Pride of Lamar performs at Extravaganza

On Sept. 27, all of the Arlington high school bands united at the Dean Corey Marching Extravaganza.

The event, which took place from 7 to 9 p.m., featured all six of Arlington ISD’s high school marching bands (Arlington, Bowie, Lamar, Martin, Sam Houston and Seguin). They each performed the shows they will perform at the UIL Region on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at Vernon Newsom Stadium in Mansfield.

“I was very pleased with the performance,” head band director Alan Lang said. “The students were very professional with how they handled themselves and performed very well.”

This Extravaganza happens every year so the students can perform for their parents and the community. It is also a rehearsal for the upcoming marching band competitions. Guest judges attend and provide feedback which helps band directors fine-tune upcoming competitions.

“The feedback we received was on our marching, which we’re working on cleaning up, so we look as good as we sound,” Lang said. “We also received some ideas on how to further enhance the music, as well as the visual things we do.” 

Bands that receive a first division rating move on to the area competition, and the top bands from the area move on to the state marching competition in the first full week in November.

“I think we had a good performance, we gave it our best shot,” senior Leslie Bonilla-Diaz said. “I thought we were better than the others that were there.”

Asiah Darden-Simmons contributed to this article.