EBHS Might Brahma Band District Marching Competition- Saturday in El Campo @ 11:45 AM

The band has been working amazingly hard this year. We started rehearsals with small groups as early as June with color guard members and drum majors attending camps and having rehearsals here. Drumline started in July and now the full band has been in 3 hr daily rehearsals Monday through Thursday beginning August 1st. This means very long days for directors as we started inservice on August 10th with classes starting at 8:00am and continuing band rehearsal through until 9:00pm every night.


For the kids involved in everything as most of our EB students are; they were having full on football, volleyball, cross country, tennis, softball/baseball, ag/FFA events, Journalism, photography camp, cheerleading practices, jobs and other events that in many cases ran right up to band practice which then went 6pm to 9pm each night.


They have put a ton of blood, sweat and tears on our practice field. Learned how to work within student led sections and work together with their fellow students and peers that they do not always agree with in order to come out with a unified performance and sound on the field. There are so many hours and personal growth that take place within young students in this organization of almost 70 members that it is sometimes too much for me to take in when they come together and you get that slight hair raised feeling on the back of your neck.


All in all these current band members have put in no less that 110 hours of rehearsal time just in class and our Monday night practices. It is amazing to think about how much they have done and how far they have come. Within the last few years of me being a part of this organization I have steadily seen the expectation and unity of the group climb as well. Getting that first Division 1 rating with the Mighty Brahma Band at concert contest last year was the start of a huge catalyst to the kids finding perfection in every performance and rehearsal. With the addition of much higher scores at Edna coming in 5th overall and the brand new uniforms this group is the most cohesive and positive group I have had the pleasure to work with. The biggest surprises are still happening as on Tuesday after morning rehearsal the leadership proposed adding an additional rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon right after school and before church. I still can't believe that this is the band and they are still so ready to push each other to greatness.


Last week at Edna pre UIL we received a rating of 1, 2, 2 with an overall rating of a 2nd division. If this Saturday we can convince an additional judge to give us a 1st division rating we can advance to area the following weekend in Cuero. This has not been done in EB in several years and they have not advanced to the state marching competition since 2000. We are only eligible to advance every other year and it is very difficult as you have to beat the other bands in your division to make state.


Our show this year is Selections from Holst the Planets Suite which opens with Mars "the Bringer of War", Flows into a beautiful melody of Venus "the Bringer of Peace" before being broken up by the percussion feature of Jupiter "the Bringer of Jollity". It comes to a close with a beautiful melody of the Hymn section from Jupiter before a energetic finish from Dvorak's "New World Symphony" symbolizing the Earth and our world among the planets.


The students enjoy playing and performing this wonderful selection of historic music that helped set the tone for many program pieces that have been written through history. We hope you enjoy our performance and enjoy learning a bit about where we are and where we have come from. We would also like to welcome anyone to come out to El Campo to see us perform this Saturday at 11:45am. General admission is $3 for adults and students 13 and up.