Grace Deedrick, Meredith Fuchs march with the big brass

By KENZIE MUENZER, Gazebo Staff Writer

When asked what marching in the band with a tuba is like, senior Grace Deedrick had one thing to say.

Spit.

“It’s a little difficult to march with,” Deedrick said. “You can’t see out of your left side, so you never really know if you are in line with anybody. Also, keeping your bells to the front while sliding is really, really, hard.”

Deedrick originally was a member of the Spirit of Stratford Color Guard. But, in the 10th grade, she stumbled upon the tuba.

“I hadn’t played an instrument since middle school, and I saw that they were losing a senior tuba player. I thought I could better service the band playing the tuba,” said Deedrick, who is also involved in Stratford’s theatre program.

This is her first year marching with the tuba both on Friday nights and at competition, which she does regardless of her noticeably small stature. Nevertheless, Deedrick wasn’t nervous about this being her first competition truly marching.

“My competition experience was a little different than everyone else’s,” Deedrick said. “I wasn’t nervous, I wasn’t scared before I went on.”

Although her tuba broke before the competition, she still proudly marched on as she has the other past Friday nights.

“Because it’s me and because I have the worst luck ever, my tuba broke right before we went on,” said Deedrick. “For the whole first number I was doing nothing but trying to figure out how I could put my arm through the inside workings of my tuba to hold it together, but I played. I had fun. I did the best I could.”

Deedrick isn’t the only one facing this challenge. Senior Meredith Fuchs has marched the tuba for two years, a hearty transition from marching clarinet for three years.

“Originally I marched clarinet,” said Fuchs. “But when the band’s last tuba player graduated I volunteered to learn tuba for the marching season.”