A long and demanding week for many students just wrapped up Friday. No, school is not back in session yet, but hundreds of students at Vicksburg Warren School District high schools participated in band camp this week.

The weeklong tradition of spending five full days practicing marching, playing an instrument, spinning a flag, dancing and conducting started in a relatively mild Mississippi heat, ran into some summer showers mid-week and ended in blazing sunshine.

The rain may have put a damper on the field but was not seen as a major setback.

Big Blue Band director Alan Arendale said he is fortunate to have flexible faculty and staff at Warren Central who let his band use the gym, choral room, cafeteria, auditorium and other locations to continue the camp. He said moving the operation inside doesn’t hurt them too much because a lot of what the students do during this week is fundamentals.

“We don’t actually need a football field per se to lay down the pictures that the crowd sees in the show,” he said.

While it’s not ideal, it is much better than nothing, he said, and when it’s not raining, Arendale makes sure to rotate time spent inside and outside to beat the heat.

Earlier in the summer, smaller groups, like individual sections and freshmen, met to practice. This week of band camp is meant to bring together the whole band to practice what they’ve learned.

“Band camp conditions you for the season so you get used to marching and playing the show, and you get used to having to deal with rain or mud or any of that type stuff,” Alexandria Scott, junior percussionist, said.

At Warren Central, freshman met at 8 a.m. and upperclassmen started their day at 9 a.m. The students spent time working with a movement tech and a marching fundamentals tech in addition to learning their music. Students work until 12:30 p.m., take a break, start back at 2 p.m. and work until 5:30 p.m.

“Band camp is really meant for a reinforcement and a refresher of marching and playing to get back in the habit of doing what we do best,” senior drum major Jackson Smith said, adding they have been working hard everyday.

Senior tuba player Elijah Thomas agreed and said camp helps the band members get back in shape and acclimates the freshmen.

“It’s going pretty good. We’ve made a lot of progress,” Thomas said.

Arendale said having camp is important because the football season begins soon after school starts and competitions begin the last Saturday in September so getting the students prepared early is important.

“It takes a great amount of training, musically and physically, to prepare the students to be successful,” he said. “It’s a lot of work, but they have fun up here.”

Evening activities were also planned for the students who chose to take advantage, including bowling and listening to a motivational speaker talk about teamwork.

“We had a lot of fun. We had some group building activities,” Smith said.

At Vicksburg High, all band students meet at 7 a.m., take an hour and a half lunch and end the day at 5 p.m.

“In the morning when they get here at 7 a.m., they work out for about 50 minutes, and then we split off and work on music in sectionals. Then we come together and we practice together,” said junior and head drum major Valina Thuha.

She said camp is important because once school starts, there is less time for the group to meet and work together on the show they will perform on the field during halftime and at competition.

“We have to learn it during the summer so we’ll be prepared for football season,” Thuha said, adding they take frequent breaks to deal with the seasonal heat.

The Big Blue Band’s 2016 show is called The Victor and is loosely based on the movie The Gladiator.

The Pride of Vicksburg’s 2016 show is music by Michael Jackson.