By Justin Adams | [email protected]

The next time you see the Herriman High School marching band, they’ll be sporting some brand-new uniforms.

The upgrade is thanks to a donation from RSL owner Del Loy Hansen, who has a grandson in the marching band. After enjoying one of its competition performances, Hansen asked Herriman band director Brandon Larsen what he could do to help them get even better. Larsen knew exactly what to ask for.

“The current uniforms are 90s-style even though the school opened in 2010,” Larsen said. “They were old when we got them.” 

After working out some details with Hansen, Larsen said the money just showed up in the band’s foundation account one day, and it was no small sum.

“A marching band uniform isn’t like a sports uniform,” Larsen said. “A marching band uniform’s average life is 8 to 10 years. It’s a heavy investment. There’s a jacket and bibbers and hats and pins and shiny things. We’re talking about a $100,000 investment.”

The uniforms will be more in line with current marching band aesthetics. For example, the current “Aussie” hat, which slightly resembles a cowboy hat with a feather attached, will be replaced with a “shako” hat, a tall cylindrical military cap.

To thank Hansen for the donation, the band presented him with a plaque at a recent friends and family performance.

“We’ve been fortunate to have Del Loy as a partner,” Larsen said. “He’s really taken the Herriman High Marching Band under his wing.” 

The uniform is an important part of a marching band’s performance, said Larsen. It can even account for three to four points of a team’s visual score. “That can be all the difference when you’re in the competitive arena,” he said.

“Uniforms add to the story,” said Riley Mecham, the percussion platoon leader. “You’re telling your show, you’re telling your story. Your uniforms are part of that.” 

“They show the representation of our school and that we have pride in what we do,” said Tommy Henderson, a senior trumpet player.

The band members also think the new uniforms will give them a confidence boost as they compete this year.

“In anything I do, if you look good you feel good; if you feel good you play good,” said Stillman Ballstaedt, a junior drum major. “It’s going to help us competitively.” 

“I think it will be good for the band as a confidence booster,” tenor saxophone player Jo Hansen said. “It feels good to look good.” 

The band is expected to perform in the new uniforms at a competition hosted at Herriman High School on Sept. 26 and again sometime in October when it hopes to be able to perform at halftime of one of the football games. 

So far this year, the band has been unable to do halftime performances because of COVID-19 -restrictions, which has been tough on the band Larsen said.

“I see a band as the soul of a school,” he said. “I’m a little biased because I’m the band director, but I do think a good band is worth three  or four points in a football game. Not being able to be there, it’s not great for the team, and it’s not great for us because that’s how we feel we can contribute to the school.”

As for the band itself, Larsen said that despite boasting over 140 members, it hasn’t had a single positive case of COVID-19 since it began practicing in June. In addition to regular mask wearing and social distancing, Larsen said the band has followed research done at the collegiate level that’s shown how to minimize exposure risk.