As some of you may know, my family has a long history with the University of Texas… loyal fans, multiple Texas-Exes, Saturday tailgaters for about 12 hour, ect. On Friday night, I was pleased to go to the UT Football Banquet. My whole family was very excited to meet some of the players, but I was even more interested to see some of the band people behind the giant orange marching suits. 
walking away from getting a signature from Sergio Kindle (how awesome?!) I ran into two UT band members. I congratuated them on a great year, and looked forward in seeing them in years to come… They were very appreciative and were about to walk away when I consciously, nonchalantly added that I was from the Dripping Springs Band.They immediately launched into a volley of praise! How impressive we were and how awesome it was that we put so much time and effort into our successful season. I got that response throughout the night! It meant alot to me that these people would take the time to talk to me and knew from first hand how great band truly is… and they happened to mention they know people in our band as well! It was really fun to see that our acheivements have been spread farther than JUST the high-school world, and to see that people really do pay attention to a tiny little town in Texas Oh, and I even got a souvenier clarinet reed! (Great, I’m a FLUTE player!! What could I POSSIBLY do with an unwrapped clarinet reed?! Well, I appreciate it anyway) Since that wonderful night, seemingly so long ago, I’ve really had some fun with the recognition Dripping Springs has! I’ve been wearing my show shirt around, and I hear people behind me murmer in recognition of our show! That just thrills me to death! Even if they’ve never seen us in person, they’ve heard of us on the news (thank you KVUE for the film in class!) and they’ve seen viedos on Youtube, and they’ve heard by word of mouth. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! I actually got the UIL video of state, and watching all the performances again not only made my day, it made my entire week! Heck, it made my month!! 
Well, I can’t wait to start the new chapter of band! We have some really interesting pieces that I think will do really well!! Well, till next time, BYYYEEE!!!
Spreadin’ the Love
Jan 11
We Did It.
Nov 11
“We may not win state this year, or two or four years from now, but we will win state one day because of what you guys did on that field tonight.” -Lancaster
I don’t think I will ever understand the magnitude of what our band did yesterday. When we marched out of finals, everyone started crying because we knew how amazing we just performed. Never had our show reached that level of greatness. We huddled together and Lancaster gave us the pep talk that I quoted. We did something amazing Tuesday. All those tears listening to Lancaster foreshadowed more tears of joy to come. I haven’t stopped crying yet, and its been almost a full day since we heard who won. I can honestly say that yesterday was the happiest day of my 16 years of life.
I am so proud of every band kid. This year made us even more great. I can’t fathom what two years from now will be like if we improve at the same speed as we have been. I really don’t know what to say…Winning state is just a far away dream. It hasn’t sunk in. My brain can’t comprehend what happened last night. I think about all those hours put in and all the stress that went along with band. I know now that is was entirely worth the brutal season. It never really mattered how we turned out in finals. What made last night amazing was that we did the best show we have ever done in the history of Dripping Springs. And that is good enough for me.
We did it.
Remember the Alamo!!!
Nov 11
Since July 28, 147 kids and their directors have devoted impossible amounts of time and energy to seven minutes of perfection. Half the time we were all sweating like pigs and squinting in the blazing sun, and the other half we were hunched against the cold, playing sixteenth notes with numb sausage fingers. And since there’s just that much time, the third half was spent proudly bearing our chins up into a deluge and then the fourth half drying out our pads, finish, flags, and feet. But somehow, almost every minute of that time was spent working toward greatness. We came together in August with next to nothing and more than a fourth of the band never having marched and here we are, more than a quarter of a year later, champions of the state of Texas. Really, the feeling is beyond words, except maybe that word that filled the Alamodome… something like… “AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” This Tuesday the Dripping Springs band was rewarded at long last for the hardest season it’s ever been through. Such a spectacular season, into which went so much energy and pain and enduring will, could not have a more suitable end.
We marched with our minds, played from the depths of our hearts, and held our souls out for the world. We set the Alamodome on fire. And no matter where we go in life, we will always remember the Alamo!
State Champions? I think so!
Nov 11
Category: AWESOME
The Dripping Springs Tiger Band has captured state! Yes folks, we are the 2009 UIL 4A Marching Band State Champions!
