Pride of the West marching competition season begins Monday

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  • Snyder High School Pride of the West flute player Zowie Rodriguez and clarinet player Oriana Renshaw perform during halftime of the Snyder High School football game at Big Spring last week. The band will begin its marching competition season Monday at the Big Country Marching Festival at Bulldog Stadium in Abilene.
    Snyder High School Pride of the West flute player Zowie Rodriguez and clarinet player Oriana Renshaw perform during halftime of the Snyder High School football game at Big Spring last week. The band will begin its marching competition season Monday at the Big Country Marching Festival at Bulldog Stadium in Abilene.
  • Trumpet player and drum major Zack Lewis performed a solo during the halftime show.
    Trumpet player and drum major Zack Lewis performed a solo during the halftime show.
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The Snyder High School Pride of the West marching band will begin its competition season Monday, and director Jeremiah McCurdy said his band is peaking at the right time.
On Monday, the Pride of the West will perform in Abilene at the Big Country Marching Festival hosted by Wylie High School. It serves as a preview to competitions sponsored by the University Interscholastic League (UIL), the governing body of Texas high school athletics and fine arts competitions.
McCurdy said the festival will serve as a good preparation for the Oct. 24 UIL regional competition.
“Regionals are also at Wylie, so we want them to get to know the lay of the land a little bit,” McCurdy said. “Every football field is the same length, but different fields have their yard-markers spaced differently. This allows them to mentally know where things are, as well as compete against many of the same teams we’ll compete against.”
The UIL alternates which years it holds its state marching competitions for the different classifications. Classes 5A, 3A and 1A hold their competitions in odd-numbered years and classes 6A, 4A and 2A hold theirs in even years.
If the Pride of the West receives a superior rating at the regional competition on Oct. 22, it will advance to the area round in Lubbock the final weekend of October.
Two years ago, the band advanced to area, but did not make it past the preliminary stages. The top placing bands at the area competition advance to the state marching contest in San Antonio, which is held the first weekend of November.
This year, the Pride of the West has performed Silk Road, a routine that McCurdy described as “the toughest music these kids have ever played for a marching competition.”
He said it was chosen because it is an ambitious piece that features some of the qualities judges typically look for. McCurdy said the band has struggled at times to gain command of the routine, but said they are improving.
“They’re getting better,” he said. “We’ve hit some walls, but it’s hard. It’s taxing on these kids, both mentally and physically.”
McCurdy said one of the obstacles the band has faced this year was missing marching opportunities when two football games were cancelled. He said that while practice and preparation are helpful, game nights provide a better barometer of what to expect at competitions.
“For us, with inclement weather, we just assume we’re going out there until we’re told otherwise,” McCurdy said. “Every Friday is good practice because you have the crowd and the atmosphere.”