“We change just as the seasons change, and each spring brings new growth. So, nothing is ever quite the same” (Sherwood Smith). High school marching bands make up a significant amount of students from the Lone Star State. According to the UIL website, 1,077 high schools in Texas compete at the regional level. Bands vary in size and stature, with a variable amount of funding, instruction, and community support. But almost anyone who watches a high school marching band can tell you that numbers do not define the pulsing heartbeat of the community’s Friday night stadium.

The Brownwood High School Mighty Maroon Marching Band consists of approximately 100 students, with nine of those taking up flags for the marching season’s Color Guard. For the 2024 marching season, the directorial team at BHS began listening to music in the early spring of 2023, exploring their options for competitive content. With a large senior class graduating, and a smaller incoming freshman class, as public school attendance routinely shifts in size, the directors mulled over the various changes they would be experiencing in the upcoming season. “In January and February, we begin listening to the marching show music that has been released,” said David Lambert, the lead BHS Band Director. “We pick challenging, yet playable music. We also look for music that our community can relate to and enjoy. In March, we look at projected band numbers and instrumentation for the upcoming year. We pick music that leans toward the band’s strengths. Once the music is chosen, we hire a drill writer and Color Guard choreographer to write the marching drill and flag choreography. Together, we all brainstorm ideas to create the overall design of the contest show.”

Particularly difficult in the process is the foresight in planning for variables, such as student fluctuations, and keeping up with what other bands do to improve. Every marching season sees shifts in judging and audience expectations. When marching bands compete, they are judged based on artistic expression, blend and balance, precision and timing, dynamic contrast, style and articulation, tone quality, technique and accuracy, continuity, flow, demand of movement, and overall effect of the band as a unit. “The music we chose this year was written by an accomplished and contemporary composer, Randall Standridge,” Lambert said. “The band has played many of his concert pieces in the past for UIL Concert Contests as well as for their spring concerts. It is challenging, and extremely fun for the students.” The selected 2024 show, “Seasons Change,” was based on Antonio Vivaldi’s concerto “The Four Seasons.” It consisted of four movements, Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. “This show was chosen for a few reasons,” said Assistant Band Director Ethan Yeats. “It has well-known and memorable music. It had a lot of potential for storytelling, with things like our [prop] trees that were painted corresponding to each season. Visually, the color scheme of a show like this is very appealing. The different colors of each season are showcased in our flags, background screens, and tree props. These are things that look great on the field.” Purposeful planning to integrate a clear theme and poignant emotional effect in the audience are required for bands to score well and advance into further competitions. The students must be capable of crisp marching technique, and accurate, blended musicality, along with imaginative choreography. Developing such an integrated show can be financially straining and creatively draining. Brownwood band students rallied on August 1, 2024, to undertake the challenge.

“UIL dictates that we cannot begin full band rehearsals until August 1,” Lambert said. “With the first day of school starting earlier each year, this cuts into the dedicated time we can spend teaching fundamentals, marching show music, and drill team music during summer band rehearsals.” Summer band practices offer time for students to learn how to perfect proper techniques for applying the written drill. Students learn how to find their place in each ‘set,’ which is a picture created on the field; each student must memorize the locations and understand how to move in time with the band to create different images on the field. The show writer, called the drill writer, incorporates suggested visual elements such as flags, screens, or stages, to enhance the marching show design.

Summer band instruction allows members to begin memorizing their sets, move with and around props, and how to move and play as one unit. “The students stepped up like seasoned veterans,” said Lambert. “Our current drum majors, Allie Fulton and Kyle Recolizado, have done a fabulous job leading the group, as well as our current seniors in every section of the band. We couldn’t be happier.” Summer band sessions require students to wake up early and get to work. Days and nights are spent learning, working, and sweating. “All band members started learning marching fundamentals with rehearsals in the coolest part of the day, as we were outside in the heat of summer,” said Lambert. “By 10:00 AM we were inside, breaking up into sectional work to perfect the music, as well as the drill team music, and fun stand tunes. At the end of each morning, the students would play as a full band. Percussion and Color Guard spent extra time rehearsing each afternoon.” Morning sessions typically lasted from 8:00 AM until noon; Percussion and Color Guard additionally met from 1:00 PM until 3:30 PM. This full day of work lasted for several weeks before school began, and daily practices continued until the end of November. “During the school year, students come to school early every day to put the show together,” Yeats said. Routine teamwork requires adapting to ongoing changes, especially weather-related challenges.

