Halftime!
Spend a week with the MSU Spartan Marching Band as they prepare for a special
Homecoming 2004 halftime performance celebrating 50 years of television from
WKAR.
WKAR-TV Takes Viewers Behind the Scenes with the MSU Spartan
Marching Band
The MSU Marching Band halftime show lasts just seven minutes. The
effort put into the show is almost endless.
That effort and the students
who spend long hours to create an enjoyable experience for fans are
the focus of Halftime!, a documentary produced,
written, directed and edited by WKAR’s Mike Mihalus and Dick
Best.
“This show will be like a week in the life of a marching band
and what it takes to make a halftime show,” Mihalus says. “We
want to tell the story of the band to people at home—the marching
practices in the rain, getting up to practice at 7 a.m., the countless
hours. We want people to understand how dedicated these kids are.”
Both
Mihalus and Best are MSU graduates and Spartan fans. The idea for
the documentary came from Best, WKAR videographer, who was a
member of MSU’s marching band in the ‘60s. He then produced
a show on the band’s experience in the 1988 Rose Bowl in Pasadena,
Calif.
Mihalus said he and Best got to know several band members well
and will get to the personal side of the story. “You see the
kids out by themselves marching before practice just because they
want to get it perfect. You see them talking about
it
after practice. I watch the kids doing it and say, ‘It looks
perfect.’ But they want to get it past what the average person
can see and get it so it’s perfect to them. That’s what
impresses me—band is their life. They want to get it perfect.”
Halftime!
features the October 2004 homecoming show in which the band saluted
public television during WKAR’s 50th year by performing
such numbers as the theme to “Masterpiece Theatre,” “Rubber
Duckie,” “Sesame Street Theme,” and “It’s
a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (“Mister Rogers’ Theme).
MSU Band Director John Madden added to the energy of the performance
by having the band spell out the letters WKAR in tribute to the station.
first aired September 2005
Scenes from
Halftime!
John Madden on the director's scaffold at marching band practice. |
"Repitition builds confidence." -- John Madden |
Routine trumpet maintenance. |
In the rain on Adams Field. |
Drum Major back-bend. |
MSU Spartan Marching Band depicts "This Old House" as part of the tribute
to WKAR . |
Behind the Scenes during the making of
Halftime!
WKAR Director Dick Best at marching band practice. |
Up close with the trumpet line. |
Dick Best with the flag corp. |
WKAR's Ken Merley on the scaffold with Marching Band Director John
Madden |
WKAR Producer Mike Mihalus recorded the halftime performance from the
press box. |
WKAR camera crew on the field with QuizBusters host Matt Ottinger, Arthur,
Station Manager Deanne Hamilton and Arthur fans. |
photos by Erica Mellema
