Incoming freshmen battle stereotypes, fatigue at band camp

Flushed and weary, they snapped their instruments into formation under the blazing sun. A test of endurance as they marched in place and held the heavy brass aloft, stiff and precise. Down! And back up, just one more time!

Call them sweaty.

Call them crazy.

Just don’t call them band geeks.

Forget the jokes and movie references. Band camp is not for the weak.

Just barely teenagers, the few dozen students who lined up on melting asphalt in a parking lot at Estero High School were out to prove themselves.

Last week, they were mere middle schoolers. Today, though, marked their first day of high school — and one of its institutions.

“Marching band is an important part of the high-school experience,” said Emily Nelson, 14, one of the rising ninth-graders who took part in a freshmen-only practice at Estero High.

The two-day session, which wrapped up Wednesday afternoon, was the first of the Marching Wildcats’ band camps and rehearsals, a string of summer practices to get the group in shape before the early fall football season.

It was, by all accounts, an exceptionally good start to band camp.

Photo by TRISTAN SPINSKI, Daily News

Courtlon Cochran, the Percussion Caption Head for the Estero High School Marching Band, takes his students through a series of rhythm drills during the second day of band camp at Estero High School on Wednesday afternoon. After Wednesday’s camp, students will have five weeks to relax before summer practice sessions begin.

First of all, the newbies toughed out the unrelenting heat and oppressive humidity, which in May is just a preview of the grueling practices to come in August.

“No one fainted yesterday or today. That’s really unusual,” said Carol Fox, a band booster and parent. “I think last year we had five or six.”

And more than 30 eager freshmen-to-be showed up, twice as many as last year.

“It’s a good crop,” said Mark Gurnow, the band director who Estero High snatched up before he graduated from the University of Alabama last May.

Later in the summer, there will be a four-day overnight stay at the school. And drum majors — seniors and leaders of the band, Aimee Rubin and Tori Lestella — will host their own two-day band camp too.

The class of 2010 is well on its way to following the example of their stereotype-busting upperclassmen.

Unlike the awkward, reclusive image many have of “band kids,” Estero’s band members have traditionally been both well-liked and academically talented, said George Clover, the school’s principal. Six of the top 10 in the class of 2006 were band students, as was the school’s salutatorian.

Brandyn Taxinger, 14, was auditioning for a percussion part, hoping to be on the drumline team his schoolmates cheer and fawn over.

“Band kids, that’s what everyone thinks,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But everyone loves the drumline.”

Gurnow echoed his new charge.

“The stereotype really is gone ... I was surprised when I got here,” he said. “Everybody loves the band.”

Getting the freshmen in for camp as soon as possible helps bring them into the fold quickly, Gurnow said.

“It’s important because they’re still in the mentality of middle school,” he said. “We want to give them a chance to meet some upperclassmen, a sense of family.”