UIL regulations require bands to adhere to the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) to monitor environmental conditions and limit student activity related to the location of the school. The hotter the temperature, the less time the students have to practice their show outdoors. In central Texas, schools fall under Class Three conditions, stating that if the heat is between 87°F and 90°F, maximum practice time is two hours; four separate rest breaks are required each hour with a minimum duration of four minutes each. At 8:00 AM on August 1, the temperature sat at a tepid 84°F. Fun fact: a marching band snare drum on a harness typically weighs approximately thirty pounds, depending on the design and materials used. A marching band student can typically burn between 200 and 400 calories per show, depending on the intensity of the drill and the individual’s fitness level; in a demanding routine, there is a potential 500-calorie burn. This is no easy task for the average Texas high school student. “The physical health aspect is important for students,” Yeats said. “Getting outside and moving around.” Stamina and endurance require band students to not only learn a musical instrument, but to perform amidst adversity. The Texas sun burned bright on the shoulders of these students all season, illuminating their potential to adapt and overcome as they marched set after set on the black tar parking lot behind the school cafeteria. The average temperature at Fridays’ football games neared 90°F.

When given a challenge, they rose to it. “Marching Band is constantly changing, adding more and more showy and visual elements,” Yeats said. “For this show, we started with the music, and from there, I brainstormed with staff on how to create the “general effect” aspect of the show—that is, how the show will tell a story, and what we can do on the field to tell that story. That is when we have a rough idea of what sort of props, screen backdrops, etcetera, we will have on the field.” Over the weeks, the band learned not only the four movements of their show, but numerous stand tunes, cadences, Lionette Dance Team performance tracks, and performed at the Bruner Community Pep Rally, BISD Teacher Convocation, Meet the Lions, school pep rallies, spirit rallies in the student center, and at the community bonfire. With the first of five home football games canceled due to lightning, the Mighty Maroon band continued practicing their halftime show one movement at a time, one morning, one football game, at a time. “The show progressed through the season from just one movement for some games, until we gradually got all four movements on the field,” Yeats said. Between rehearsals and performances, the band ran the six-minute, fifty-two-second show between twenty-five and fifty times. “I’d say that more time overall was spent in rehearsals on cleaning and getting reps on small sections,” Yeats said.

Summer slowly faded into autumn, as the show harmonized. Shiny orange leaves, blue snowflakes, and purple flags whirled in the hands of the Color Guard and a seasonal forest scene canvased the back of the field on screens, along with four handcrafted trees, to accent the music of the show. “My father, Tim Yeats, put in many hours of work on our tree props this year, as well as the BISD Art Department, who painted them,” Yeats said. By Saturday, October 19, the band finalized every step, every prop, every timing element needed to enter the field and command their audience at the UIL Region Marching Band Contest in Mineral Wells, Texas.

Brownwood High School Marching Band sits in District 7 and is a 4A size band. There are twenty-eight bands in this district. Earning all top marks, a ‘Division 1’ in every category, BHS advanced to the Area competition, held on Saturday, November 2. The night before Area, on November 1, Brownwood High School played Stephenville High School, a long-held rivalry known as the Battle of 377, the two schools located a mere sixty-two miles apart along US Highway 377. After the intense game, the band returned to their homes around midnight. “One big challenge was our draw for the order of performance at Area contest,” Yeats said. “Playing as the first band of the day in Denton meant a 3:30 AM call time for students. The day also started with rain, which luckily let up by the time we performed. Students did their best without complaint and put on a great show, even with being wet and exhausted.”

