It’s that time of year when local band students are burning the candle at both ends. Affectionately referred to as “BandTober,” the month is filled with Friday night football followed by early Saturday mornings as students compete in marching band invitationals designed to prepare them for upcoming UIL competitions.
Winnsboro will compete in Mount Pleasant’s Goin’ Gold Invitational Oct. 10 at Sam Parker Field. The UIL Region 4 marching competition follows Oct. 14 at the same location.
Bands do not compete against one another at the regional contest. Instead, the goal is to earn a superior rating. Bands receiving straight Division I ratings advance to the UIL Area C contest Oct. 24 at Wildcat Stadium in Whitehouse. Qualifying bands will proceed to the Class 3A state marching band contest Nov. 4 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Sandwiched between the Region 4 and Area C contests, Winnsboro’s “Big, Bad Band from Raiderland” will host 15 area marching bands for the fifth annual Battle for the Spear.
“We decided to host this contest to give bands in East Texas a local option to prepare for their respective Area competitions, and we model the judging and contest format after those Area contests,” head band director Cameron Warren said.
Warren said the format includes a panel of three music judges, two visual judges, a percussion judge and a color guard judge. Two of the three music judges will switch to the visual caption from preliminaries to finals, while the two visual judges will move to the music caption.
“This is the same way they judge at Area contests. And it varies the judging, so it does not become stagnant from prelims to finals. While the specific color guard and percussion judges are not present at Area contests for most schools, it does give each program a specific person dedicated to judging and giving comments on those specific two elements of each band leading into Area marching contests,” said Warren.
Last year’s Battle for the Spear experienced significant weather disruptions that eliminated the typical preliminary and finals format. Organizers are hoping for better weather and an uninterrupted schedule this year.
Participating bands include Atlanta, Caddo Mills, Denison, Grand Saline, Marshall, Mineola, Mount Pleasant, Mount Vernon, Pewitt, Pleasant Grove, Queen City, Quitman, Redwater, Rivercrest and Wills Point.
The East Texas A&M University Marching Band will perform in exhibition following the preliminaries and will also give a drumline performance. Winnsboro will perform in exhibition to conclude the finals.