MARCHING TO A COMPETITIVE BEAT UIL season returns for LHHS marching band Story by LIESBETH POWERS | Photography by KATHY TRAN
THE SOUND OF THE CROWD, cramming onto a bus to travel for games and marching to a fully planned, competition-ready show are just a few things that were sorely missed by Lake Highlands High School’s band. Met with tons of crowd support at LHHS’ first home game Sept. 10, the band is energized and focused on making it to their first competition in October. They performed about 75% of their show that night, including head drum major Carson Iltis’ favorite part, where the band collapses in a triangle shape at the 50-yard line to play a loud melody.
“It’s just this big blast of energy, of sound, that just blows me away every time,” Iltis says. T h e g r o u p b e ga n p ra c t i c i n g i n July, with rehearsals all day. They’ve since transitioned to hourly practices in the morning before school starts. The band’s new head director, Reagan Brumley, joined only a month before rehearsals started. Brumley is a returning staff member to LHHS and most recently served as the fine arts director at Irving ISD. The combination of a new director and a return to a regular marching band season sparked a new energy among the band, parents, staff and
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students. The start was not without its challenges — a third of the band was new to competitive marching after an off season, and the show had to be planned in a matter of weeks. But the spirit coming from the students made all the difference, Brumley says. “I think we’re just chomping at the bit to come back and get to do what caused them to fall in love with the activity in the first place, which was going to away games and going to contests and getting the entire rich experience that comes with being in a in a great high school band,” says Brumley. The show is called Assimilated and
