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Band competes at marching contest

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By Kathy Thomson

The Albany High School band received an overall rating of III at the East Zone Region 6 Marching Contest at Wylie Bulldog Stadium earlier this week.

The Ragin’ Red Band was the second one to compete on Monday, Oct. 21, taking the field at 2:30 p.m. Twenty members of the band performed The 80s Rocked, which features three movements of music that were inspired by the pop music of the 80s.

The 80s Rocked was written by Luke McMillan, and AHS band director Richard Murrow wrote the marching drill.

“I introduced a new, modern marching style to the band,” said Murrow. “We have built a great base for the future bands to build on skill wise, as we grow in numbers!”

Bands from Class 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A schools were at the UIL sponsored contest.

Bands were given a rating by each of three independent judges: 1=superior; 2=excellent; 3=average; 4=fair; 5=poor.  The judges do not confer about their ratings.

The competition is not among the bands themselves but against a standard of excellence that has been established through the many decades of the competition.

The judges this year were Carroll Rhodes, Barry Hurt, and Mike Glaze.

Two judges gave the Albany band an “average” rating, and one ranked Albany’s performance as “fair.”

“The band marched better this week than last week,” said Murrow. “However, UIL judges are stricter than others; and instead of giving the 2A bands ones and twos, they gave twos and threes. This year our band is young, and small in numbers.”

The Ragin’ Red Band has a total of 26 members this year, ranging from eighth graders through seniors in high school, but only 20 were able to participate in the contest last Saturday.