SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS -- The 2021 school year is my seventh as a sports photographer. It was in August of 2015 that I acquired my first sideline pass and walked onto the football field at First United Park with a consumer-level camera and a lens that topped out at f/4 and 105mm. A 27-year-old ‘pixel5’ had no business shooting a football game because, well, I wasn’t actually there to shoot the football game at all. My official start into this hobby that I now love (and regularly stay up until 2 AM for) was not because of any sport. It was for a marching band.
Nicole Baxter is the Director of Bands at Lubbock-Cooper High School. Before that she was an assistant in 2015 and, long ago, in May of 2010 she became my wife. Any director’s spouse will tell you that it is not the easiest job in the world. When football season starts, we start to see less and less of our other half and, in October, they disappear from the face of the earth. Not to seem ungrateful, directors do get to spend each and every Valentine’s day with their one true love: the TMEA convention on the other side of the state. You’d be forgiven for assuming that I picked up a camera and followed a group of 200 teenagers around for years so that I could spend more time with my wife each Fall. You would also be correct.
As time went on, there was something else that grew within me. A new reason to do what I do; I realized that I genuinely love these kids. Moment by moment, their successes and failures started to become my own. One day they were just “my wife’s students” and the next they became, suddenly and without warning, my family. Kids started referring to me as “band dad” and treating me like I was one of their own. That little freshman who sat behind me on the bus for every road game, who chose to rile up the entire bus at midnight on the way back, might have given me a few headaches, still I couldn’t help but laugh every time they started to purposefully sing the wrong words to pop songs for 2 hours straight in a piercing alto.
Drum majors collectively realizing they just advanced to state. UIL Area A finals, Odessa, TX, October 23, 2021.
4 years later, that little freshman is now a senior and was standing 30 paces in front of me on the sideline in Odessa listening to the announcer emphatically reveal that the Lubbock Cooper High School band was advancing to the 5A State Marching Contest for the first time in school history. I will not apologize for dropping my cameras and screaming as I ran to hug drum majors Noah Morales, Logan Ferris, Zachary Zalman, and Olivia Bonner at the 45 yard line of Ratliff Stadium.
Entitled Perspective, their 2021 show features original music by Aaron Guidry and Aquarium by Camille Saint-Saëns. The show flashes visuals with strong contrast, highly interactive props, and a design that might remind the audience of the art of M.C. Escher.
The challenge of managing and transporting large staircases as props to each performance was difficult but the effort of the students, directors, and even band parents to make it work certainly paid off. What a typical spectator doesn’t see is the high degree of coordination and labor it takes to make a production like this one come to life. Through my work, I’ve tried my best to capture their journey. Band boosters make all the difference in the world -- If you’re reading this and you have ever been in a marching band, you should call up a band booster and thank them.
Drum majors collectively realizing they just advanced to state. UIL Area A finals, Odessa, TX, October 23, 2021.
October 31st -- It’s Halloween. The Pirate Pride band arrives in Fredericksburg, Texas at Fredericksburg High School on the way to San Antonio. Everyone quickly moves to the football stadium to eat and then unload all of their instruments and props, moving them to the field for rehearsal. Many band members and directors are dressed in hilarious costumes; At some point the phrase, “Trombone penguin, please fix your spacing”, is heard. In the bleachers are a good number of boosters and other parents who have been part of the caravan from Lubbock over the last 5 hours, watching their student(s) with a measured ratio of pride and expectation. When rehearsal is over, everything goes in reverse as the semi-truck is reloaded and they are on their way to the hotel in the heart of San Antonio.
On the day of the State Contest, the band wakes up early to eat breakfast and load their truck and buses with uniforms and instruments. By 9:55 AM, all musicians are on the bus and they are departing the hotel to head to the Alamodome. At 10:50 AM the band descends into the lower corridors of San Antonio’s largest arena and into separate conference rooms to warm up in sectionals. 11:45 AM comes along and the entire band is gathered in one room around their director who would remind them one last time that they are there because they have earned it, to breathe, and just to take a look around… enjoy the moment.
At 12:00 on the dot, they are lined up single-file at the field-level entrance while band boosters and other helpers wheel large staircases down the loading dock. A short distance away at another tunnel, others are moving front ensemble instruments into place. 10 minutes later, the event coordinator walks them into the view of thousands of marching fans and family and onto the field. For the next 13 minutes, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts as the band performs Perspective for the consideration of 7 judges and the pride of their family and friends.
GALLERY - State Marching Band Contest
The Pirate Pride Band competed in the UIL Class 5A State Marching Contest for the first time as a program where they would finish in 25th place and tied for first among bands from west Texas. Champions of the state marching contest have historically been from Austin, DFW, and Houston with west Texas being little more than an afterthought. The 2021 season is a statement from Lubbock-Cooper that they want that to change and they are leading the charge. In 2023, the Pirates will undoubtedly be back in San Antonio with unfinished business on their minds.
To the juniors and seniors, it has been an honor to watch you grow and lead this program into a new era with high goals and new levels of accomplishment. You rewrote the history books not once, but twice during your time. One day this program will bring home a medal and, on that day, I will think of you and what you started here.
To the freshmen and sophomores (and middle schoolers I have yet to meet!), it’s on you now. The next state year is just two short seasons away. Success doesn’t start in August of 2023, it starts today. This is my challenge to you.
And to all members, parents, and directors of the Pirate Pride Marching Band… thank you for having me along for the ride. I can’t wait to see what you do next.
For now, our football team is primed for another deep playoff run. We will be there and we will be LOUD every step of the way. I guess there’s really only one thing left to say…
Get on the bus.