The Monta Vista-Lynbrook Marching Band and Color Guard held their home show and last performance of the year, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at the MVHS field. The show began with graduating seniors walking across the field, escorted by friends and families holding posters, flowers and gifts. As they walked, a speech written by each graduating senior was also announced in the background, reflecting on their years on the team and the senior’s aspirations for the future.
The homeshow featured a series of run-throughs of the MVLMB and Color Guard’s show with different member combinations, including one by all members of MVLMB and Color Guard, seniors from MVHS, seniors from LHS, and all non-seniors. The brass section of Marching Band put together a short performance to end the show.
The 2025-2026 Marching Band and Color Guard season was also the combined MVHS-LHS team’s first year of a combined MVHS-LHS team. As a result, the two schools’ schedules required precise coordination for practices and performances. Sophomore Vaibhav Coimbatore, who plays the saxophone, not only believes that the home show and the overall season went well, but also that the combined band style between MVHS and LHS helped open up new opportunities for him.
“Since we combined with LHS, I got to meet a lot of different people,” Coimbatore said. “My section leader, the seniors and everyone in my section were all really interesting people, and they brought out really cool insights that I never would have gotten from anyone else.”
Senior Darin Cruz, who has been in Marching Band for two years and plays the clarinet, thinks that the senior-only run-through was entertaining to watch, and agrees with Coimbatore that the show was a success. He also hopes that the team will not only continue to improve on their techniques, but also bond on a personal level.
“I loved the season,” Cruz said. “It was probably my favorite show out of the ones I’ve done so far, and I just hope that later on, the Marching Band just keeps growing and gets better and better each year.”
Similarly, senior Kyoko Nishigawa, who has played the flute in the MVHS Marching Band since her freshman year, agrees with both Cruz and Coimbatore, reflecting on her last performance and the memories she made in Marching Band throughout the years. She believes her experience in Marching Band, both as a section leader and member, has helped her learn leadership and team management skills. She is also satisfied with how her final performance wrapped up the end of her high school marching band career.
“It really was an emotional experience,” Nishigawa said. “I’ve known the freshmen in my section since the beginning of the season, and now that it’s the end of the season, I’ve really gotten to learn about them and seen them grow throughout the season.”
