The Sundown Roughneck Band is the Area A Marching Band Champion! These students put on the best show of the year yesterday in the Area Prelims...and then really turned it on in the Finals! We are so proud of this group and this "legendary" show!
This qualifies The Pride of the Oil Patch for the Texas State Marching Contest, which will be held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX on Tuesday, November 8th. We will post information for the State Marching Contest as it becomes available. A contest schedule should be available this afternoon, and of course I am working on the itinerary and other things. Thanks to all for your support of our Sundown band students! It means the world to them to see all of that red, white, and blue in the stands, and that crowd was wild at the Area Contest yesterday...even got a mention from one of our judges after the Finals performance! It was a solid week of rehearsals for the Roughneck Band. This week's individual recognitions are all in the tuba section! Our Rookie of the Week is Alana Ledesma, and 8th grade tuba player with a huge personality, a kind heart, and a confidence that has grown throughout the season! The section of the week is...you guessed it...the tuba section! These students are much like your offensive line It on the football team -- they don't get nearly the credit they deserve for the stability they provide for their team! And this week's Pumpjack Award goes to Watson Evans, a junior tuba player and the male vocalist for our marching show. So many stories to tell about Watson...some funny stories, and some stories of perseverance, great leadership, and talent. Congratulations to Alana, Watson, and the tuba section! SHOUT OUT This week's shoutout goes to our Uniform Crew and Loading Crew. These students volunteer their time to make our loading and unloading process go smoothly when we travel. As I'm sure you've noticed, our band is large and we have a lot of equipment that travels with us! This is something that would be impossible for the band directors to do alone, and we appreciate these students! Stay tuned to our Facebook page and student emails for updates on the State Marching Contest!
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After earning first division ratings last weekend and qualifying for the Area A Marching Contest, our students had another good week of rehearsals. Our drill writer, Mr. Joshua Shaw, came to our Tuesday Night rehearsal as a clinician and offered some valuable insight into our show! The Roughneck Band finished out the week with another energetic halftime performance at the Post game, and now we enter into our final week of preparation for the State qualifying round!
Our Rookie of the Week is Lillie Rodriguez, an 8th grade flute player who is a huge contributor on the field! She works hard every day to be sure she knows her marching routine, asks questions when needed, and always wears a smile. The Section of the Week is the color guard! These fantastic students add so much to our show and have greatly improved their timing and technique in the past week. The Pumpjack Award this week goes to Lizzie Corley, a senior horn player and one of the vocalists in our show. Lizzie is a shining example of the "Roughneck Way" as she leads by example, by word, and in all that she does. Congratulations to Lillie, Lizzie, and the color guard! SHOUT OUT The shoutout this week goes to our HOFs. What is a HOF, you ask? In short, this group of students just takes good care of our band family. Every Friday, they leave a note of encouragement in each band member's locker...and sometimes even a piece of candy! They make a special effort to check on their fellow band members throughout the season and to help where they can..."How is your music? How is your marching? How are your grades?" This group of students does the little things that make a huge difference. Thank you, HOFs! The itinerary for Friday's game at New Deal, as well as the itinerary for what is hopefully a very long day on Saturday, will be available in student emails by Wednesday of this week (maybe Tuesday!). We also expect the ticket link for the Area Contest to be available soon, and we will share that on our Facebook page and in student emails. What a solid week of rehearsals for The Pride of the Oil Patch, ending with a First Division rating from all 3 judges at the UIL Region 16 Marching Contest! The Roughneck Band has advanced to the UIL Area A Marching Contest, which will take place at Lowrey Field in Lubbock on Saturday, October 29th.