“The Area in which we compete is one of the largest and most competitive in the state,” Lambert said. Out of twenty-eight bands competing at Area, Brownwood was finally ranked at nineteenth. Among schools that advanced to the State competition were Panther Creek (130 band members), China Spring (150 members), and Gatesville (110 members). Props for some of the shows included ten-foot-tall heart shapes, extension ladders, park benches, rolling jungle gym cages, and even a bicycle rider choreographed among the colorfully costumed band members.

“The final few sets of the show are my personal favorite,” Yeats said. In those sets, the band marched slowly, in unison, toward the front of the field, with Vivaldi’s heart-wrenching wintry concerto echoing through the air, and then hit their marks in a swirling line, instruments harmonizing.

The Mighty Maroon Marching Band ultimately earned second place among bands within their region. “The students’ performance was outstanding,” Lambert said. “They put their heart into the show. We are so thankful to have such good, hardworking students.” While competing against larger bands with obviously larger budgets, custom uniforms, and numerous large props, BHS has seen its own improvement from one year to the next. “Last year, we were sixteenth out of twenty-two,” Yeats said. “Beating nine bands this year, compared to six last year, shows that we are moving forward and improving.” The Mighty Maroon Marching Band has a history of excellence, receiving superior ratings at UIL and invitational contests. “For the last twenty years, the BHS band has only received First Divisions at UIL marching contest and advanced to the Area Marching Contest every year they were eligible to do so,” Lambert said. “While we would have loved to advance onto the State round, we were extremely pleased with the students’ performance.”

This collection of fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen-year-olds, with a passion for music, through searing temperatures and misty mornings, continues to pursue excellence, even amidst a competitive district. Supported by the Band Boosters (the parents of students who enhance funding by manning the concession stands for every athletic and community event held at Gordon Wood Stadium), the five band directors guide and train their students. Lambert and Yeats are assisted by directors Juan Hernandez, Nathan Lacy, and Lesley Lambert. “They put in countless hours of work before, during, and after rehearsals to make our band successful,” Lambert said. “Without their continuous support, the band’s success would not be possible. Mr. Yeats took on extra responsibilities this fall—his willingness to learn and lead was extremely instrumental in the success of the band this year and I am so grateful to him for his willingness to serve our students. We also thank the Brownwood ISD staff, administrators, school board, band parents, and Brownwood Lion Band Boosters.” Yeats agreed: “These big productions can’t happen without parents at every game and contest.”

The productions come at a cost, but a worthwhile and worthy cost. Each unique student earns the opportunity to see what they are made of, to pursue life skills, and create lasting friendships. “Band teaches more than just notes and rhythms,” Lambert said. “Band teaches students to become good adults, productive members of society, responsible employees, and trustworthy bosses. We do our best to teach them the importance of the group—the band family.” Studying music increases a student’s aptitude for learning and analytical thinking. Marching band allows students to perform, work as a team, embrace creativity, and develop self-discipline. It is not for the faint of heart, but as Brownwood students continue to find, it creates a resilient spirit. These are essential abilities. “Everybody should be a part of something greater than their individual self,” Yeats said. “Learning to be a reliable member of an organization is a crucial life skill. Students in band have to rely on one another to do their part.”

While the 2024 marching season draws to a close, the band begins to shift their attention toward UIL All-Region, Solo & Ensemble competitions, and additional performance opportunities. The winds of change continue to blow through Brownwood. A newly completed bond election funded an upgraded football stadium and new indoor athletic complex, with a full-size turf field offering opportunities for the band to continue enhancing their skillset. The band directors begin to prepare for the next marching season, thrilled to see a large incoming class of freshman band students. The seniors don their letterman jackets. The Friday night lights continue to glow, while the seasons themselves change and bring change. And next year, who knows? Perhaps Selena Gomez is right: “People are put into your life for seasons, for different reasons, and to teach you lessons.”

Story by Sara Musgrove