Finally, the moment marching band fans had been waiting for the whole season. The biggest and final BOA competition of the year, comprising of bands from all over the state. On November 2-3, the James Bowie High School Outdoor Performing Ensemble competed in the Bands of America Super Regional competition.

The band had an early morning on Saturday, November 2, since they had to be at Tony Burger center for rehearsal at 9:00 in the morning on competition day.

“On that Saturday, I woke up at 6am,” said head band director, Garth Gunderson.

The band then loaded the charter busses, had lunch, and rode a two hour bus ride to the AlamoDome stadium in San Antonio, Texas.

“It was a very busy week, but I love the intensity of it all,” Gunderson said.

At 3:30 PM, the band began its warm up, and at 5:00, they began their performance under the massive dome of the stadium.

“The Bowie OPE had an outstanding run of our show “Floridly Primordial.” It was our best run of the season,” Gunderson said.

After the band had their performance, they returned to the busses and headed home, making it back to Bowie at around 9:00. The next day, the band returned to Burger Stadium once again for the pre-finals warm up, they then loaded the buses and headed back to the AlamoDome.

“We were back at Burger Center the next day for Finals warm-up then trip to Alamodome again,” Gunderson said.

The band entered the stadium and received their results. The band was 15th, one placement away from the 14 spots available for a finals performance.

“I was sad that it was over for us, it did not seem fair, but, we accept the results and understand that judging music/art is a challenge and that we had our best show and that was what mattered most,” Gunderson said.

For many, the placement came as a surprise and a shock as the band usually places in finals.

“I did not think the results were fair, however, results are never fair.  I did have concerns about the two judging panels which seemed to skew the results.  I shared my thoughts with BOA, but, again, every band that made finals was deserving and we still had a really strong showing at the contest,” Gunderson said.

Looking ahead, Gunderson and the rest of the band directors are actively trying to improve the band by putting more emphasis on certain aspects of performance.

“We are still working hard to get all of our members to really improve in their individual playing skill. We feel that this will have the biggest effect for our overall sound and in our ability to create musical effect through our soloists and through our band sound,” Gunderson said.

The band has always upheld a standard of excellence and with these new changes, all of the band’s staff hope to make the Bowie band even greater.

“Our goal is to create the best band program in the state of Texas,” Gunderson said, “and to bring pride in performance to AISD and to James Bowie High School.”