Mr. Lancaster’s first words to us on Wednesday morning were, “I don’t think you fully understand the magnitude of what happened last night.” He’s right… I didn’t get what was going on on Tuesday night and it’s still slowly sinking in for me (and I’m sure for all the other bandies as well). Tuesday went by in a blur. It started off as a normal school day. We got to school at 6:45 in the morning, took out our equipment and walked to the stadium for an hour and twenty minutes of morning practice. Except then, at 9:00, we didn’t go to school. We loaded the trailers and the buses and headed off to the state marching contest in San Antonio! When we were driving off, it seemed like the whole entire school was lined up on the side of Tiger Lane to send us off! It was so sweet
When we got to the Alamodome, we unloaded, got dressed, and moved to warm-up for prelims. I felt like it was the brightest day ever! I could barely keep my eyes open for more than a minute without being blinded by the sun! The prelims performance went well and we came out second. Of course, we were only told by the directors that we placed within the top five. Now that I look back, we were on such a fine line that night before finals. When we figured out that we were second in prelims, we automatically assumed that we were beat by Poteet (that assumption turned out to be incorrect). The ironic thing was, we were scheduled to perform right after them. We watched all eight minutes of Poteet’s show on the TV screen from the entrance tunnel and by the time our turn came around we were ready to go.
Coming out of finals, we all had a feeling that something great had just been accomplished. I remember Mr. Lancaster saying after the performance that be believed that the DSHS band would one day become state champions. Maybe not this year, maybe it’ll be when you’ve all graduated, but it will happen. Who knew it would happen so soon?
“Ya’ll… we’re… so… BEAST!!”
Nov 11
At the beginning of our contest season (Oh, so long ago!), after our VERY first contest, a member of the Steel band came up to congratulate us… With utter sincerity, he drawled, ”Ya’ll… were… so… BEAST!!!” And yes, for those who are unsure of the meaning, YES, that is a good thing. Look how far we’ve come since then!!!!! WE WON THE 4A STATE COMPETITION!!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Ok, sorry, but I’m still SO incredibly happy for our win!! From the beginning of the opener to the end of the closer, you could feel from the field, see from the field, and hear from the judges’ tapes that we had our best performance all year! Even if we hadn’t won, even if we didn’t make it, I would have been just as excited knowing that we had filled the request of Mr. Woods… To “march with our minds, play with our hearts, bare our souls, (and a new addition, just for state!) and they will love you like I love you!” (Way to go Mr. Woods…. almost making me cry before I go out to a FILMEd performance!) Just kidding!! All those hours, days, weeks, and months we’ve been focused on one thing… Being better every single day. Never winning, just being more focused, more advanced, more strong, more devoted than the day before. Now that the 7 and a half minutes I practically sold my soul to is over and will never be seen again, I come to realize something. Band is more than I’ve ever said it is. Band is more than I have the words to say. What I can say is, staying in this band was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. Ever. No over-exaggeration (and of those of you that know me, that does happen somewhat frequently) no lie, no fooling, no beating around the bush. THE Dripping Springs High School Band has been my outlet, my family, my daily dose of humor, my trial of strength, my one-heck-of-a-workout my buds, my stress source and reliever , and one of the things that can keep me smiling and laughing for days on end. I know for a fact my freshman year would be a completely different world without this amazing experience!! We did something on Tuesday night that not only I’ll remember for now, but something that I’ll tell my children and grandchildren about! The lessons that I’ll never forget, the morals I earned, the stupid mistakes that I gained experience from. Band is more than an extracurricular activity… It’s a lifestyle, a drug, a teacher, and more than anything, one of the coolest and most amazing things you’ll ever see or do. And again, this ALL leads you to believe that I’m being dramatic, over-excited, over-exaggerating, and just downright overstating. Nope, I sure ain’t.
BAND TEN HUT! HEY! Band, drill position of attention! Feet! Together! Stomach! In! Shoulders! Back! Chin! In! Head! Up! Eyes! With pride! Eyes! With pride! Eyes! With Pride!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! WE MADE IT TO STATE!!!!!!!! Ok, ok… calm…. Whew!! Ok, if anyone may remember, I wrote about The S Word in one of my blogs a few months ago… ‘S’ THEN meaning school! Now, it means something 100,000,000 times better! STATE!!!! We had one of our best shows last night, in my opinion, and we got rewarded for it!! As a freshman, I get that I may be taking this just a little too seriously, but…. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! WE MADE IT TO STATE!!! Ok, ok, calm… Marching off that field, I was grinnin’ like a fool, and I though my heart was gonna burst from pride of my band family! I came off that field watching people smile, laugh, cry and even sob with the energy and emotion of the moment! That 7 1/2 minutes changed lives…. as extremely band nerd-ish and over exaggerated as that sounds.. Every single one of us (as Mr. Woods so brilliantly put) “marched with our minds, played with our hearts, and bared our souls”!!! We overcame fatigue, cold, heat, injuries, illnesses, extreme stress, physical weakness, and more importantly, mental weakness! We made a talented, moving, exciting, respected band out of average high school students… I DARE you to say that’s not the product of miracle workers!! A HUGE, gracious thank you from ALL the band to OUR miracle workers… ALL the band directors, marching and pit techs, Band Boosters, band helpers, and band parents!!!!! We would have NEVER been able to do ANY of this without you!!! From this humble freshman to all the band family… AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! WE MADE IT TO STATE!!! And to think… all this, and I haven’t even GONE to state yet!!! On we roll to the Alamodome!!!
