On October 2, the Marching Green Pride competed in the Bands of America competition in Midland. The MGP performed the best that they ever had in the BOA competition, making it to finals and finishing 8th out of 24 competing bands.

The band’s director, Aaron Martin, expressed his pride for his band and their performance on Saturday.

“I was just super proud and excited [about the competition],” Martin said. “These kids got into warmup, and we knew 5 minutes into warmup that this was gonna be a good show. Even if we would’ve come in last place, if they gave the effort like they gave I would’ve been proud of it.”

Section leader Holt Lee also seemed to share Mr. Martin’s satisfaction with the performance and had a couple key points to comment on.

“We did great,” Lee said. “It’s the best Azle’s ever done at that competition. This time we made finals, and we beat four bands in finals. Our feet be in time, bruh. That’s a big deal. And we’re one of the loudest bands out there. Our brass can blow.”

While also sharing the satisfaction with the MGP, head drum major Natalie Cain wishes to improve a couple of things before next competition.

“Our mics went out,” Cain said. “Nothing could’ve been done there, that was all out of our control… [We need to] listen. Because we didn’t leave props in the right place. So, being concentrated, not paying attention to the audience.”

Based on their success in the BOA competition, Natalie is excited to see how the MGP stands.

“I’m looking forward to see how we place among others,” Cain said. “We don’t really get a ranking but we get a number, so we’ll see how that stacks up against other people. In the next big competition, we’ll get to see where we stand against people in our actual group, which will tell us if we’ll make state.

Mr. Martin also expressed his enthusiastic feelings toward this group of band students.

“This group of kids is special,” Martin said. “Not that other groups we’ve had weren’t, but this group of kids, they legitimately care about the group as a whole, each other, and they’re taking care of each other and supporting each other. It’s just a real special time to be a part of the band.”