If you haven’t heard, band UIL has come and gone, so, let’s reflect!
For those of you that don’t know, UIL is a yearly competition for all kinds of fine arts (theater, orchestra, sports, etc.) The band competition works like this: students perform 3 rehearsed songs that they will be scored on. After that, they are brought into a room where they will sight read music specially composed for said competition. After seven minutes of studying the new music, they will perform it to four judges who will then decide their rankings. This year Lively Band went up against 6 schools, and returned cheerfully with an all one ranking.
But what does the prep for band UIL entail?
Students begin working on sheet music about 2 months before the competition, working hard to perfect songs and finalize their sound. Throughout these two months they have after school rehearsals, many band members also choose to practice at the band hall during their free time.
So, what’s band UIL like?
Well, everyone has mixed emotions about it.
“It’s very stressful and nerve racking for everyone in the band, you have to be very quick as well” said 8th grader Cameron Sanchez.
It’s easy to imagine the confusion and high stress leading up to the competition, with little time to learn music and hardcore planning.
But not everyone agrees, as 8th grader Caroline Baumgartner demonstrated “It was very fun, I got to
play my instrument and be with my friends, I’d say I had a really good time.”
In the end, UIL was a great experience for our Lively band. Go Falcons!
