When the fighting flock of Falcon fury known as the Fountain Hills High School marching band takes the field Friday evening, Sept. 7, they’ll be taking audience members on a whirlwind tour of music from the movies. And while this year’s band may be smaller in size when compared to previous groups, the plan is to create just as much noise and excitement as ever before.

That’s according to senior Leah Osborn (snare drum), junior Devon Weinreich (flute) and freshman James Greene (baratone), who said they and their bandmates are excited to get the 2018 marching season off the ground. The band’s first performance will be during the football game’s halftime show this week, at which point they will perform a couple of numbers from this year’s program.

“We’ve got about 50 members this year, but we’re still putting out sound and putting in the work,” Osborn said.

This year’s program is called “A night at the movies,” and it includes five songs pulled straight from cinema. These include the “20th Century Fox Theme;” “The Greatest Show” from the film “The Greatest Showman;” “War,” from Avater; “Skyfall” from the James Bond film by the same name and the theme from “The Incredibles.”

According to Osborn, this is going to be a “very crowd-pleasing show.”

“All of our shows are meant for the crowd, but this one especially,” she said. “Everyone knows the songs. It’s meant to get the crowd excited.”

Weinreich agreed.

“It’s a very theatrical show,” she added. “In the past we’ve played a lot of cool music that the crowd will like, but this year it integrates some theater, acting and cool visual effects.”

Greene, who is brand new to the FHHS band, said that once he got settled in with his new teammates, the only “struggle” for the season has been getting used to marching. He’s one of about a dozen freshmen, but the upperclassmen agree they’ve been learning the ropes quickly.

As in years past, though, the band isn’t trying to rush the learning process. They’ll perform a couple of songs during halftime this week and, as the season progresses, work more of the program’s numbers into their performance. The end goal is to be ready for the competitive season set to begin later this fall.

That might seem like a lot of work (and it is), but the trio agrees that excitement is the most common emotion.

“I’m most excited for our opener, ‘The Greatest Show,’” Weinreich said. “I love the movie. I saw it three times in theaters. I own it. I thought it was just such a cool movie, and I loved the music, and I thought it was really well done.”

“I’m excited for ‘Avatar,’” Greene Continued. “It builds up, then it breaks down, then it builds back up.”

Osborn, though, said she’s excited for the show as a whole and the energy it has to offer.

“I’m really just excited to put that on the field and show everyone what we can do,” she said. “These people are our home audience, so they’re here to see us, they’re excited for us and they cheer like crazy. We feed off of that energy that they give us, which is really exciting.”

Speaking of the audience, the trio of Falcons said they’re looking forward to seeing how they respond to the show.

“I want them to think the show is super awesome and I want them to recognize the music,” Weinreich said. “As for the band, I want them to see that we’re smaller, but we’re still here, we’re mighty, we’re putting up a fight and we’re ready to roll.”

Greene agreed.

“I enjoy listening to the band as a whole,” he said. “It sounds really good and I’m excited for the crowd to see us march.”

Osborn jumped in, adding that she wants the audience to experience the same kind of emotions they experience when watching a movie.

“The excitement, the sadness, the chills, the suspense,” she said. “That’s what I want them to experience.”

Friday night’s football game is set to kick off on the high school field beginning at 7 p.m. The band will take the field at halftime to perform and will keep the crowd energized throughout the night with continuous music in the stands.

“The season has been going great so far,” Weinreich said. “They’ve been rocking it.”

Osborn agreed.

“We’re putting out good, quality sound,” she said. “It’s definitely a lot of work and a lot of effort, so we’re going to really need to come together. I think we’re going to have a great show this year.”