Marching Band Highlights

Marching Band Highlights
Posted on 11/11/2022

Bulldog Pride Marching Band Competes This Fall
By: Josh Yancey, MHS Band Director

  The Mexico High School Bulldog Pride Marching Band has had a busy marching season! While the average Mexicoan may see the band uptown at parades and Friday night under the lights, the band is also active in marching festivals throughout the region. This year they traveled to Central Methodist University Band Day in Fayette on October 1st and the Southern Boone Marching Invitational in Ashland on October 15th. 

These competitions are tailored for bands to showcase their musical talents and marching capabilities while performing their “field shows.”  A series of judges will rate the band’s music and marching capabilities, as well as how the band incorporates their visual components, such as the color guard (flags) and pictures made by the individual marchers in the band.

The band has five class hours a week that it uses to prepare for all of its duties. They also have morning rehearsals before school once or twice a week to help them prepare, giving them a total of 5-7 hours. This all totals up to around 528 hours a week. During these rehearsals the band students are learning and memorizing music as well as learning and memorizing their marching drill. All of this work culminates in a 10-minute show, which our home fans, unable to attend the competitions, were able to see at some of our football games. 

The band earned 6th place at the CMU festival and 5th place at the SBMI this year. The festivals are broken up into classes much like athletics. Competing in Class 4, Mexico saw some familiar faces at the festivals including conference schools Fulton and Marshall.  “Our goal is for the band to always improve, make our performances a little better every single day. I truly believe that we were able to accomplish this this season,” said Josh Yancey, Director of Bands at Mexico HS. “The kids, in general, work really hard for us in the band program and because of that we are able to do things like these festivals. Myself, Mr. Wade Aldridge (Assistant Band Director), and Mrs. Sarah Murdock (Color Guard Instructor and MMS Band Director) are always proud of the product that our students are able to present,” said Yancey. The band department wants to thank all of its supporters in the community for being there for them. Whether you are applauding a performance, or supporting us through a fundraiser you are greatly appreciated!

If you want to hear the band in the near future, catch their Winter Concert in the Gary Filbert Gymnasium on Friday December 9th at 7PM!