Making their way through marching season the Ranger Band is determined to move on to the Area competition.

“My job as a drum major: I have to endure a lot of patience and strength mentally and physically,” said Drum Major junior Cori McBride. “Preparing for this job, I had to go through a lot of hardships while learning to multitask.” 

October 16, the Ranger Band competed at UIL Marching Competition at Mesquite Memorial Stadium.

“I was a little anxious because it was going to be my last performance ever, since I’m a senior,”  said marimba player senior Nyasha Robinson. “I was anxious and a little sad; I am going to miss performing.”

UIL is an organization that imposes rules for athletic, musical, and academic contests. The band must score a sweepstakes in order to advance to the Area Finals, and then to the ultimate goal of competing at the state level.

The band scored a 2-2-1, by UIL scores that is a fair score, but not what they were hoping for to advance.

“It was a bad run, I wasn’t sad, it was what we deserved,” Robinson said

The band ran into some troubles during their performance.

“There were severe timing issues during the ballad, there was a four count hold that was added and people forgot about,” Robinson said.

Throughout the performance band leadership tried to make corrections.

“During the opener, there were a couple of wrong notes and people were out of step,” said Drumline quad player sophomore Aaron Rodriguez. “During the ballad, the whole band broke apart, and one of the Drum Majors tried to fix it and even though she fixed it, the band still fell apart.” 

They continue to share memories together as an organization.

“Although we didn’t win, this year was full of adventures, and people that I share good memories with,” Robinson said.

Although the band did not score first place in their competitions, they move on.

“Getting to be around the people in band, and getting to know them and build a strong bond is basically like a second family,” McBride said.