The Brownwood High School “Mighty Maroon Marching Band” has started practice, three times a day in fact, to make sure they are ready to entertain the crowds at this year’s Lions football games.
Practice begins at 8:00am sharp each day with marching, then a mid-day practice for sectionals and another full band marching practice in the evening. This routine made for a busy first week for the 117 members of the 2011 Brownwood High School Band.
Instructed by director Richard Graham and assistant directors Deborah Graham & Jayme Smith, the band is preparing for a new year of marching and competitions. Leading the band for this year are senior drum major Robert Lynch and junior drum major Natalie Mayo.
“I haven’t found any other way to be good at what we are doing without practice,” joked Graham about the long hours members have dedicated themselves to this week.
There are 38 incoming freshman who are getting their first taste of marching and forming friendships by working so many hours together and traveling many miles across the state for competition and football games. There are 30 seniors in the band this year. Last year saw a loss of 5 senior trumpets, but Graham states that there are 12 trumpets this year who will get the job done.
“We’ve got a bigger group this year with a lot of enthusiasm and an exciting half time show,” stated Graham. “Maybe they’ll make it to state with the football team in the playoffs; we’re ready to follow them all over the state.”
The new half time show is entitled “Fuego”, which translates to fire in English.
“It’s a high intensity Spanish show,” stated Graham.
The band also has a larger group of color guard this year, increased to 14 from last year’s 12.
“We increased overall in enrollment, so we increased their (color guard) numbers as well,” said Graham.
Mr. Graham is in his 31st year of teaching; the past 7 have been spent at Brownwood High, 6 of them accompanied by his wife, Deborah as his assistant. Jayme Smith, a Wylie High School graduate and 2011 graduate of Texas Tech University is a first year instructor who came to BHS this summer. Smith will also be the Brownwood Middle School Band instructor.
