Band continues marching to the beat of its own drums, on towards UIL Area
Provided by the Ford Center video production
From the Ford Center, to Kuykendall Stadium, band director Jamie Weaver has led the Redhawks through countless shows at dozes of stadiums. Now after 30 years of teaching, Weaver is retiring at the end of the 2023-24 school year. “I can only hope I have had any impact,” Weaver said. “I think teaching is more archaeology and less gardening: we only help students discover what’s already buried somewhere inside themselves, most of the planting and nurturing comes from home and upbringing.”
October 22, 2021
The road to state continues for the Redhawk band on Saturday in Prosper, with the group out to show they are one of the top 10 of the 22 bands performing at the UIL Area competition.
“The main goal is for the students to feel strong and comfortable by Saturday morning to have an undeniable performance first thing in the morning,” assistant band director Cecily Yoakam said. “The biggest improvements the band needs to make before 9 a.m. on Saturday is once again, being consistent. The more good repetitions we can get, the stronger and more confident the students will feel.”
Advancing out of the region competition with straight 1’s, band members are hopeful their journey to state continues beyond state.
“Honestly, I’m just really proud of us, especially when you look at years past where we didn’t get all of them,” senior Aravind Dharmalingam said. “We came a long way from 2019 and I’m looking forward to competing at Area and hopefully making finals. The biggest goal we all have is making finals at the area and then from there it’s practically a coin toss to who goes to state. Hopefully we do, and I’m sure if we put in the same effort we’ve had the past two weeks we can definitely make state.”
If the band advances to Area Finals, it will have to place in the top four bands to move on to state.
“I am so elated,” senior Alexandra Vasilkovsky said. “I am so proud of all of us for putting in the time and work, regardless of the results. I want our band to continue improving while remaining calm. I think the best thing that we can do right now is to keep playing like we always have.The most important thing is doing our best, not our placement.”
Although they are hoping to advance to the next phase, the band is simply looking to perform the best that they can and be proud of their performance.
“Our goals for the band’s Area performance is to have a strong run all students are proud of,” Yoakam said. “The ultimate goal is to be in the top four bands and advance to state marching contest, but at the end of the day, as long as the students feel good and are proud of all the incredibly hard work they have put in this season, and they had fun and tried their best, we will be thrilled and our goal will be achieved.”
