The March To Uil In San Antonio Begins This Week

[JLGORMAN]

For the last two weeks, Bands throughout Texas have been competing in invitational Marching Contests to prepare for this week. This week starts the UIL Marching Contest Season in Texas.

Starting at the Region 2 North Contest on the 9th of Oct and running through the Region 8 4A Contest on 27 Oct, over 1,000 Texas High School Bands will face adjudicators while performing their Contest Show. The highlight of the Season will be on several different days. This Saturday over 500 High School Bands will compete at 19 different locations in the UIL Regional Marching Contests. The size of the Contests on Saturday will range from 21 Bands at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa in the Region 6 Contest to 45 Bands at Lowrey Field in Lubbock in the Region 16 Contest. For those who have never attended a UIL Contest there are some large differences from the current Field Tournaments are like. They Are

1. NO PRELIMS. You have one shot to do it well. This year for Bands in Class 3A and 5A, a 1st Division Rating allows you to continue to the Area Round, where the winners there advance to San Antonio for the State Championships(There are Prelims at State)

2. There are three judges who judge the entire Band Show. There are no specialty judges.

3. The only unit judged is the Band. The UIL is adamant that auxillary units, while they may be important, are only an auxillary of the Band and thus there are no awards given out, for Guard, DM, Perc, Etc. Only rating is for the entire unit.

4. Once a Band is announced on the Field, no spectators are allowed to enter the stands until the performance is completed.

5. The announcer is not allowed to hype any Band. This is to ensure that all Bands have an equal shot. The announcer is to announce the Band and its program period. No extra comments are allowed.

6. At conclusion of each class of Bands, the Ratings are announced 15 minutes after the last Band for each school in the Class.

While many may say why have a Rating Contest, the Reason is simple, this is to insure that the Bands Advancing to the Area Contest are of High Standard. This year in One Area Competition, several of the Schools in the Far North of the Texas Panhandle will have to wait until after Region to insure they receive the 1st Division Rating to allow them to advance to the Area A Contest, over 700 miles away in El Paso. Due to the costs of having to make travel arrangements on such short notice, in 1990 Texas Bands voted to go to alternate years to allow for budgeting of travel to Area and State Contests. Last year Class 1A, 2A and 4A Bands competed.

For Bands in Class 1A, 2A and 4A even though no trip to area or State is involved this year, a 1st Division Rating in Marching is required to allow the Band to compete for a UIL Sweepstakes Band award which requires 1st Divison Ratings in Marching, Concert and Sight Reading.

The UIL first began Marching Contests almost 50 years ago and while they may seem a bit austere by some of the pageantry of other invitiational contests, they are a fine showcase of Texas Bands. One last thing is that in most of the Regions the Admittance to the Contest is Totally free. If you are in Lubbock or Nacogdoches, Waco, Duncanville, Amarillo, Abilene, Odessa, El Paso, Robstown, Stinton, Mt Pleasent, Mesquite, Waxachachie, Victoria, Donna, LaJoya, Orange, Giddings, Brady and Burleson, you can enjoy this Truly Texas experience