The Marching Wolves’ premiered the first two parts of their 2026 production The Ellington Express during the home opener football game on Aug. 21. The show acts as tribute to the life, music, and legacy of jazz musician Duke Ellington. Featuring music by Ellington as well as “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder and “Road to Hell” from Hadestown, the show includes a moving train on the field that serves as a stage for the several soloists and featured performers.
Band director Jeff Foster described the process of designing the show, explaining that the design team began with “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder, a song that, like the Marching Wolves’ show, was written as a tribute to Ellington. The design team then built out the show concept around it. The show’s musical outlier, “Road to Hell,” originates from a band and chorus trip to Washington D.C. this past fall, where the group had the chance to see a performance of the musical Hadestown. After the trip, senior Holt Mack learned the musical’s iconic opening trombone lick, inspiring Foster to feature Mack’s performance of the song in The Ellington Express.
Before the design team decided on a Duke Ellington-themed show, they had originally considered making a show based entirely on the story of Hadestown, condensing the two-act musical into an eight-minute-long marching band show. Several other ideas were proposed during the design process, with Foster explaining, “The first thing we do is what I call our ‘mud on the wall’ theory. We just sling ‘mud’ on the wall and see what sticks. We try to generate as many different ideas as we possibly can. And then we start to narrow it down, we’ll meet and decide which one we want to go with.”
Designing a show is not without its challenges. With 53 members split across six grades and five sections, this is one of the Marching Wolves’ biggest performing groups and one of its youngest, as nearly 50 percent of the band are in middle school. This large number of middle school members means the design team has to build a show that is approachable no matter if someone has been in the band for six years or if it is their very first year. “How do we customize a show for the group that we have?” said Foster. “How do we challenge the more advanced without overwhelming the less advanced?”
Even though the band does not begin performing until football season, rehearsals begin in May with spring training, then pick up again with a week-long “band camp” at the end of July. At band camp, the band rehearses three times a day, totaling to eight hours of rehearsal each day and 40 hours across the entire week. During the week, the band learns the first two parts of the show as well as all 16 stands tunes. Time is also spent playing group games, competing in a senior-run scavenger hunt, and hanging out with other members of the band.
“I keep coming back because of the community and family that I really love.” said senior drum major Ellie Ahn, whose favorite part of the band is the family-like environment. The band’s community is strengthened through pre-season rehearsals, group hangouts, and spending time together during band camp. Sophomore Taylor Perez agreed with Ahn, saying, “Sometimes we might disagree on some things, but the important thing is that, at the end of the day, we are all still family.”
One way the band fosters a sense of community is through its house system. Members are sorted into one of four houses at the beginning of the season, those being either Tharros, Doxa, Dunamis, or Parafora, then meet during thirty minutes of “house time” at the end of each Wednesday rehearsal. Houses are made up of members from different sections and grades, which encourages members to connect with people they may not interact with otherwise. Activities during house time include making candy salads, playing games like mafia, as well as just hanging out and chatting. The houses also participate in house competitions that take place during pre-season rehearsals and before each home football game.
Senior Molly Ashford described how she has grown since joining the band, saying, “I’ve definitely become more outgoing. Before joining band, I was very shy, but I’ve just become a lot more outgoing through performances and just like the community.” Part of how the band encourages its members to grow is through its wide age range of members. The upperclassmen often act as mentors to the younger members, giving advice and guidance about not only their music, but also schoolwork, friendships, and other aspects of life.
The band will attend two competitions this fall, starting at the Oconee Classic on Sep. 26 before travelling to North Carolina to compete at Mooresville High School on Oct. 17.
