Last weekend rollercoaster fails to dampen Tiger Band spirit

With the DSHS Tiger football team’s win over LBJ on Oct. 12 at Tiger Stadium and a stellar halftime show featuring the combined Dripping Springs and Sycamore Springs Middle Schools bands alongside their Band Buddies in the High School band, the Tiger Band members made it home around midnight in time to set alarms for an early start the following day. 

Back at school for a 6 a.m. start. Instruments and uniforms loaded, 150+ sleepy-eyed  Tiger Band members and their pillows, along with directors and Band Booster Chaperones, climbed aboard charter buses to head north, along Interstate 35.

Their mission? To arrive in Waco in time to compete in this year’s Bands of America Regional Contest with an assigned performance time of 1:30 p.m, with a stop in Belton for a rehearsal.  Thank you to Belton HS Band Directors Ed Stein, John Pearson, Bill Redd and Daniel Reberger and all the students of the Belton Marching 100 for their hospitality.

Once in Waco, unloading the instruments and show props and getting into their uniforms, the band began warming up outside the stadium, preparing for their time to take the field.

“That’s when they made the announcement,” recalled Director Derek Woods. “The competition had to be cancelled because of a tornado watch until 6PM and that cyclonic activity had been in the area, so that for the safety of everyone, they were canceling the competition.”

The band members, outside the stadium, also had heard the cancellation announcement over the stadium’s public address system, but waited to get the word from Mr. Woods.

With the competition’s cancellation definite, the band members hung up their uniforms, loaded the props, flags and instruments back in the traveling trailer and climbed aboard the buses for the 100-mile-plus trip back home.

As Walter Berthelsen, the band’s vice-president of logistics explained, “We invest a lot of time preparing for competitions. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves because we want to do our absolute best, just like every other band,” he said. “We are well-prepared for competitions, but there are always the nerves and the butterflies before every performance. Hearing we wouldn’t be competing was a disappointment.”  

Arriving back at DSHS and unloading instruments, props and pillows, the band members headed home to catch up on sleep and homework for the rest of the weekend. However, come Monday, it would be back to rehearsals, preparation for the upcoming Homecoming Parade on Wednesday and the Homecoming Game on Friday at 6 p.m.

The public is invited to the parade and bonfire on Wednesday and the game on Friday, and the band cordially invites friends and neighbors in Tiger Land to be on hand to cheer them on, 6:30pm, October 23rd, at the Region 18 UIL Marching Contest at Burger Stadium on Highway 290 in Austin’s Sunset Valley. This will be the public’s last local chance to see the band’s 2018 award-winning program, “2181: Adventures in Time and Space,” so a good turnout to support these hard-working students and directors will help carry them to victory!

The show includes Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, Adventures in Time,recorded by Stan Kenton and selections of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, under the batons of Drum Majors Catherine Manning, Kassandra Sawin, Jessica Heintz and Kearsen Erwin. Soloists are Cade Smith, Manning, Sawin, Heintz, Erwin, Johnny Dollard, Drew Wilson and Erika Gossett. The band is directed by Derek Woods, James Hairston, David Duffy and Jason Dye.

The following evening, the Tiger Band will load charter buses, again heading north, to compete October 26th-27thin the Bands of America Super Regional Contest in St. Louis, Missouri, a prestigious and highly-competitive event. You can watch the competition online at FloMarching.com, a subscription service. You can follow them on Facebook at Dripping Springs Tiger Band Fans.

The following two weeks will be crazy busy weeks, but the DSHS Tiger Marching Band will be at their outstanding best, proudly representing Dripping Springs at the St. Louis competition with some of the best high school marching bands in the region.

Go Band! We’re with you all the way!