The intense August sun was ruthlessly radiating and the dark scalding pavement made a sizzling environment for the Randall High Band as they listened to the loud calling of “reset!” for what seemed like the thousandth time. The marchers went back to the reset point. They repeated every set until the first movement, one third of the show, was memorized. Their objective was to have the show presentable by the first contest in October then close to perfect by the Area show, and if that meant rehearsing in triple digit heat, then so be it. The band was going to get it done.
Putnam Marching Classic was the first of these competitions. Winning first place was an indicator of their potential. The next competition the band competed in was the High Plains Marching Competition on Oct. 7, winning second place behind Amarillo High.
“Amarillo High should have beaten us,” head band director David Wright said. “Their show was more polished than ours, but our goal wasn’t to be polished that day, because of the difficulty of our show; we still had a ways to go.”
Although the band got second in High Plains, in the overall, the percussion received the best percussion award. They celebrated their victory by kissing the newly attained trophy.
“I felt as if we did better than them, but it’s not my decision to place us,” sophomore Tylynn Bourquin said.
The next competition was UIL, which determines whether or not the band will move on to Area-wide Competition. At the UIL competition Oct. 15,,the Randall band received a first division rating.
“I knew we’d get a first rate division,” freshman Laurel Hoover said. “I had a good feeling about our performance.”
Then the band proceeded to the Area competition. 24 bands competed for four spots going to state. With five judge’s individual opinion determining whether a band makes first or last place, it was anyone’s competition. The band performed at preliminaries and got seventh place, making it in the top 10, they moved on to finals. 14 other bands went home.
“Personally, I think I did the best I could and the band did the best they could,” junior Adrianna Walker said. “I’m proud of what we have accomplished.”
There was approximately an eight hour break where the band ate two meals, relaxed, socialized, and got the results from preliminaries. Then the band buckled down and focused on preparing for finals. Only the top four bans made it to state. The RHS band got 10th, last place and was eliminated from the competition.
“Four bands were better than us, I’m not going to sugar coat the truth, but we should have gotten fifth,” Wright said.
The band may not have gone to state, but some choose to see the loss in a different light.
“I felt a little bit of shock and disappointment,” junior Dulce Fernandez said. “I really thought we would make it, but I was still content with what we had done.”
Unlike other competitive school functions where every year is a state year, band only has a state year every other year. So, for the juniors and seniors this was their last chance to compete for state. Junior Ryan Newton said the band went out there and did their best.
“I believe the show was really good, and all in all, it boiled down to who worked the hardest,” junior Eric Bearden said.
The competition part of band ended but it still played at the football games. Meanwhile, they worked on All-Region tryouts which were Nov. 15. Wright said this sudden transition is like hitting a brick wall.
“We gave it a good run,” senior Iggy Rozario said. “Now we need to move on to bigger and better things.”
