When most PHS students look at Cody High School, all they see is a rivalry, but when three PHS band members looked at the Cody band, they saw an opportunity to expand their musical abilities.

Juniors Estrella Gonzales and Gavin Wolfe, alongside senior Katarina Reitz, spent their summers marching with the Cody band and continue to participate in the Cody High School pep band and other activities.

“The people are really welcoming,” Gonzales said. “I felt really welcomed when I went on to the Cody band, because they were all excited about the number of people since it puts them on the same level as Sheridan, which is crazy to think about, since we’re not even 4A in football.”

The audition process varies by grade level. Underclassmen are required to audition to participate, but upperclassmen are allowed to join on the spot.

“I just kind of showed up on that day, and they just let me in,” Wolfe said. “They’re a lot more welcoming in Cody’s band. There is actual marching, unlike Powell; Mr. Fabela doesn’t care as much about marching bands as Mr. French does.”

At PHS, our band keeps the marching to a minimum. PHS marching is limited to the beginning of games and minimal marching at parades. The amount of marching at Cody was an enjoyable switch.  

“We march at our homecoming parade,” Wolfe said. “But that is really the only time. It was very fun to actually march, unlike we do at our games.”

With such varying needs between bands, some members attempt to pick up the slack in sections lacking players of certain instruments.

“I play three different instruments,” Gonzales said. “Trumpet, which I started in sixth grade, I’ve been playing for five years, and I play French horn and mellophone, which I started last year in November, because we didn’t have enough French horns and mellophones.”

Every band member has experience with pep bands and popular songs. PHS, for example, plays songs like “Stacy’s Mom”, “Mr. Brightside”, and “Bad Romance”.

“In Cody, you need to have all of your music memorized, and some of it’s really hard,” Reitz said. “I have four songs memorized for Cody’s marching band: I have Creep by Radiohead, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, Master of Puppets by Metallica, and Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.”

One of the pep band experiences Powell members had was being on Cody’s side during the intense homecoming football game against the Panthers.

“Being at Cody’s homecoming was really fun,” Reitz said. “Not the fact that I was in Cody regalia while they were playing Powell, but they have a lot of stuff that they do differently than our pep band, like they do flashes with their band while Powell doesn’t really do that.”

A huge pull factor for students participating in both bands is the connections they make within Cody’s band and other bands around the state.

“I think the marching band environment is just so fun, great, and nice,” Gonzales said. ”And Sheridan apparently loves the Cody High School band, so every time they see us, they just start shouting.”

Although these students love the music and both bands, they each have their own favorite parts aside from those factors.

“I think my favorite highlight with the Cody band would be the trips with my section,”  Gonzales said. “The mellophones are in the alto saxophone section, and that section is amazing. I just love traveling with the section and section leader, getting to know them, and just talking with them.”

Some of the big differences between Cody and Powell are the number of students and the funding these schools have.

“I wish that Powell had more things implemented,” Reitz said. “But I also understand that we don’t have the funding or the people for that.”

There is good and bad that comes with a smaller band, sometimes with fewer people to branch out to, band members tend to stay in the same groups.

“One big difference between the Cody band and the Powell band is that there are way fewer people in the Powell band,” Gonzales said. “So there are more clichés in it, unlike the Cody band, there’s more variety of people that you can meet and connect with.”

One of the huge opportunities students get when participating in the Cody band is the chance to go to Band Days, hosted at the University of Wyoming.

“Band day is a specific day and game where a bunch of bands from around Wyoming and surrounding states come to perform,” Reitz said. “A bunch of different high school bands get together, and we play with Western Thunder. We get to learn a little bit more about how Western Thunder works and what the band is like at a college level.”

While at Band Day’s students get to have some one-on-one time with the University of Wyoming’s marching band, Western Thunder, and they even got to see some members who have been in the same position our PHS students are in now.

“We talked to some of the band members who used to be part of the Cody band,” Reitz said. ” They’re part of Western Thunder now. So I got to see a few people I knew from camp.”

The Cody High School marching band went on to earn first place in the 3A Wyoming state marching band contest, giving all band kids from Powell, Cody, and other nearby towns a huge moment of celebration.