Photos: Alaska's only prep marching band heads south

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Sophomore Reed Childers warms up while freshman Emily Sager braids her hair before the Colony High School marching band performance on Thursday, September 24, 2015. Their group is the only high school marching band in Alaska.

The world premiere of Texas composer Barry Hurt's "Alaska: The Great Land" took place in Palmer on Sept. 24. The 10-minute multi-movement work is a panoramic tone poem about Alaska's history using musicians who play the scores while moving in a complex choreography simultaneously -- all from memory.

There are few players in Alaska capable of such a performance. In fact, the only ensemble that can handle it right now is probably the Northern Sound of Colony high school, the band that gave the premiere -- at this time the only high school marching band in the state.

Read more: Marching to the championships: Alaska’s only high school marching band prepares to vie for national honors