FORT WORTH -- With the roar of airplanes competing overhead, Keller Fossil Ridge High School's marching band didn't miss a beat during Wednesday's UIL regional band contest.
The Class 5A band, along with most of the others competing at Brewer High School, earned a Division 1 rating."I was worried they couldn't hear each other," said Mike Sisco, Fossil Ridge's band director. "There is a built-in discipline of 'I'm performing now.'"Despite earning the highest rating, Fossil Ridge won't advance this year because only bands in Class 1A, 2A and 4A are eligible to move on to area contests, scheduled for Saturday in Carrollton, Denton, Lubbock and Odessa. Top-ranked bands from those competitions will advance to the state contest Nov. 7-8 in San Antonio.On Wednesday, 16 bands in Classes 3A and 5A competed at the University Interscholastic League's regional contest.Several of the field shows included elaborate props and music written specifically for the bands.Keller Central High School's show, "Altered States," started with band members hidden behind giant mirrors on wheels. Musicians pushed the mirrors around the field, weaving around them as they played.During Saginaw High School's show, "Rise Up," percussionists put down their instruments and drummed on a wooden plank suspended from two ladders. Parents had hollowed out the bottom of the board to make the sound resonate more, percussion director Derrick Doyle said."Our music arranger wanted to do something that was Celtic. He wrote an Irish jig," Doyle said. "We just tried to have fun with it, to give the impression that we're having a party."Fossil Ridge's show, "Spun," is about a black widow spider, and the band erected giant metal poles to create a spider lair.During the morning's 3A contest, spectators clapped along to Castleberry High's show, which included the Styx tune Come Sail Away."Musicwise, I thought it was a little more fun because it is something that people would recognize," said drum major Madeleine Fimbrez, 16, a junior from River Oaks. "I have thought about this moment ever since I made drum major. Toward the middle, you're up there and you know everything is going to be OK."Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326Band ratings
Sixteen schools competed at Brewer High on Wednesday:
Class 3A
Division 1: Argyle, Aubrey, Bridgeport, Castleberry, Decatur, Lake Worth, Mineral Wells, Pilot Point, Sanger
Division 2: Gainesville
Class 5A
Division 1: Keller Central, Keller Fossil Ridge, Keller, Denton Guyer, Northwest, Saginaw
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