Burnet’s Esprit de Corps advances to state marching band contest
Burnet High School’s Esprit de Corps performed Oct. 25 at the Georgetown ISD Athletic Complex at the University Interscholastic League Area competition and won a spot to compete for the UIL State Division 3-A title Monday at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
BURNET — The Burnet High School Bulldog Band and Highlandettes Drill Team, known together as Esprit de Corps, are headed to the state competition in San Antonio.
The EDC was one of five groups that won top marks from judges Oct. 25 during University Interscholastic League Area competition at the Georgetown Independent School District Athletic Complex. The state competition is Monday at the Alamodome.
EDC performed twice last weekend starting with the preliminary competition early in the day. The group was chosen to advance to the finals later that evening. At the end of the event, EDC was picked as one of five Division 3-A bands the judges selected to move on to state. There were 25 other top marching bands from across Central Texas performing at the contest.
“By making it to the next level, we’re in the top 20 bands in the state,” EDC Director Mike Lewis said. “Obviously, we have some things we can still work on, but we have been adding to the program. Once we got the whole show put together, it was like putting the icing on the cake.”
Lewis said the group has continued to make modifications and work on phasing issues in their performance. The EDC directors said the judge’s comments from each performance have been helpful in contributing to their success.
This will be the fourth time EDC has made their way to the state competition since Lewis came onboard as the EDC director. They made it to the state competition in 1998, 2000 and 2002.
“This has been one of the hardest working bands I’ve seen by far, and there are true leadership skills shining through this year,” said Darcy Williams, an assistant band director who has been with the EDC program since 2005. “At this point, the hard part is perfecting the program.”
Burnet ISD spent the last four years competing at the Division 4-A level, but this year the school was reclassified as 3-A again.
“The 4-A level was very different. The group has had some time to work really hard and have been exposed to a set of standards other bands have not,” Williams said.
Tickets to the the UIL Texas State Marching Band Contest are $14 (adult single session) or $21 (adult one day pass for prelims and finals). Student tickets are $8 each. There is a $10 fee for parking per car.
Officials are asking parents, fans, students and teachers to line up on U.S. 281 to cheer EDC as the buses make their way to the Alamodome at 10 a.m. Monday.
The Burnet group performs at 3 p.m.
byoung@thepicayune.com
Photo by Judy Lewis