The Leaguer, November/December 1983
Nov/Dec,1983 Volume Sixty-Eight The Number Four Leaguer USPS 267-840 G The Race For The T^ OVERNOR'ike most races, the questionin marchinSg ban dCU com l petition is not style but performance. How a band L marches is not nearly as important as how well it marches. And certainly, there are a number of styles from which to choose. First, the traditional military style, made famous by the Texas A&M University band. Everything they do is by the book: Precise, squared-off, numbered. There's the pictorial style, where band members break off to form everything from automobiles to trains to dancing bears. It's a rather popular style these days. Finally, there's the corps style, probably the most popular style. Patterned after the International Drum and Bugle Corps, it is the newest rage — a free form show that many say em phasizes musical performance and content over marching. Still, the decision to take one of these forms or some other style is made by the director, based on any number of varia bles. "Being a small band, we knew we weren't going to blow anyone off the field, so we decided to go with the corps style," Barry Hurt, director of the AA champion Henrietta band said. Most of the 100-plus bands competing in the State Marching Band Contest, November 14-15 in Austin, preferred the corps style, Dr. Nelson Patrick, UIL music director, said. "But we had a few bands that were a throwback to the military style. The success of these bands proves that you can perform any style well and still come out a winner." Of course, the biggest winner of the week was Georgetown, which not only defended its Conference 4A championship but picked up the first Governor's Cup, symbolic of the outstanding band in the festival.
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