Last time best time.

The band will attend their last contest of the season Saturday Oct. 20 at Dick Bivins Stadium with a performance time of 8:30 p.m.

Last weekend they participated in the High Plains Marching Festival held at Dick Bivins. Competing against 24 other bands from around the Panhandle, they ranked 4th according to band director Ginger Denney.

“Honestly I was very proud of how we did,” Denney said. “Last year we ranked 6th and this year we moved up rankings as well as beating out other bands that have previously beaten us.”

There is always something the band is improving whether everyone hits a visual at the same time or getting the perfect release of a single note. This week the band is working on keeping their sound balanced, and making each form of the show lock together with the right amount of spacing.

“We are a giant varsity team and we all have to work together to make the show work,” Denney said. “Getting all members to memorize and perform their music and marching at a varsity level is a challenge.”

All 210 students show up every morning Monday-Thursday at 7 a.m. as well as meeting at Kimbrough Stadium the first night of the week from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

“Our summer band started with color guard meeting for a camp in late July and everyone else began on August 1st,” Denny said. “UIL has an 8 hour rule that we must abide by and we average about 7 hours per week outside of the school day–not counting games/contests.”

As marching season wraps up after this weekend, the band will start working on All Region music, colorguard will prepare for winter guard, and the drumline will be participating in indoor drumline contests. They will still perform their show at football games, and might even change some things up.

“The energy that the students bring to each game and rehearsal is contagious and I totally feed off of that,” Denney said. “These students are amazing and their dedication is going to be what makes this year the best year yet for the Raider Band.”