Burnet’s Esprit de Corps gets boost from wins headed into UIL contest
The Burnet High School Esprit de Corps has earned some impressive wins in two marching contests. But on Saturday, Oct. 22, they start the University Interscholastic Marching Contest component with regional competition at Gupton Stadium, 200 Gupton Way in Cedar Park, at 2:45 p.m. This is the group’s first step toward a possible state berth later this year at the Alamodome. Tickets for the regional competition are $5 per person, but there is no charge for children pre-school age and under. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton
DANIEL CLIFTON • EDITOR
BURNET — As the Burnet High School Esprit de Corps heads into the University Interscholastic League’s Region 32 marching contest, band director Jason Jones is feeling rather upbeat and confident.
“The kids are doing a tremendous job,” he said. “We approach every halftime show as if it’s a performance, because it is.”
The Esprit de Corps, which consists of the band and the Highlandettes drill team, also is coming off two strong contest performances that give them a boost of confidence heading into the regional competition Oct. 22 at Gupton Stadium in Cedar Park.
The Esprit de Corps won the 2A division of the Bands of America 2016 Austin Regional Championship at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Competition on Sept. 24 in Round Rock.
Jones explained that Bands of America sets up its own classification, so it differs from University Interscholastic League classes.
“One of the things I really like about the Bands of America is they bring in top judges from around the country, who really give us great critiques,” Jones said.
Along with winning their division, the Burnet students also earned Outstanding Musical Performance, tying with East View High School, as well as Outstanding Visual Performance and Outstanding General Effect.
On Oct. 8, the Esprit de Corps headed east on Texas 29 to Liberty Hill, where they competed in USBands Central Texas Regional Championship.
In the USBands competition, Esprit de Corps members found themselves in a division based on the size of the band rather than school enrollment.
“So we got the chance to compete against some bands we wouldn’t typically face if it were based on how many kids go to school (at Burnet),” Jones explained. “We won that class, so that qualified us for the finals.”
The Esprit de Corps first competed at 2:30 p.m. in Liberty Hill, but after advancing to the finals, the band had to wait until 10 p.m. for its next performance. While that’s a tremendous gap in time, Jones explained that it helps the kids prepare for what they’ll face at the UIL area competition, where, if they make it out of the preliminaries, they’ll have to wait several hours before competing in the finals.
The wait gave the students a chance to watch other bands perform. As well as getting experience, a reason for these pre-UIL competitions is to be exposed to other bands, especially top ones from across the state.
Jones said he likes that the Burnet students can watch those bigger bands and have the opportunity to learn from them.
After the USBands finals, which pitted Burnet against bands of all sizes, the Bulldogs landed in fourth place behind Austin Anderson, Kyle Lehman, and Austin Lyndon B. Johnson high schools.
They only finished 0.038 points behind LBJ High School.
“We were in there with some great bands,” Jones said.
Anderson and Lehman are large Class 6A high schools, while LBJ is a 5A school. Burnet is classified as a 4A school by UIL standards.
The success at the two pre-UIL contests definitely gives a lift to the Esprit de Corps as students get ready for the UIL regional competition. But this isn’t something new for the members; they’ve been working toward UIL marching competition since the summer. Every time they take the field, whether at practice or during football games, the students perform as if it were a competition.
That’s something Jones and the other directors stressed from the first day: Every practice and performance matters.
For Burnet, this is also a year they can earn a trip to the Texas UIL State Marching Competition on Nov. 7-9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. The UIL alternates years school classifications can compete at the state level. Burnet earned a trip there in 2014 and is looking to make it again this year.
Getting there, however, requires earning superior ratings Oct. 22 at the regional meet and then getting through the area competition Oct. 29 at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton.
“The kids know what they have to do, and they’re really putting in the hard work to get there,” Jones said. “But marching contest is a subjective competition based on the judges’ decisions. I tell the kids they just have to go out and do their best.
“And if they don’t make it out, but they did their best, then that’s OK because they did their best,” Jones added.
The Burnet High School Esprit de Corps hits the field at 2:45 p.m. Oct. 22 at Gupton Field, 200 Gupton Way in Cedar Park.
daniel@thepicayune.com