To come up with the band’s show theme, band directors Michael Goldschmidt and John Slowensky met with ex-choir director Jeff Sandquist and others to discuss in late March. Sandquist suggested doing a theme that revolves around Celtic.
After thinking for a long time to find a focus for their theme, former Rolla High School student Bailey Gruben suggested the story of a Celtic Queen and warrior, Boudica.
“We have a music writer, who is actually one of our percussion technicians. So it is a completely custom written band show,” Goldschmidt said.
The Rolla High School Latin teacher, Carin Allen, teaches students about Boudicca in Latin I. Based on the Cambridge Latin Course book that she uses and the University of North Carolina’s website, when the Romans invaded the Celts, some resisted, such as Boudica, the Queen of the Iceni tribe, but were unsuccessful.
To appease the Romans, when Boudica’s husband died, they made the emperor co-heir. Ignoring this, the Romans took the king’s property and land. After Boudicca protested this, her daughters were raped and she was flogged.
Boudica then began to lead a rebellion against the Romans in a.d. 60. The Iceni saw Boudica as the rightful leader, even though she had no claims to the throne because she was a woman. Other tribes close to the Iceni were willing to help in the uprising because the Romans has harshly taxed them for many years and used many Celtics as slaves. The army had around 100,000 men.
The rebellion was successful in part because the Romans were overconfident. Using chariots and guerilla warfare, Boudica and her rebellion were able to overrun the Roman cities of Camulodunum and Colchester. The uprising was eventually put down by Roman soldiers. Though the rebellion had more men than the Romans, the Romans were well-trained and had better weaponry.
Boudica returned to the Iceni land, where she committed suicide instead of being captured and eventually killed by the Romans. In Romans’ eyes, Boudicca was remarkable, fascinating, and fearsome.
Dio Cassius describes her as “huge of frame, terrifying of aspect, and with a harsh voice. A great mass of bright red hair fell to her knees: She wore a great twisted golden necklace, and a tunic of many colors, over which was a thick mantle, fastened by a brooch. Now she grasped a spear, to strike fear into all who watched her.”
Senior guard member Katie Bohannan portrays Boudica in the band show.
“She moves around the field during the show and joins the different guard sections. But she is definitely a great leader so you see her at the beginning. She strolls down the middle, acting as a fierce warrior. At the end of our first movement, all the guard lifts her up into the air to show that she is proud and strong,” Goldschmidt said.