The Longest Day

[JLGORMAN]

From 8AM Central time until 10PM this evening, the 22nd of Oct has the distinction of being the biggest Band Contest in the United States. Today over 600 High Schools from 14 of the UIL's 28 Regions will compete in the Annual UIL Region Marching Contest. The competiton is spread out over 20 different locations ranging from Laredo in the South to Plainview in the North all ares in between the 800 mile difference between these locations. This year Class A, AA and AAAA Bands will vie to advance to Area contest next weekend and the SMC on 7 & 8 Nov in San Antonio. Due to the growth of Bands in TX, over half our Bands have already competed and a few will compete on Wednesday the 26th. To those of you who do not deal with ratings, it might seem like so what, it is just a festival rating. The truth is anything but that. All Region Marching Contests include all the Bands in your Region. Principals determine how you do by your UIL Rating. Winning an Invitiational Contest and scoring a high score is nice, however the Gold Standard by which Bands are judged here is the Division Rating from UIL. A 1st Division Rating is the Gold standard because you meet a standard of performance. Last week Plainview received its 69th consecutive 1st Division Rating. Longview goes for their 67th today at Nachodoches. For those us who follow this event, it is truly the longest day as Bands throughout the rest of the state look to see who achieved the standard and who did not. It is a tiring but awesome contest to be sure. To all 600 Bands go luck before the three judges(UIL only judges the Band, there are no Perc, AUX, Guard Judges). For some Bands their will be great joy and for others embarassment. All part of this day the UIL Calls Regions Marching Contest.

[Bandmaster]

It's not the bands that I feel for on a day like this, it's the judges!!!! Each band is done after 15 minutes of hard work and sweat, but the judge has to be on top of his/her game all day long! Now that's hard work....

[Jim Bunselmeier]

Well said. They must switch out the panel after 20-25 bands.