Story By John Mann
chool during Friday’s football game against Geraldine as the Asbury marching band took the field for the first time to play during halftime.
“I’m so proud of them,” Band Director Makayla Franklin said. “They were so nervous but I knew they could do it if they just breathed and calmed down and realized they could do it. The school is excited, the community is excited and the kids are excited. This is history. It was amazing to have Geraldine’s band here and I’m so appreciative of their director Timothy Spears, he said their kids were extra excited because they love pumping up people who are new and making them feel good so a big shout out to them. Thank you to everyone who has helped us, just thank you.”
The band, which was made up of nine marchers on the field, played just one song during halftime: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Instruments included snare drum, tenor drum, saxophones and trumpets, flute, clarinet and percussion. The performance was the first of what is planned to be a part of all remaining home football games for Asbury.
Even though the Asbury marching band is brand new, the band program has been going since 2023, started originally under choir teacher Austin Lee. When he left Asbury Franklin stepped in as the new director and has slowly been growing the program ever since. Franklin, who teaches science and robotics, was a member of the band when she attended Geraldine High School, going on to be a member of both the Snead State and Jacksonville State marching bands playing flute and piccolo.
“It’s definitely a baby program,” she said. “We have one beginner class. I teach science during the day and then I’ve got some kids who will come to me during seventh period. They’re learning how to read rhythms and notes, very soon we will have a night where they can see what instrument suits them best so that they can either get their own or rent one from us. Basically we’re building a brand new program from scratch.”
The marching band got to follow up their halftime performance the next day as they went and took part in Jacksonville State’s Band Day, where they got to perform alongside the Marching Southerners as part of a five hundred strong group of high school band members. As a former Marching Southerner herself, Franklin knew how valuable the experience can be for her students.
“Our kids will get to go and be on the field with the Marching Southerners at halftime,” she said. “They get to experience the game and the Southerners perform to their side of the field. I got to experience being a student with the Marching Southerners, I got to experience Band Day as a Southerner and now I get to turn around and watch our kids experience it and it’s nothing like you’ve ever experienced being a kid at Band Day.”
Franklin says that the marching band, which currently practices two to three days a week, has received an overwhelming positive response from both the school and community. The band has been playing from the stands at football games and boys basketball games for two years now, and Franklin says it has gone a long way toward bringing students together across different programs.
For the band students themselves she says that it gives the students something to strive for, boosts confidence, gives students something to look forward to and helps them build relationships with each other. She hopes that by the end of the school year the band will be playing in full uniforms but long term she wants to see Asbury students earn scholarships through the marching band.
“I’ve got one student in particular who has really come out of her shell,” Franklin said. “She never used to smile, never used to speak to anybody and now she’s smiling and laughing and showing up to practice. She’s become her own person and it’s the same with a lot of these kids they now have somewhere to go, something to do. It’s a confidence builder, something that they can look at and say to themselves “I did that.”
The Asbury Rams will play three more home football games where you can see the band in action, including this Friday as they host Fyffe. The other two home game dates are October 3 against Brindlee Mountain and October 17 against Sylvania. All games start at 7 pm. Follow Asbury on their Facebook page under “Asbury High School.”