Jeez, I HATE bronchitis!!!
Oct 21
Well, sadly, I had to miss school (AND 2 band rehearsals!!) because of a terrible curse of nature called bronchitis. The fact that I’m freezing while burning up, coughing pitifully, and have a splitting headache amounts to absolutely NOTHING seeing that I’m missing band!!! I’ve been lucky enough to have a clean bill of attendance so far this season (excluding one day for an ankle injury), but even knowing people have missed for a week or more doesn’t quite lift my spirits. If this shows you how ‘band-sick’ I am after missing just ONE day, my day feels empty without hearing the battery warm up before practice, not hearing a trumpet buzzing on a mouthpiece seems unnatural, I’m mad because I missed an opportunity to pass off benchmarks, and I’m even looking forward to running when I get back!!! Eery, isn’t it?! Looking on the bright side though… I had enough quality time to do absolutely nothing!! I ACTUALLY had time to read 409 marching band jokes… and what’s so funny is almost EVERY SINGLE ONE was freakishly true!!! (And what was funnier was watching me try to laugh while slurping chicken noodle soup!) Well, with any luck at all, I’ll be up and running by tomorrow! And congrats to everyone on 3rd place at Westlake!! That was SO SO SO SO much fun!!! But then again, that’s a whole other blog. BYE!!!!!
Frito pie!
Yesterday Dripping Springs had it’s very own percussion contest. With half the band signed up to volunteer, it would have been difficult to not have a good time.
I think everyone discovered one of Mr. Larson’s talents that day. If Mr. L wasn’t a band director, he could take over Billy Mays’ advertising job in an instant. Listening to Mr. Larson advertising the concession stand was one of my favorite parts of the day.
Being at this context made me realize how ready I am for next Saturday. Finally we will have our first contest! Spending a whole Saturday at a school related event us only fun when your in the band at a contest. The freshmen will be able to see why we work as hard as we do. I can’t even express how excited I am! Ahh, it will be great. This weeks starts off real marching band. And I can not wait
It is week 3 of school and the stress is already setting in for everyone. I have a killer schedule this year, so finding time to do homework is difficult if i want to maintain my 6 1/2 hours of sleep a night. I’ve had 3 quizzes/tests this week… Hopefully we will be able to continue our rehearsals in a way that it seems like we never have anything else to do and that we get 12 hours a night. Wow, that would be amazing…
Anyways, as difficult as our classes may be, we are settling in to having school and band at the same time. And this week’s game is on Thursday! Our first away game! Woooo! This week couldn’t get any shorter. I wish we had 4 day weeks all the time What will I do on friday night? I asked myself the same question a year ago when the hurricane came and they rescheduled the football game to Thursday. It felt so unnatural to go home on a friday. I felt too normal. Something was off. I’m sure all of us are going to feel out of place when friday rolls around.
I’ll catch yall later! All of you that may be reading this should definitely be at the football game tomorrow!
Ooooohhh goodness! That was one strange game against Wimberly, especially from a band standpoint! I think it’s needless to say that even before the game, it was PORING! I personally became soaked from dancing in the rain! For a while, we had no real idea if or when we were going to march, and I know as a woodwind that only got her flute back from the shop a day before, I was concerned about our instruments. Thank goodness, the sun finally came through, and things began to look up… and then… halftime! Again, I’m getting this from only my personal standpoints, but that was the most incredible, infuriating, amazing moments ever!!! To clarify, we were sent on a mission NOT to fall apart as we did last week… Mission, not so accomplished… But on the bright side, it wasn’t as bad as last week! Improvement! But anyhow, I’m standing at a hold fuming and brewing over how we messed up once again… and then a single drop of rain alerted me of the FLOOD to come. We had an obligation to complete our show, even when the fans are running and screaming, trying to escape the impending tsunami. After about 2 seconds of complete fury of thinking of how my flute was getting destroyed as I’m holding it in the poring rain, a thought popped out of nowhere… “WHOA!!! I’m marching in the rain! No… I’m MAAAAARCHING in the rain! Just marching in the rain! What a wonderful feeling…” So with the “Singing in the Rain” soundtrack on an endless loop in my head, we finished our soggy show, and spent the rest of the game going through endless rolls of paper towels drying off instruments and keys.