The De Soto High School’s 2012 marching band will bring an original, captivating show to every Friday night game this season. This year’s show theme is: Dreams.

Summon the Heroes

by John Williams, All American Nightmare by Brad Warren, I Dreamed a Dream by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Dream On by Steven Tyler is the program for this marching season.

Summon the Heroes

, made popular as an olympic theme, is an appropraite opening number since 2012 is an olympic year. It is followed by All American Nightmare, a hard-rock groove played by the band Hinder.

I Dreamed a Dream

is a slow, yet powerful piece, taken from the musical Les Miserables. As the closer, Dream On, maybe Aerosmith’s most popular song, will hopefully bring the crowd to the their feet and create a strong finish.

“All American Nightmare is by far the most difficult song we have,” band director Matt Bradford said. “There are 11 different moves, and a drum break in the middle.”

With a challenging show, the band is hustling to put things together in time.

“In the grand scheme of things, we are behind where we need to be, but because of our schedule, we are doing okay,” Bradford said.

The plan for the season is to have the full show on the field by the last home football game. With a director change, a large freshman class and a football schedule full of early-in-the-season home games, the band is facing several obstacles.

However, the marching competitions this year are not until later in the fall. In past years, the band has participated in two marching competitions: one at Baker University, the other at Andover High School.

This year, however, the band will replace Andover’s competition with Kansas State University’s marching festival in October.

The KSU marching festival has more to offer than most competitions. In the morning, before its performance, the DHS band will particiapte in a clinic, lead by KSU band director Dr. Frank Tracz and the marching band’s student leaders.

“This is the most important part of the day,” Bradford said.

There, the band will perform its show, while Dr.Tracz and the KSU students critique their performance and give them tips to use during that afternoon’s performance.

On top of the four home football games, the band has goals to succeed in both their competitions this season.

“My goal for the band this season is to do well at K-State and get a 1 at Baker,” senior drum major Maria Pileski said.