March 29, 2024

Cardinal Regiment peaks in performances

Marching season showed progress

With 125 members, the Newton High School Cardinal Regiment utilizes the talents of about 14.5 percent of the NHS overall enrollment, making it one of the largest extra-curricular programs in the district. The band worked hard over the summer to sharpen skills, improve its sound and its routine, and Director Jim Beerends said the band took some important strides forward this year.

Starting with a “minicamp” leading up to the Newton Fourth of July Parade, the band continued to progress and sound better through the August regular camp and on into football and marching-competition season.

“It wasn’t just how the judges looked at us,” Beerends said. “It’s that we took on some difficult music to perform, and made it sound really good. We peaked at the end of the fall, and it took a lot of work to do that.”

Beerends said the early-summer minicamp was the best one he’s seen in his five years as the Regiment director. The band lost more than 20 talented seniors to graduation in May, and had more than 40 freshmen to work into the mix.

“The kids accomplished a lot despite all that turnover,” he said.

In the competition opener — the Marching Dutch Invitational, hosted by Pella High School — the Regiment placed seventh among eight Class 4A bands with a score of 67.1. Newton bested Ottumwa. First-place Ankeny Centennial, with a score of 83.2, was followed by runner-up Dowling Catholic, along with Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Des Moines Roosevelt, Marshalltown and Indianola.

By the end of the fall season, which included five competitions on four Saturdays, the Regiment was improved, aided by the tough competition faced at events hosted by Urbandale and Valley. The Waukee High School invitational and the southern section of State Marching Competition were both held Oct. 15 at Waukee High School’s football stadium.

In the state competition, the Regiment earned a score of 82.4 and a Division I overall rating.

“That’s one of the two top scores since I’ve been here,” Beerends said.

The director said he realizes students, in order to improve, must often balance their music pursuits with other extra-curriculars, as there are dozens of clubs, sports and activities that overlap with band in both amount of practice time and conflicting events. Still, the Regiment has managed to hold its own with some of the largest schools in the state.

“We’re closing the gap between us and some of the biggest schools,” Beerends said.

The director credits Berg Middle School director Seth Banwell for writing the drill the band used this year. All the band’s summer training and preparations were accomplished amid the district’s reconfiguration into four K-4 campuses, and putting the fifth and sixth grades at the middle school entailed many hours of extra work for several music staff.

Beerends said first-year assistant director Kelilah Brown also made important contributions. He thanked Steve Shanley, a Coe College assistant professor and a former K-12 music teacher in Cedar Rapids, for writing the sheet music for this year’s theme, which was simply “water.”

The director would like to see the band continue to grow, possibly to around 140 members next year or shortly thereafter. There is strong interest in band in the fifth through the eighth grades in Newton.

“It’s a constant climb,” Beerends said. “Some weeks, the gain is minimal, but the kids really keep after it, and try to get better the next week. I’m proud of the entire group. I think we had a fantastic fall.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks
at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com