The start of every year brings us a chance for a new beginning. This year is certainly no exception as we all hope for declining COVID-19 cases and look toward a new president and our first female vice president to bring about positive changes.
With Halftime Magazine, you will see many transformations but also many similarities to the past. Although this issue is completely digital, you’ll find the same type of stories and layout that you know and enjoy. With an electronic interactive format, we are excited to embed videos to supplement print content. You’ll find them in two of the three feature stories.
Many college bands ended 2020 or began 2021 without traveling to their football team’s bowl games. We take a look at how bowl organizers incorporated “Bands at the Bowls During COVID“. In addition, Halftime Magazine is proud to be a founding partner of the College Band Directors National Association Intercollegiate Marching Band, uniting nearly 1,500 nominated performers—not only in a virtual show for the College Football Playoff National Championship game but also in an ongoing community. We also recap the fall 2020 marching season, including the in-person Texas University Interscholastic League and Utah Music Educators Association marching champions.
For our “For Fun” department, we have changed out the crossword puzzle to bring you a dose of humor: the syndicated comic strip “Tales from Band Camp” and an excerpt from The Band Nerds Book Series. Because we all need a reason to laugh, and the marching arts can be pretty funny.
We are also building up our YouTube Channel with broadcast versions of our stories, band parodies, and videos shared by marching ensembles. If you or your marching group have videos to share, tag us with them on social media, and we may add them to one of our playlists. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, so you don’t miss any video content.
If you haven’t yet subscribed to the magazine, remember to do so at halftimemag.com, so you can get it delivered straight to your inbox.
As we all continue to experience uncertainties in the months ahead, look for ways to stay creative, make a positive impact, and put one step in front of the other.
Perhaps Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history, said it best in her poem “The Hill We Climb”:
When day comes, we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.
Keep on Marching,
Christine Ngeo Katzman
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
