ANGELA RAGSDALE Staff writer
Picture the ocean and all of its beauty: the waves gently pushing and pulling the sand, beautiful blue fish swimming in and out of coral. Now take a closer look deeper into the darkness, see the horrors that lie beneath, the damage that a perfect storm can cause on the waterfront, the devastation the water brings while still maintaining its beauty. The 2016-2017 Panther Band wishes to take you on a journey beneath the water and to witness the beauty of ‘the Living Sea.’
As the UIL Region change is putting our football team against tougher competition, the same is for band. The band has advanced to the State Marching Contest for the past four years and has established a reputation as a big fish in a small pond as the reigning UIL Area G Champion, but this year the band goes up against possibly the toughest competition in the state in order to qualify for the chance to make it to state.
“Overall the higher standards of the investments have pushed everyone to work harder and stay up to par with the expectations of this show,” senior color guard captain Taylor Ritchie said.
The band has many new additions to not only the director staff with a new band director, Jamie Ramos and a new color guard director, Darryl Pemberton, but also in the people who wrote this year’s show. The band has employed some of the most well known people in the marching world to work with the band and as a result the band’s work ethic has changed to make the show what the creators have imagined it to be.
“The change in mentality of the band is already evident in our rehearsals that our membership is pushing themselves and holding themselves to a higher standard because we all have a common goal to make it to state this year,” senior head drum major Rebekah Altenburger said.
The band knows the challenges that face them and that only hard work and determination can get them to where they want to be. The directors know this and it is also why they can be heard yelling at morning rehearsals trying and to get the band to realize their potential, that they can go into this new area and compete with the best in the state, that they deserve to be amongst them.
“Scores don’t matter I just want the satisfaction knowing that we did the best we could,” junior tuba section leader Austin Parry said.
For any UIL activity making it to state is a great honor. The whole goal is to be able to stand with the best in the state, to be the best in the state, and with the hard work that goes into it, to not reach that dream can be devastating. But ultimately the band has no control over whether or not they make it to state, its up to the judges, the one thing they do have control over is making sure that they do the best possible job so that they can be proud of what was accomplished.
