Burnet High School band gets top marks for concert performance
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
BURNET — Even as members of the Burnet High School band began preparing for the 2013 marching and football season, they reveled in the fact that, earlier this summer, the Association of Texas Small School Bands named their concert performance from this past school year the best in the state.
“Last year, we won the bronze in the state marching competition, and now, this state championship (for concert) kind of solidifies Burnet as one of the elite programs in the state,” band director Kevin Heckaman said.
In July, the association named its 2013 Outstanding Performance Series Winners in the concert band category. Bands in Class A through Class 3A submit recordings of their University Interscholastic League concert performances on CD for consideration.
Judges listen and review all the entries before ranking them.
This year, the Burnet High School band earned No. 1 in Class 3A for its performance of “Glaciers” by Scott Director.
“Now, that performance will be included on a CD along with the other top performances,” said Heckaman, who directed the band during the award-winning performance. “This (CD) is for the whole world to hear. It’s quite an honor.”
The band also earned a seventh-place state finish with its performance of “Symphonic Dance No. 3 — Fiesta” by Clifton Williams.
This success isn’t new for the band. In 2011, members earned second in the Outstanding Performance Series for their concert performance of “Themes from Green Bushes” by Percy Grainger and Larry Daehn with Heckaman directing.
All that success carries over.
“Because of this and previous success, there’s more of an expectation to continue along that same path,” Heckaman said. “Even though those seniors who were part of (the OPS concert performance) have graduated, we still have a lot of kids who were a part of it here. And even those who weren’t, they understand what this band has accomplished.
“That history of success is there, and they know it,” he added.
The high school band wasn’t the only one earning association accolades.
The Burnet Middle School band under the direction of Dusty Rhea earned a third-place finish in the Outstanding Performance Series in the Class CC concert competition for its recording of “La Madre de los Gatos” by Brian Beck. The middle school group also earned eighth place in the same series for its recording of “Joy” by Frank Ticheli.
The middle school band’s performance of “Von Grrrhart’s 613th Regimental March” also earned the group fourth in the association’s Class CC marching competition.
“We’re pretty strong top to bottom,” Heckaman said. “We, as a staff, are extremely pleased with how well the students are producing and how hard they are working right now.”
But as the band members and staff celebrate the recent accolades, they aren’t resting on them. With the first high school football game about two weeks way, the high school band is focused on its marching, knowing that come halftime Aug. 30, all eyes will be on them.
daniel@thepicayune.com