Season Wrap-up

The band staff would like to thank all of the students, parents, family, and friends for a great competitive marching season.  We cannot say enough how wonderful the students were to work with.  They endured the heat, the rain,  broken-down trucks, tired band directors, tired parents, illnesses, injuries, crazy school schedules, demanding high school teachers, dot books, coordinate sheets, a flip folder to rival War and Peace, parking changes, more parking changes, changes to the routine before school, etc.  Their flexibility and professionalism rivals that of many adults and for that it makes us proud as band directors to call them our students.

The number of parents (especially freshman parents) who stepped up and volunteered this year has been awesome!  We welcome the new faces joining with the experienced (not old) ones to help move this organization along.  If you have not had a chance to chaperon a game or volunteer on a committee, please step up and participate where you can.  You will not regret it!  Not only will you learn more about the band and its directors, but you will get to meet many wonderful parents with which you have things in common.  You will be amazed at how many lifelong friendships have developed between band parents simply because their children were in band together.

As we close the book on Waterways, we would be remiss if we didn’t say something about our performances this year.  While we are disappointed at our second division rating at UIL, we will not overlook the great strides that were made this year.  Waterways got better in every performance and every rehearsal except for one.  Unfortunately it was the one that receives the most attention.  It receives the most attention because UIL is considered to have the highest standards in the country.  While the destination isn’t what we had hoped for, we would not trade in the journey for anything in the world.  It is a journey that saw freshmen go from trying to remember their left from their right and moving their feet out of time to performing at the same level as seniors.  It saw former JV marchers step up and fill in like pros.  It saw a color guard add much excitement and visual impact to the show.  It saw a very inexperienced drum line grow into the best drum line in the history of Clear Springs.  We had 60 people not only pass all of their classes in the first six weeks, but they passed with all A’s.

We are not done.  We still have playoff games and an entire concert season ahead of us.  Next year we have new uniforms and a new stadium.  It may even turn out to be “a whole new world”!