Mustang wins the BOA Memphis Regional

For the last few years, our lives have revolved around the Mustang Highschool Marching band. Our son Ethan is dedicated to it. Marching band season technically begins when school does, but that doesn't mean he gets his summer off. They practice as many as 10 hours a day for weeks on end during the summer.

Linda and I are not immune. There is no end to the amount of work it takes to keep this operation running smoothly. The Mustang High School Marching band is rather large with around 250 student musicians. The amount of organization it takes to make it work is staggering. Ryan Edgemon is the director of bands for the highschool. He and his staff work with these kids year-round. There is a whole group of parents that do everything from fitting uniforms to keeping these growing teenagers fed. We build the props that they use during the show. We do fundraisers, oh my gosh do we do fundraisers. Car washes and firework stands, they even sell mattresses.

The point is that these kids work hard. So do the band directors and most of the parents. Sometimes it can be overwhelming but then events like the Bands of America Memphis Regional happen that are unforgettable.

We traveled to Memphis Tennessee to compete in the BOA Regional Championship. Memphis is about 480 miles from us. It takes six commercial buses and two to three semis to transport all the kids and equipment. It's a massive undertaking. I dropped Ethan off at the high school at about 3:45 AM on Friday morning. They headed out at about 4:45 am. They stopped somewhere in Arkansas at around noon to eat and do a practice run of their show. I think they arrived in Memphis that afternoon some time. I'm not sure because we didn't follow the band caravan this time. Linda had to work until noon so we left after she got home.

We arrived in Memphis that evening. The next morning we headed to Liberty stadium which is where the Memphis Tigers play. Linda and I met up with some of the other band parents and started scouting the competition. Some of these high school marching bands are incredible. The shows that they put on are very entertaining. By now, I've seen a lot of them. There were probably about 25 bands from four or five states competing that day.

Ethan is a junior in high school so this is our third year of doing this. The first year, the show had a kind of horror theme. It was called "Til death do us part" and featured Frankenstein and his bride. It was a very fun show. Last year, the show was called "Surely you Jest" and they all wore court jester outfits. It was playful and almost goofy but in a good way. The shows were wildly entertaining and had a comedic timing that was outstanding. I enjoyed them both a lot. This year has been a departure. The show is called "Hope" and the music and theme are more serious. The best way I can describe it is beautiful or elegant. You are more likely to wipe a tear from your eye than laugh. It is quite moving.

The kids performed the show for the preliminary round in the afternoon. While a few of us parents were waiting for the results, we hung out at a local bar to watch the Red River shootout. We don't need to rehash that. However the results of the preliminary performance were much better. We made finals and were listed as the number one 4A school, which is the largest classification. The top-ranked schools from the smaller classifications (1A, 2A, and 3A) were announced as well. In the finals, the overall championship is awarded to the best band regardless of classification. So to us this meant that we had a one in four chance of winning it all. Mustang had never been crowned champion at a Bands of America event.

We all watched the finals performance and the kids performed their hearts out. The finals show was even better than the preliminary. I dare say it was their best performance all year. As usual, after the performance a group of parents gathered near the props and equipment to load them in the trucks. The idea is to be ready to hit the road as early as we could. The massing wasn't until about 11:30 pm. So it was going to be a late night. We were rebuffed though. Mr. Edgemon told us just to store the props out of the way. He was getting pulled in a thousand directions—managing restless teenagers, coordinating with fellow band directors, dealing with BOA officials—and didn't have the luxury of explaining his every decision with us. Our desire to pack up and head back to our rooms clearly wasn't his top concern. We were all a bit annoyed but what are you gonna do? We headed back to the stadium to watch the massing.

The massing is the awards ceremony where they bring all the finalist bands onto the field to announce their placements and scores. There were twelve finalists. Bringing them out on the field takes a while. They have to line them all up so that they will fit on a football field. Some of these bands are huge, the Mustang band has 250 individuals which takes up a lot of space. We noticed that for some reason our kids brought their instruments with them. That was odd. We assumed there wasn't time to store them anywhere. Eventually all of the bands were in their place. The announcer started listing placement and scores starting at the bottom. When a band was called out, their drum majors would do some kind of elaborate salute with synchronized hand motions. Once the announcer gets close to the end they start announcing other kinds of awards. Mustang received the award for Music Performance and General Effect. We were cautiously optimistic and very nervous when they got to number two. If they called out the other band, we knew we would win.

We of course did win. It was very exciting. Mustang had never won a Bands of America event before. The kids worked so hard. We were all very happy. None of the parents were aware of it, but at a BOA event the winner does an encore performance. Mr. Edgemon obviously knew and thought we stood a good chance to win. Suddenly his instructions to keep the props accessible and the instruments ready made perfect sense. We learned that we won a little before midnight. By about 12:15 am or so the band was ready to perform again. By this time, the other bands and their fans had left—only Mustang supporters remained. I tell you, the stadium still seemed full. I had not realized how many friends and family of the band had travelled the nearly 500 miles to attend. It just goes to show you the support of this community for these kids and their hard work. Afterwards, it was parents on the field congratulating their kids. We definitely got hugs and photos of ours before we finally loaded the trucks and headed back to our rooms.

The next morning, the band loaded up and began the trek home as BOA grand champions. I can't imagine how proud they must have felt. When they finally arrived home it was to a reception worthy of champions. There were people lined along the street holding up homemade signs and cheering. In the past, I've heard my son talk about shows that they admired. They mention Prom with an almost reverence. The theme and title of this year's performance is Hope. It is a fitting description of what all of us feel when watching our young adults dedicate themselves to something that is bigger than any of them individually. We hope that they will use the lessons they have learned for the rest of their lives. I reminded my son that now, future Mustang bands will mention this show with that same reverence. Each of them hoping that they can live up to the standards that this Mustang High School marching band has achieved.