which has long been a source of pride for generations of Golden Eagles.
Under the expert guidance of Ty Parker, AHS’s Director of Bands, the Indoor Marching Arts Band is divided into three distinct groups; Indoor Winds, Indoor Percussion and Winterguard. This setup allows students to hone their skills in different areas, while also collaborating with their peers to create a cohesive and captivating performance.
“We started this to increase what our students are exposed to,” Parker told The News Courier. “Our goal here is to provide students with the opportunity to learn every genre of music. Dance movements and body work is difficult to incorporate into a full marching band, because of the sheer number of students we have, but it is so vital to learn. This smaller group allows us to get real experience with dance movements. So, this is only going to raise the already high bar we are so fortunate to have here in Athens.”
Leadership has played a vital role in the success of Athens High School’s band program, but Parker emphasized that the leadership role does not just come from him or his other directors; Bryan Pigg, Hailie Black, Braxton Brand, Hunter Shell and Jake House.
While Parker provides excellent direction, students are encouraged to push themselves as leaders to guide their peers. These student leaders help facilitate the rehearsals while also providing positive feedback to help motivate their fellow band members.
“It’s absolutely vital to have good student leaders in the band program,” Parker said. “We are very fortunate to have so many great student leaders in place here. Over the five years that I’ve been here, we’ve been able to mold their leadership skills by letting them figure out what kind of leader they are. We do a leadership retreat in the summer each year, and that’s when they get the chance to think about what’s best for their team. When we do music performance assessments and we get all superior ratings, that’s a testament to the type of student leaders we have.”
The captains for Athens Indoor Marching Arts Band include; Rowan McColpin, Jonathan Thomas and Keily Figueroa. All three captains mentioned how they have had to adjust their leadership roles as the new program has brought in students from all across Limestone County.
“Working with people from other schools was tricky at first, because they were used to getting orders from someone else,” Thomas said. “But, that gave us the opportunity to hear other people’s perspectives from different schools. Bands are usually separated from their school’s student body, but here at Athens we are connected with the rest of our students and teachers. I get comments from our teachers all the time about how good we sound, and that’s not the case everywhere else.”
All three captains also talked about the importance of their roles and how thankful they are to participate in a program that has fostered a culture of excellence.
“I’ve never been at the captain position before, but it hasn’t been that difficult of a transition,” McCoplin said. “Our school makes it so easy to lead, because you know each group is filled with future leaders. It’s great to know you have so many people supporting you not just in your band room, but throughout the whole school.”
Parker reciprocated those sentiments, highlighting how thankful he is to be at the head of a program that has seen continued growth in his five years at AHS.
“Our community is very familiar with the history of our band program, and that history has carried over into what we do now,” Parker said. “The culture we have here is second to none. We are consistently supported by our community, school administration and teachers. All of that has allowed us to reach the heights we have reached.”
