Senior Matthew McInnis finally relaxes after the run-through of the marching show. The drum major yells “check and recover!”, afterward lowering his sousaphone and dropping his eyes to the grid to find his spot where he should end up. Spot on. He closes his eyes to block out the sun and the sweat after screaming “set,” wondering what would change if he still attended Lake Ridge.
“I have more years at Lake Ridge, but as a social outlet, I love it here,” McInnis said. “Everyone can talk to each other. Everybody knows each other. Honestly, the Legacy Band made me love band again.”
McInnis attended Lake Ridge for the past three years, transferring to Legacy at the end of last year. The school’s floor plan matches Legacy, so the abrupt change impacted him a little less.
“Even though the schools are built the same way, the way classes are organized is a little different, and that was hard to get used to on the first day,” McInnis said. “There were also a lot of struggles with making friends and stuff in certain classes and a lot of people, because a lot of people already have their groups, and it’s kind of weird to throw yourself into a group. It’s the social side that makes things different. But I’m a very social person, so I don’t care what other people think of me; I just talk. And if people like me, they like me.”
McInnis performs in the marching band, playing the tuba and the sousaphone. Although some aspects function differently, the same core concept of playing and marching functions the same at Lake Ridge and Legacy.
“I’m definitely in an interesting scenario where the director and I have been here the same amount of time, so I don’t know a lot of the tradition or a lot of how the band used to do things. It’s been really easy to just have the mindset that everything’s going to be different, which allows me to just have a different perspective than the other students who are also adapting to new who maybe weren’t expecting change,” McInnis said. “But band has been a lot of fun. I’ve gotten to know a few people whom I really enjoy hanging out with and talking to, and a lot of that has to do with just the amount of time I spend with them, as opposed to in school. But also, it’s just that band people are cool people. So it’s easy to build relationships with those people and just have fun, do what you do and enjoy making music.”
McInnis practiced with the Legacy Band since the end of last year, but he believes he can still adapt more.
“[Lake Ridge] didn’t do practice before football games, which was so nice. Just imagine having an extra hour of eating, a two-hour dinner, to talk, listen to music, and lock in for the game,” McInnis said. “It was so nice, but they also did Saturday rehearsals from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to make up for the lack of a rehearsal. You don’t really get a weekend. There are some things that I prefer here and some things that I prefer from there.”
McInnis led as the assistant tuba section leader at Lake Ridge, showing his expertise by advancing into district and area region bands.
“It’s easier to correct the band here. It’s easier to have nicer-looking sets because fewer people make it easier to control. Easier to tell someone ‘Hey, you’re sticking out a little bit. ‘Hey, this is how we fix this,’” McInnis said. “If we all have the same mindset, which fortunately we have, for the most part, it’s something I’m actually proud to watch. At Lake Ridge, my mindset was always, ‘How can the sousaphones be better?’ and ‘How can the tubas be better?’ And here it’s like, ‘Wow, the whole band actually looks solid.’ I’d rather say we look good than just the tubas look good.”
The Legacy Band boasts many fewer people than Lake Ridge, making the scope for the whole band a lot smaller.
“I hate not helping; I refuse to not help. I’m basically a leader minus the title. Like, I’m not going to be able to say I was a section leader in my senior year, which sucks for college application stuff. But I think the ultimate mindset is making a difference regardless of that title, and I just help out where I can,” McInnis said. “But there’s definitely some stuff about leadership that I hated, like attendance or inspection block, and I didn’t want to do that. So now I can just sit back and let Eddie do it.”
The current tuba section leader, junior Edward Molina, works with McInnis more than anyone. From the second that they met, McInnis and Molina knew they would work together, despite his lack of a leadership title.
“Matthew does a lot, and it helps me in a lot of ways,” Molina said. “It makes my job easier, especially whenever the tubas don’t want to listen to me.”
As an instructional member of the leadership team, Molina’s job is to be the best role model for the rest of his section while also keeping them in check, learning new sets and teaching everyone else their sets. Molina led the tubas for the first time this year, while McInnis led for two years before this year.
“The tuba section differs a lot from last year, especially since he’s such a strong tuba player. He was most of the volume of the Lake Ridge tuba section, and now that volume was brought here, paired with me. It’s a very good combo, especially since he’s also had more experience with leadership than me, so he’s also still kind of mentoring me in a way so I can be a better leader,” Molina said. “He’s helped me lead the section. We’re stronger than I think we ever were before.”
Until this year, the tuba section has been very small. Two years ago, only four tubas marched in band and last year there were five, but nine tubas march this year. The numbers didn’t jump up because of McInnis joining, but Molina believes it facilitates a bigger section more easily.
“I feel like we wouldn’t have changed very much from last year without Matthew. I wouldn’t have held the section parties that allowed us to bond and actually get to know each other, because last year we didn’t do anything. No one really knew each other. It was just more like being co-workers rather than actually like a friend group,” Molina said. “Now, since he’s held some bonding things, we’ve all had something to help us all bond together. It’s more like close-knit than just being in band and that being the only mutual interest that we have.”
McInnis participated in the debate team at Lake Ridge, enjoying friendly banter and discussions.
“I’ve always loved school, but there was an event that happened that just made me hate it all. I didn’t want to show up, and lost my motivation,” McInnis said. “And I don’t think leaving Lake Ridge ever crossed my mind until I physically just did not want to get up and go to school. I hated going.”
Band takes up a double-blocked class period, three hours after school on Monday, two and a half hours on Tuesday and Thursday, football games on Friday night and all-day competitions on Saturday.
“One of the biggest things I left over there was the tuba section. My private lesson teacher will tell me that I’m the reason they all take lessons, and I’m the reason they are what they are now.
I take a lot of pride, and I was the kind of guy who made the Lake Ridge tubas what they are, even to the point where they don’t need me anymore,” McInnis said. “So at the same time, leaving behind all those people, all those connections, ultimately, I made the decision not to have those people in my life anymore. And it’s not like I’m not going to be cordial with them. It’s just going to be more difficult. I left behind friends. I left behind the tuba section, I left behind the relationships with my debate teacher, and the people who I really did love and who were on Team Matthew.“
