NORWICH – With a one rehearsal left to go, the Norwich Purple Tornado Marching Band is set to open its 2010 season on Friday with the annual Homecoming Parade and a half-time performance of this year’s program – “Conquest and Courage: A Crusaders’ Fable.”

According to Director Lansing Dimon, the show’s medieval theme was inspired in part by the music of motion pictures such as “Dragonheart” and “First Knight” and is an attempt to portray the epic battle scenes associated with the Middle Ages and the Crusades.

“We were really looking for something people would recognize, something familiar, and the students seemed to latch onto this,” stated Dimon. “We’re starting off with a lot more experience this year and we’ve upped the intensity level. We’re a little more focused and that’s something the students wanted.”

Dimon said the ensemble’s victory at the Sherburne Pageant of Bands this summer “kind of energized the kids” and he felt that “in some ways it legitimizes we’re on the right path, not that winning is everything.”