On Sat. Oct. 29, the marching band moved onto the University Interscholastic League Area competition with their country themed marching show, “New Frontier.”
There are two pretty big competitions in marching band, UIL Regions and UIL Area, both of which are judged very differently.
“For Regions, you’re not really competing against anyone except yourself,” brass captain and senior Henry Schieber said. “Then [in] Area, it’s more like competing with other bands and seeing how we play.”
Initially, the band had gone to Region UIL, where they received all “1s,” which means that the performance was superior in that aspect of the show, allowing them to move on to the area.
“Region’s not necessarily the toughest competition, but it is one of the most crucial steps, even though it’s really easy to advance to [the] area [competition], I can tell you that most definitely everyone felt the nerves,” drum major junior Jake Wood said. “Region’s not that bad in terms of being able to progress, but it is important.”
In the Area competition, bands are graded on a point scale and given a ranking on the elements of the show. There are five judges whose scores and placements are averaged together, deciding a final ranking for the band. The top 12 bands move on to finals, where they compete for six spots for a State UIL Competition. The band placed 14 place, meaning they did not move on to finals and therefore state.
“It was disappointing. There were a lot of factors out of our control, like the rain, but also most 6A bands are huge,” Wood said. “I remember talking with the first place band, Coppell, and they marched with 270 people, compared to our 70 something. With a band three to four times bigger, their sound will just be bigger than ours, regardless of what we do.”
After the jump from 5A to 6A, the size of bands that they competed with grew exponentially.
“Even in 5A we were small,” Wood said. “But we compensated with a big sound and clean music.”
Bank Director Daren Jordan joined the HPHS Band staff recently, only getting hired in the beginning of June. The development of a marching show begins in November of the year before it is actually competed. This meant Jordan and many other recently hired band staff members had to adapt to a show that was not of their design and bring it to competition level.
“Area is the biggest competition, even though there’s a state, area is the most important one,” Jordan said. “Getting to state is the fun part, but it takes getting through the area.”
The band went to another competition, Bands of America but otherwise, this is the end of their marching season this year. The band will not be able to compete in state next year, as band UIL cycles every year, whereas 2A, 4A and 6A all compete one year and 1A, 3A and 5A will compete at state another year.
“Just like any organization in the school, the jump from 5A to 6A presents new challenges and opportunities to grow,” Wood said. “Even presented with severe competitive disadvantages, the band worked incredibly hard and put on the show of a lifetime. I see a bright future ahead for the band, one in which excellence shines through the face of adversity.”
