The UIL Marching Band faced changes this year due to the change of policy for practices. According to UILTexas, the state of Texas has made new rules and regulations on the amount of time bands can practice. These new rules are seen in Section 404 a. 1. Because of these developments, band members have had less practices and time to work on their skills.

It’s shown how these new regulations have affected the band from their recent competition, ‘Both Sides of the Rainbow.’ In previous years the band has always made it from area to final, but with the recent competition the band was only able to make it area and not finals. This was devastating for many participators. Many band members have acknowledged the obstacles faced this year, not only with the new UIL rules, but also with the practices. Drew Dazey, assistant band section leader, says that problems were not only with the new regulations but also with leaders in band.

“I believe the biggest problem we faced was upperclassmen setting bad examples,” said Dazey. “We had a lot of problems with leadership. When you have freshmen looking up to these section leaders and captions not taking it seriously, neither will they.”

Although some felt leadership was the reason for the band’s decline, others acknowledged the fact that the harsh weather stopped the band from being able to succeed as much as they did in previous years. Acidalia Martinez, senior and section leader, felt that because the weather in Texas has been so hot and at other times too cold, they had to miss out on many practices.

“I feel like people were less confident because of our last competition, we barely had any rehearsals due to the weather and the rain,” said Martinez.

Many obstacles were faced this year during band season, but mindsets of members also affected the members of band as well. Addison Daniel, senior and section leader expresses that many members had mindsets of already being winners due to the history of band always placing well throughout the years. Because of this, she believes that it gave them too much hope.

“I think our success in previous years gave us some sort of a complex,” said Daniel. “It gave us too much false hope and allowed us to let too much slide.”

It was a hard year for the band, but they had motivation from members, friends, and family to help them stay motivated and not lose hope. One of the biggest supporters of band members was their band directors. Student Esosa Omere expresses how no matter how hard the times got within band, the band directors never gave up on them and did all they could to keep them motivated.

“The band directors never gave up,” said Omere. “If they found something frustrating, they kept working through it with us.”

Although the band didn’t make it to finals this year, members are constantly showing how dedicated they are, and how they will forever be motivated no matter what.

“The band as a  whole put a lot of work into the show,” said member Maddison Rabinowitz. “The outcome truly shows the individuals’ effort that the musicians put into the show.”