Close your eyes and think about a high school football game. There’s a good chance you visualize a group of players on the field, cheerleaders on the sidelines and stands packed with excited fans. Close your eyes again, and you may notice that the images are connected to different sounds that influence how you feel about that football game. Cue the music as the marching band and color guard filter into the stadium with artistic performances to entertain the fans and create a celebratory environment for the team to go out and win the game.
The award-winning Cherry Hill East Marching Band and Color Guard include a group of 85 musicians and 12 color guard members who perform and compete together throughout the fall. Both groups of students work together to put on a field show under the direction of Marching Band Director Mr. Buck Palmer, who is also a music teacher at East, Color Guard Director of Choreography Lily Pugliese, and two Assistant Directors, Mrs. Joanne Burgess, a math teacher at East, and Mrs. Jodi Gorenberg, an educational assistant.
Performing in the marching band and color guard is a big time commitment. Kick-off for their season happens in August when the groups get together for Band Camp. They spend three weeks at intensive weekday practices that run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to get their performances ready for the start of football season. Their competition season also coincides with football season and runs through the end of November.
Color Guard Captain Payton Reeves (‘26), who has been dancing with the color guard throughout high school, shares that while the summer practices are draining, the students have a great work ethic and want to put on an incredible show.
“[Band Camp] is very difficult . . . Our motivation to keep going is to make sure that the show looks good,” said Reeves.
As both groups are closely intertwined for performances, Palmer and Pugliese work together to narrow down the music options for the season, but they let the students choose the music. The final selection will become the music for the seven to eight-minute field show that is performed at football games and competitions, so it is important that the students like the music. The students work together to perform a field show that includes music, synchronization, dance choreography and artistic creativity.
“We get at least three [songs] that are a possibility. We let the whole Marching Band and Color Guard listen to them and vote on which one they would prefer,” said Pugliese. Grace Fang (‘25), one of the drum majors for the marching band, explains how the two units that comprise the marching band and color guard work together to create the field show.
“Color guard learns their choreography while the band learns their music. Eventually . . . we come outside and learn the arrangements, where we should be on the field for each different set . . . and then we just put it together,” said Fang.
By the time football season begins, the field show is polished and ready to perform at football games. The East Marching Band and Color Guard also compete against other New Jersey and Pennsylvania high schools in the Cavalcade of Bands. There are about five competitions spread out during the season. This year’s field show is called “In Full Bloom,” and it has already won awards for first place in its class and second place overall at competitions.
When East has a home game, the marching band has the responsibility for playing the national anthem before the start of the game and performing at half-time. For away games, the order changes.
“It’s a tradition in South Jersey for the home team band to play during half- time and the away team band to play before the game starts,” said Palmer.
If you have been to an East football game, then you know that the marching band and color guard performances continue with “stand tunes” played at specific times during the 1st, 2nd and 4th quarters of the game. These are a mix of traditional pep tunes, modern tunes and other well-known marching band music from the ‘60s or ‘70s. “Hooked on a Feeling,” and “Louie, Louie” are popular for the East Marching Band to perform, but they are always adding new music at the request of the football team or other students.
“Next year, I already know that there are going to be two more modern stand tunes that we are going to add to our list,” said Palmer.
While stand tunes are generally only played when East is on defense, there are other special times when the band will play in the stands. If there are just a few minutes left on the clock, they play a hype song called “Final Countdown.” The whole band knows when to play in the stands because the Head Drum Major or Palmer will give a cue.
According to Fang, marching band is a very inclusive and welcoming environment that many students get involved with for all four years of high school.
“A lot of people start in their freshman year because they kind of enroll through their middle school music teacher . . . but there are other people who have joined as a sophomore or junior,” said Fang.
While this is his first year as the East Marching Band Director, Palmer has a lot of experience with the marching band. He grew up in Texas, played in the Texas Christian University Marching Band, performed in the Drum Corps, a professional marching band, and started his teaching career in Texas working with large bands at 6A schools, which is a designation given to the biggest schools in Texas.
Palmer said he is eager to include all interested students in the marching band.
“We look for work ethic. If we have students who have never played a marching instrument before, that’s okay, as long as they’re willing to work really hard,” said Palmer.
Palmer wanted to direct the East Marching Band because of his passion for it. He loves to teach marching band and enjoys seeing his students take the skills that they learn through their commitment to marching band to excel in other parts of their life.
“I think that one of the most rewarding things for me is seeing just how well students start to understand their own work ethic and apply it to other things in their life,” said Palmer.
He added, “Watching our marching band students go to a marching band contest and come off the field with smiles on their faces knowing that they did the absolute best they could, I think that is probably the most fulfilling thing for me as a teacher.”
The color guard’s visual performance enhances the audience’s connection with the music by incorporating dance, colorful silk flags and themed props to draw in the audience.
“The marching band are the ones playing the music for our show. The color guard, we’re doing choreography flag work that complements the music that the band is playing. We’re both on the field all moving around together to perform a whole show,” said Pugliese.
Reeves elaborated on how she sees the color guard’s role.
“We are the visual of marching band. We’re technically the dancers, and we try to bring the music to life by showing off how to do tricks with flags, rifles and sometimes sabres. We have a lot of fun,” said Reeves.
Serving as a director for the color guard has created a full-circle experience for Pugliese, a graduate of East who performed in the group for all four years of high school and was also the head color guard captain during her senior year. She returned to her alma mater at the request of some of her former band directors and has enjoyed the collaborative work.
“In high school, it became absolutely my biggest passion. I even did a little bit of color guard when I was in college. This is my third year directing,” Pugliese said.
While color guard requires artistic performance and dance skills, all first-time members learn the specific skills for color guard together since there is no middle school feeder program in Cherry Hill. It is a welcoming environment and a great way to get involved at East.
“It’s a lot of fun, and with the right practice and technique, you can learn to do it very well. You don’t need to know anything about it when joining; you just need to try hard and put in your effort,” said Reeves.
Although the East Marching Band and Color Guard have different roles, their schedules are closely aligned. All of the members form friendships with students in both groups. At the end of the season, they have a combined hayride to celebrate.
The next time you cheer on the East football team at a game, remember to appreciate the full atmosphere.
Listen to the music the marching band makes and watch the routines the color guard performs. Take in the halftime field show and show your East spirit by cheering alongside the stand tunes.
