The Marcus High School band has won the UIL state championship band competition for the fourth consecutive time in a row. The UIL State competition is a biannual marching band competition that is held in San Antonio. In 2010, Marcus broke the state record by winning three consecutive times in a row. This year, they have continued that record.
“We all feel just awesome,” said Amanda Drinkwater, the head director of the Marcus band. “We feel really great about the show that we performed on Tuesday night, and we had the best feeling after we came off the field.”
The band also placed first at the Bands of America Super regional competition, which is also held in San Antonio a few days before the UIL competition. In 2010, the Marcus band broke yet another record. They were the only band ever to place first in both Super Regionals and State UIL in the same year.
The band’s show theme this year was based off of the Toccata in Fugue by Bach. All the show music was composed by Bach, and all the visual elements were inspired from the music. Drinkwater and the other directors formed the drill to help stage the musical voices. This year’s drill formations included gates, keys and keyholes, which are all represented in the band and color guard props.
“[Bach is] such epic music and there’s such a huge catalog of music for JS Bach that we decided that it was a great composer to explore along with the Toccata in Fugue and with the gates and the color schematics,” said Drinkwater.
It took Drinkwater and the other directors nearly 7 months to complete the show. They started formulating ideas in January, and started the students on the music the week after school let out last year. The band practices six days a week from Aug. 1 to the start of school, and then they hold regular after school rehearsals up until the end of their season.
However, despite their success, winning isn’t everything to the band.
“It’s all about picking something that is enjoyable for the students and the football crowd and engaging,” said Drinkwater.
