NORMAL – When you’re a musician there are not many better visuals than watching listeners dance.

The Amboy High School Band got to experience this on a new stage on November 16 as it performed at the IHSA Class 1A and Class 2A State Tournaments at Illinois State University in Normal.

“It was fun. It was a lot of fun. I didn’t understand what they wanted when they were talking about energy from the band until we got there,” said Amboy Band Director Travis Kemmerer. “They want the place filled with live music. One of my favorite moments down there was when the Elmhurst Timothy student body was jamming hard to our tunes. They were dancing in the isles and having fun with it.

“They keep telling us we were doing a good job. Our kids worked really hard to play at the state tournament and it made their day when the fans were into it.”

The band, which sent audition tapes the last three years but weren’t chosen until the third time was a charm, went to Normal with a binder containing 38 songs.

Only two songs were not played, but some were played more than once including “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones, “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift, and “Can’t Buy Me Love” from the Beatles.

The Clippers played from 8 a.m. until 1:50 p.m. during the Class 1A third-place and championship matches and the Class 3A third-place and championship matches.

“They were so tired afterwards. The bus drive home was so quiet. You could tell the kids were nervous in the morning,” Kemmerer said. “Once they got into the swing of things, they were great. That’s what this band likes to do, they want to play. This group is proud. They’re proud to be Clippers. They’re proud to be in the band. They’re proud to perform. They want to perform.”

As soon as the experience was done, the Clippers already wanted to go back.

The band and Kemmerer recorded a fourth audition tape in four years to try to make sure the first state performance wasn’t the last.