The students are crouched solemnly in a single line, waiting for their cue. Their attire is diverse and resembles a period in France long passed. The crowd talks among themselves, seemingly taken aback by the unique yet simple sight. It varies considerably from other schools’ performances. The scene bursts into action as the beautiful opening notes trickle like raindrops as “One Day More” begins to play.

The winterguard will compete at Frenship Saturday, March 3. The colorguard begins its winterguard season, a series of indoor contests for the local guards, in January. Each guard chooses a song to be the theme of their show. This season, Canyon High’s guard will perform “One Day More” from the musical “Les Miserables.”

“It’s one of the main themes of the musical,” sophomore Erin Riley said. “The meaning basically is hope and optimism for the future. The characters singing the song in the musical, their situation is awful. They’re about to overthrow the government and start all over again. They’re all dreaming about tomorrow when the revolution is going to happen and when everything’s going to be better for them.”

Victor Hugo wrote the book “Les Miserables” in 1862. It is a five-volume novel written about life during the French Revolution. It was adapted to a musical in 1980 and a film in 2012.

“I think the reason we picked this song is because all of our directors are nerds and love musicals,” Riley said. “But also, a lot of the winterguard shows the other schools are doing are really dark and metaphorical. I think we’re trying to be different than that and be more optimistic and hopeful.”

The winterguard has 10 members who attend regular rehearsals from 7-9 p.m. on Thursdays and 1-4 p.m. on Saturdays.

“Every rehearsal has been 110 percent,” senior Travis Roberts said. “Everyone always brings their full game to the table, but we also know how to relax and how to keep it fun.”

After competing at Frenship this weekend, the winterguard will travel to Roosevelt High in Lubbock March 10 and the championships in Frenship April 7. 

“No matter what we do, we don’t really care about the outcome as long as we’re growing as we perform as a guard,” Roberts said.

Winterguard performances are staged inside, and most guards bring a floor to match the show theme. 

“For winterguard, I help with floor crew,” sophomore Alyssa Harris said. “Since winterguard is inside and usually going to be in a basketball court, we can’t put anything on the floor. So, we have a specific floor that we pull out.”

The purpose of the special floors is to protect the court from the potential dropping of a flag or rifle. Dropping a flag can result in a scrape on the wood floors.

“We travel with the winterguard,” Harris said. “We have to work as a team to pull the floor out fully. Once we get ready, we have to pull it out as fast as possible, making it as straight as possible and we have to get it in the center of the court.”

The floor crew is composed of volunteer parents, other band members and color guard members who can’t or chose to not perform.

“I love the theme, and I love the actual show,” Harris said. “From someone who’s done it, watching all of it happen, it was nice seeing it again. I can tell everyone there enjoys it, and that makes me enjoy it even more, especially knowing that a lot of the people on winterguard like Les Mis.”

The show features solos and duets along with group work.

“The music starts with one soloist, so we have one of our seniors, Travis (Roberts), doing the solo there,” Riley said. “Another person joins in singing, so our freshman, Lawson (Jonhston), joins him there. There’s a duet between the main love interests of the show, so there’s all these solos going on at the same time to match up with the singing. To represent the chorus in the background, there’s the main flag line.”

Roberts joined the guard during the second semester of last year.

“When I moved, I inserted myself in here and found my place here,” Roberts said. “This colorguard has given me a chance to find a group when I didn’t realize where I would belong. Over this past year in winterguard and fall guard, it’s grown me into a more disciplined person who can work through my problems step-by-step.”

Band, along with colorguard, teaches not only music but life skills as well.

“If you join band and join colorguard, there are some things that even if you don’t work towards it, it’s kind of infectious,” Roberts said. “It rubs off on you. The discipline rubs off on you. The personal work ethic rubs off on you. I would recommend it to anyone who steps foot in Canyon High.”