A huge array of musical styles combined with intricate moving patterns and a wealth of colorful costumes and set pieces to deliver a grand performance of student artistry.
Killeen ISD’s five high school marching bands with dance teams and color guards gave an overflowing Buckley Stadium crowd a taste Saturday of spectacular spirit.
The 48th annual Spirit Spectacular provided a showoff platform for bands headed into competition season and motivation for eighth-graders on the cusp of high school band.
Each band performed their competition show before the event concluded with the five high school bands and 10 middle school bands and spirit groups together in a culminating finale.
Photos of the night are posted at www.killeenisd.org/photos
Chaparral High School senior Isa Arroyo recalled attending Spirit Spectacular in eighth grade. Now she’s a Bobcat Band drum major.
“I love to perform. It’s a brilliant experience to hear the roar of the crowd,” she said. “It’s amazing. I love seeing all the other drum majors and the other bands.”
The Bobcat Band’s show, “Code of Silence,” combined jazz music with sets, songs and costuming of mafia culture. “Our band is doing so well addressing the concept. It’s so cool.”
Jo’Siah Dudley, Shoemaker senior and drum major recalled when he was an eighth-grader at Smith Middle School and saw the Grey Wolf Band and other KISD performers at Spirit Spectacular.
“It was my first time to see how marching is – how you can act and play your instrument. It’s like a whole other level,” he said.
“The show is a story,” he said of the Shoemaker show, “In Pieces.” “Even when things fall apart, they can come back together.”
Chamiyu Biesterveld Duenas, Killeen High School senior and Roo Band drum major expressed his love of bringing an audience into the show.
“I love that our show feels peaceful,” he said of this year’s KHS show, “Panachroma,” a sort of homage to Americana. “It has its loud and proud moments, but it’s also calm. I love it.”
“It’s an amazing experience. Not many people get to do this and get to be in my position and start the movements, and have a whole audience behind you,” Duenas said.
Harker Heights High School junior Denzel Luna Guzman, a drum major said it was exciting to play with all the area high school bands.
“Our show is so much more mysterious than past years,” he said of the Red Brigade Band’s “Midnight Renegade.”
“It incorporates cowboys in a desert theme. It gives us something we can elevate,” he said. “It’s fun to be here. I really like how we are able to perform with all the five bands and all contribute.”
Ellison senior drum major Jewel Reese led her band in its show “Boom Crash Pow,” a celebration of superhero origin stories and then stood on the center platform leading the Spirit Spectacular finale, “My Girl.”
“It was a little nerve racking, but felt good,” she said of the directing experience.
Performing in the annual Spirit Spectacular, she said, made her proud of her band’s hard work through the summer and into the fall, overcoming obstacles to learn a challenging show together.
The high school bands compete in UIL Region Marching Contest Saturday, October 17 at Midway ISD Panther Stadium.