This year, in preparation for our annual UIL marching contest, I decided to take the Mighty Roughneck Band to two Pre-UIL contests. I debated the value of doing this, but after one contest I see the advantages to them.
While the band did have some struggles at last week's Buccaneer Marching Festival in Brenham, I believe that the group learned some things. We received great comments to help in improving our marching and especially our music. We have begun to polish the musicality of our performance as a result. Learning how to make the music "come alive" is one of the most important lessons we can gain.
We also watched the performance of several bands in our 3A level and above. We saw some great performances, and some that were just average. We got to see the commitment and hard-work of other bands. Hopefully that was an inspiration and motivation to us, to continue to work hard toward our goals.
Another aspect of the festival that I thought was helpful is that the percussion section and color guard received comments and ratings from judges as well. It comes as no surprise that both groups received superior ratings from the judges. The recorded comments have already helped these hard-working groups improve.
I am looking forward to this weekend and the Edna Marching Festival. We will see how far we have moved forward in our rehearsals as we chase after our goal of marching in the Alamodome at the UIL State Marching Contest.
BTW...the picture at the top was taken by Mikayla...pretty cool!
