Fredericksburg High School’s “Pride of the Hill Country” Band marched in exhibition at the Hill Country Marching Festival on Saturday in the FHS Stadium. Theme of this year’s University Interscholastic League Marching Contest show is “Awakenings.” Going through their routine are, in front from left, Tara Youngblood, Nikki Shuman, Jarred Hudson and Ander Castaneda. More photos from the marching festival, that also featured the Harper High School Band, are on D1. — Standard-Radio Post/Yvonne Hartmann
William J. Brennan High School from San Antonio won grand champion honors at the Hill Country Marching Festival on Saturday in the Fredericksburg High School Stadium.
The marching festival drew 17 Class-2A to Class-6A bands along with the FHS Band, which marched in exhibition only to open the event.
Among the bands competing on Saturday was the Harper Longhorn Band, which finished fourth overall.
Serving as judges on Saturday were:
•Bob Howard, retired director from Hondo High School;
•Stephen Krupicka, director of bands for Shiner Independent School District;
•Rey Meza, retired director from Marshall High School in San Antonio;
•Stephen Howard, director of bands at Ann Richards High school in Austin ISD, and,
•Manny Maldonado, owner of MJM Works and director of percussion for Bradley Middle School in North East ISD.
Coming up …
And after marching in Saturday’s event, the FHS Band will now compete in the Capital City Marching Festival on Saturday at Berger Stadium in Austin.
Fredericksburg is scheduled to march at 4:15 p.m.
Then, on Saturday, Oct. 11, the FHS Band will compete in the Texas Marching Classic in Round Rock on Saturday, Oct. 11.
There, the band is scheduled to march at 10:30 a.m.
The UIL Region XI Marching Contest will be held on Saturday, Oct. 18, in Hondo, and both Harper and FHS will compete in that contest.
Harper is tentatively scheduled to march at 1:15 p.m. and FHS at 8 p.m.
This year, Class 4A bands are eligible to advance beyond region.
To earn the right to advance to the area competition on Oct. 25 at Calallen High School in Corpus Christi, the FHS Band must earn overall first division ratings from the judges at the region contest.
At area, bands must finish in the top 10 in the preliminaries for a trip to the finals. From the finals, bands must finish in the top five to earn the right to advance to the State UIL Marching Contest.
The state competition is scheduled for Nov. 3 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Harper Band
The Harper High School Band finished fourth overall on Saturday at the Hill Country Marching Festival.
In Class 2A, the Longhorn Band also won Outstanding Percussion, Outstanding Marching and was first-place overall.
This year, the band is performing “Masters of Illusion” by Barry Hurt, including Sawing a Person in Half, Levitation, Sleight of Hand and Disappearing Act.
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