Our Rookie of the Week is Rylan Carr, an 8th grade baritone player who moved to Sundown this year and has really jumped in with both feet! His marching has improved tremendously, and he is a big contributor to that "Sundown Sound"! The Section of the Week is the clarinet section! Being heard on the marching field is quite the challenge for this instrument, and they have shown great improvement this week! And our Pumpjack Award this week goes to Anastasia Robinson, a senior clarinet player who is a fantastic leader for her section and anyone near her on the marching field. Congratulations to Rylan, Anastasia, and the clarinet section! SHOUT OUT The shoutout this week goes to Coach Rodgers and the members of our football team that came to the region contest to watch the band perform this past Saturday. Thank you for taking time out of your weekend to support your fellow Roughnecks, and congrats on the big win Friday night! Thanks to all who came out to support the band this weekend. Stay tuned for details about the UIL Area A Marching Contest! It was a great week for the Roughneck Band! We had a highly productive Tuesday Night rehearsal/clinic with THE Mr. Glaze, and the band once again did a fantastic job of showing up to rehearsals ready to work! It was a cold and wet night in Floydada on Friday, but these students still put on a quality show for our crowd. Our Rookie of the Week is Serenity Mulloy, and 8th grade cornet player who is always working hard and has seen her confidence grow throughout the season so far! The Section of the Week is the baritone section -- a group of young people who are really making great strides as marchers and players. And our Pumpjack Award this week goes to Devina Lopez, a senior percussionist who can be any type of leader you need her to be...quiet, loud, a leader by example...you name it.
Congratulations to Serenity, Devina, and the baritone section! On Saturday, the band took the show to competition for the first time this season as we traveled to Lowrey Field in Lubbock for the Westerner Marching Festival. These students had an outstanding performance! The Westerner Festival showcased 40 bands in classifications 1A through 5A. Out of all classifications, our Roughneck Band came out ranked 6th overall! Our percussion section was awarded Best in 2A (2nd overall), and our Color Guard was ranked 4th overall. We're looking forward to one more week of attention to detail, and then we do this "for real" as we enter into our version of the playoffs....beginning with the UIL Region 16 Marching Contest! SHOUT OUT Special shoutout this week to Mike and Shanna Richardson, who have cooked for the band at away games this year. Nobody makes a better burger, and you wouldn't believe how quickly they can feed 3 buses full of students! This week, they had to cook in the rain in Floydada. We appreciate Mike and Shanna SO very much! Thanks to all who came out to support the band this weekend. Stay tuned to student emails for itinerary information for next week, and CLICK HERE to purchase your tickets to see the Roughneck Band at the UIL Region 16 Marching Contest! It's a great day to be a Sundown Roughneck! This past week was an open week for our varsity Roughneck football team. As they have begun preparations for District play against Floydada this coming week, the Roughneck Band began final preparations for our first competition of the season as we learned the final sets of "Legends Never Die"! When we travel to Floydada this week, we will perform to our visitor stands for the very first performance of the full show! This week's Tuesday Night rehearsal will feature our first clinician of the year, Mr. Mike Glaze...we're really looking forward to our band spending time with him!
Since there was no game this past week, we did not get to announce our weekly recognitions...so here they are! Our section of the week is our cornet section! These young ladies and gentlemen have found a new gear as we approach competition season, and they're making some great sounds Our "Pumpjack Award" winner is Nathan McAdams, who is a member of the tuba section. Nathan is a freshman, but don't let that fool you...if you want to see what good marching looks like, look no further! Nathan is a man of few words, but his actions speak loud and clear. Our Rookie of the Week is Isabel Marchan! Isabel is an 8th grade flute player and is rocking it on the field. She is always so focused, and it's becoming harder and harder to catch her making a mistake because she corrects them so quickly. She is a wonderful example of how these 8th graders are coming into their own! Congratulations to Nathan, Isabel, and the cornet section! SHOUT OUTS The shout out for this week goes to the Sundown ISD maintenance staff. You may have noticed that the band practice field (or "The Grid", as we sometimes call it) received a much needed upgrade this week....new paint! Rene Rivera, Paul Gattis, and Hunter Stanley put in a lot of hours to blow rocks and debris off of the field, measure for accuracy, and paint the straightest lines you ever did see! This helps our band more than they might know, and we appreciate these gentlemen so very much. GAME DAY INFO This week's game will be Friday, October 7th in Floydada with a 7:00 p.m. kickoff. As always, information will be sent to each band student's school email account. Have a great week! |