Silence fell over Baylor’s McLane Stadium. Anticipation was palpable as directors, band members, family and friends awaited the next sound of the public address announcer. Would their school’s name be called?
On a Tuesday afternoon in Waco, Texas, 11 sets of drum majors representing the qualifying Class 5A/6A UIL State Military Class Marching bands stood and waited.
Five schools would be called. Five would advance to the evening’s UIL State Military Class Marching Band Contest Finals.
The microphone clicks on.
“Atascocita High School”.
The deafening noise of cheers from the Atascocita High School Band drowned out the announcer as they celebrated.
“I hope they always cherish the moment of hearing their name called,” Atascocita High School Director of Bands Brian Best said. “The feeling that all of the work finally had paid off. That unforgettable moment that they are going to be able to cherish for the rest of their lives. That’s huge.”
Then, silence again. Four more slots were left and again the anticipation in the stands grew for the next name.
“Kingwood High School”.
The Mighty Mustang Marching Band erupted off the metal bleachers, jumping up and down, cheering and hugging their friends.
“That was one of the best parts,” Kingwood High School head band director Tyler Morrison, who knew about the finals pick before the announcement, said. “Just knowing that it was going to play out well for them. Then getting to watch as their heart rates get up and they’re a little anxious if their name is going to get called. Then finally to hear it get called and them go wild is a blast. One of the highlights for sure.”
Two Humble ISD marching bands were bound for the UIL State Finals in the same year.
“We are so incredibly excited for both the Atascocita Military Band and the Kingwood Mighty Mustang Military Marching Band on their outstanding performances at the UIL Texas State Military Marching Band Contest,” Humble ISD Assistant Director of Fine Arts Dustin Winson said. “The directors and students have worked tirelessly for months to get to this point and we couldn’t be more proud of all of them.”
The excitement was felt for both bands making the finals. When Kingwood was announced, Atascocita cheered for them and vice versa. It was a sense of community spirit within the activity, Best said.
“It’s band kids supporting other band kids,” he said. “It was cool to watch.”
Morrison added: “We love the Atascocita Band. Our drum majors go and hang out all the time together from both bands. It’s great to be in a district with another Military style marching band. I think that’s why we’re such big fans of one another. We want to see each other succeed and do well. We love the camaraderie, especially with such rival schools, it’s fun to see the bands actually cheering each other on.”
With both bands in the finals, each group went back on their buses, rested, ate dinner, listened to the judges remarks from their first performance of the day and formulated a game plan for their second performance.
Atascocita and Kingwood performed back-to-back in the finals section on Tuesday evening and then once again waited.
Nearing 10 p.m. on Tuesday, the drum majors for the Class 3A and Class 5A/6A bands who had made the finals marched out onto the field to hear the final results.
The first of the two bands to be called was Atascocita, finishing fourth overall in the state of Texas.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our kids,” Best said. “Whenever there is a new director change, it’s always very awkward for the kids because it’s a different person with a new leadership style. A new vision. It takes time for kids to buy into the vision of a new band director. But I’ve got to say it happened pretty quickly and the kids were receptive to the idea of changing some things up. What resulted from that was an amazing performance all year long with our kids. It just got exceptionally better over the year.”
A few moments later, Kingwood was named the silver medal band for the event, finishing as the UIL State Military Marching Band Class Runner-Up. It was the second time in the past three years, the Mighty Mustang Military Marching Band has finished as the state runner-up of this contest.
“It’s fun to see the reward of all their hard work,” Morrison said. “It was a good opportunity to represent Kingwood and Humble ISD on the State level at UIL. That’s always a great honor as well.”
One of Morrison’s goals for his band is for them to make musical moments on the field. As he looked at them following the finals, the eighth-year director saw the pride beaming from what they had done, some even coming to tears – goal accomplished.
“That was the goal and the fact that happened for us was the whole reason we were fighting for that to see that unity around music,” Morrison said.