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A History of Texas HS Marching Band


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Appreciate the research, this was a good read! I've always wondered  (considering the obvious rich history texas high school band has, as laid out here) why Texas has had very little success historically in fielding a consistently good world class drum corp...I think it's quite obvious, especially in the last 10-15 years, that Texas has the deepest field of quality high school bands. I'm sure there are a bunch of reasons why it's been hard to break into the ranks of successful drum corps, but it seems like with the plethora of talent in Texas, it's always confused me...

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I think if there was a world class corps that had a more established/storied history in Texas it would be a lot different. Crossmen have been the only representative until Genesis joined WC, and as great as Bones has been, they only moved to Texas in 2007. I had always heard that Texas ‘adopted’ the cavaliers, and lots of people are aware of the pipeline UNT has to Rennick groups. A truly Texan corps would be incredible though, as I can’t even count on my fingers how many people I know personally who marched BD, BC, Cadets, Vanguard, Phantom etc during high school and college. How does “Star of Texas” sound? ;)

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What a great, detailed history of competitive marching band in the state of Texas. I would love to read more about how marching band styles changed through the 20th century, especially with the influence of show band style shows in the 1960s and DCI corps style shows in the 1970s and 80s. I know my high school band (Rayburn HS in Pasadena) switched from military to corps style in 1979 as did many Texas high school bands around the same time. Did the popularity of corps and show band style shows in the 1970's parallel the emphasis on competitive marching band over the next decade? Also, speaking of Westfield HS what a game changer that program was in the mid-1980s by innovating and moving the activity forward - in much the same way the Garfield Cadets pushed the envelope at the same time in DCI. 

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  • 1 month later...

Pigskin Jubilee, as you will read, actually began in 1940. There were no contests during WWII but then resumed after. If you're from the Valley, you know that Pigskin is the UIL Region round in the State Marching Championships process. The contests are held in the evening and all bands participate in a pass-in-revue with every school's fight song. Fans stay til the end of the night, sometimes close to midnight, to get the ratings, which are immediately followed with a fireworks display. What a beautiful night of pageantry! There is so much pride in the Valley when it comes to the bands that even though they may not have the most over-the-top show, they are proud of what they do and execute with the dignity. #PUROVALLE

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SIps7TvqggX5k27xtosYXvdCnd3sTkzg/view

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17 hours ago, abstractart6 said:

Pigskin Jubilee, as you will read, actually began in 1940. There were no contests during WWII but then resumed after. If you're from the Valley, you know that Pigskin is the UIL Region round in the State Marching Championships process. The contests are held in the evening and all bands participate in a pass-in-revue with every school's fight song. Fans stay til the end of the night, sometimes close to midnight, to get the ratings, which are immediately followed with a fireworks display. What a beautiful night of pageantry! There is so much pride in the Valley when it comes to the bands that even though they may not have the most over-the-top show, they are proud of what they do and execute with the dignity. #PUROVALLE

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SIps7TvqggX5k27xtosYXvdCnd3sTkzg/view

Very interesting!  I love this. Thanks for posting it!

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  • 3 years later...
On 2/1/2024 at 10:17 AM, utee94 said:

I was just googling to find out some about the history of marching band competitions in Texas, and it led me here.  I should have known just to start with this forum. :)

 

Great info and summary, thanks @AlsoIntoSpace !

 

If you want some in depth stuff from all over the country, check out the forums on https://hornrank.proboards.com/ in general, and the “history” section in particular!  Especially good info before your first trip to Grand Nationals!  🥰

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On 2/4/2024 at 3:40 PM, LeanderMomma said:

If you want some in depth stuff from all over the country, check out the forums on https://hornrank.proboards.com/ in general, and the “history” section in particular!  Especially good info before your first trip to Grand Nationals!  🥰

Yeah I hang out over there a little bit, too.  It's really interesting seeing the videos of old performances from the 80s and how different everything was.  That's the same era when I was in marching band at Anderson High, from 1986-1989.

We didn't have any pit, all percussion including xylophones marched with the battery, and of course no props either.  Everything was less sophisticated than it is now, but in a lot of ways that made it more accessible as well.  

 

 

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