ANDERSON COUNTY — From “Winter Dreams” to “Things That Pop,” this year’s high school marching band season has started in the Anderson area with bangs and booms.

Marching bands from high schools around the area have braved the sun all summer long trying to nail down moves to perfection.

“Come on guys, places, remember your places,” said Richard Baskin, the band coordinator at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, into a megaphone system at a recent practice.The T.L. Hanna band for this season is young. Of the band’s 180 members, 60 are freshmen.

T.L. Hanna, however, does not have a specific theme for its program this year.

“It’s really intense music, but there is no set theme,” said Cara Dillon, Hanna’s drum major. “If you get that it’s sort of tied to the Russian Revolution, then you’ll understand (the show).”

Dillon and fellow band seniors Eddy Stein, Melissa Merill, and David Reynolds all agree that Baskin tries to give the band complicated pieces to improve the performers’ skills. Reynolds, the drumline captain said, that this year’s drummers are some of the best that the school has seen in a long time.

“It’s pretty much the best skill we’ve had in a couple of years,” Reynolds said.

Hanna will wear traditional marching band uniforms for this year’s program

Pendleton High School is trying something more contemporary for this year’s marching band season.

Director Robert Smith chose “Things that Pop” as this year’s theme for the group.

“It’s an original composition,” Smith said. “It’s written around things that go pop. Popcorn, bubbles, and ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’ is in there a lot.”

Pendleton’s drum major for this year is Brianna Shaver. The band also will wear their traditional uniforms this season. The color guard, however, will wear pink outfits.

This year’s band mostly is comprised of older students who have been in band since their middle school days, and the band will attempt to become the upper-state champion in its division for theeighth year in a row. Pendleton’s seven-year upper-state championship streak is currently the longest winning streak in the state in any marching band division.

“It’s a very good band,” Smith said of this year’s group. “It’s another band that will have a shot at winning state again.”

This year’s theme for the Belton-Honea Path High School band is “Winter Dreams,” according to the band coordinator Jon Brock.

The show will incorporate Christmas music but also some compositions with a wintry theme.

“We have a great group of kids this year,” Brock said. “It will be one of those shows that people will enjoy watching.”

The Belton-Honea Path band will wear traditional band garb this season, and this year’s drum major is Abagail Pruett, a senior at the school.