“The Pride of the Hill Country” has a rich history of performance excellence that spans 88 years. The Bobcat Marching Band offers an exciting opportunity for instrumentalists, colorguard members and twirlers to enhance their university experience by performing in an outstanding musical organization. Over the years, the Bobcat Marching Band has established a national reputation for marching and playing excellence. This reputation has led to performances at two Presidential Inaugurations as well as appearances in a major Hollywood film and the 1995 video “Best of College Bands.” They are also the first American marching band to have performed for a soccer game in Mexico. In March 2007, the Bobcat Marching Band was featured on video at the College Band Directors National Association (CBDNA) National Convention in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Above all, the Bobcat Marching Band prides itself on being an integral part of the excitement of the college gameday experience! Under the direction of Interim Associate Director of Bands Caroline Beatty, the band will bring on the spirit during all of the 2007 home football games and will travel to Waco when the Bobcats take on the Baylor Bears. Additionally, the band will take their exciting halftime shows on the road to be featured in exhibition performances at the Austin Band Jamboree on September 11th, the Texas UIL 4A Area D Marching Contest on October 27th, and at the Texas 4A State Marching Band Championships in the Alamodome on November 6th. For the 2007 season, the Bobcat Marching Band will present two HOT halftime shows! The first, “Rock Anthems”, features music from Led Zeppelin and Queen with arrangements of Black Dog, Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven, and Bohemian Rhapsody. The second show, “Tribute to Lenny”, features high-energy music from American composer Leonard Bernstein including excerpts from Candide, West Side Story, and “Riffs” from Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. Whether before, during or after the game, no band strives to support its team, entertain its fans or play as hard as “The Pride of the Hill Country”, the Texas State Bobcat Marching Band!

NEWS:
The Bobcat Marching Band has garnered national recognition for performance excellence.

The band was featured in a marching band performance video session at the national conference of the College Band Directors National Association in Ann Arbor, Michigan on March 30. The CBDNA made a call for tapes of halftime performances from last fall, acquiring recordings from college marching bands across the country.

A panel of select college marching band directors judged the tapes submitted for this session, and selected only five bands to participate. After the judges tallied their votes, Dr. Schueller received notification from Dr. Kraig Williams of the University of Memphis, Project Manager for the Athletic Band Task Force for the national conference.

The College Band Directors National Association, known as CBDNA, is the foremost professional organization on college band issues, dealing mostly with concert ensembles. Over the past ten years, the association has begun to include sessions dealing with athletic band performance related items. Additionally, the CBDNA sponsors a summer symposium that deals exclusively with athletic bands.

Dr. Rod Schueller, Director of the 215-member Bobcat Band, submitted a DVD recording of the band’s performance at the Harlandale Marching Festival in San Antonio. The band performed in exhibition for the high school bands that competed during the festival, held on October 14.

Schueller remarked, “When I saw the CBDNA e-mail calling for tapes, I immediately thought about submitting the tape of that performance. I was judging the competition at Harlandale, so I did not travel with the band. I did not see them warm up and was not part of the pre-performance ritual. I stayed in regular contact with the staff because I thought there was a good chance a major storm was going to hit before the competition was over.”

He continued, “The storm approached as the Bobcat Band took the field. I have never seen a band march like that, nor have I heard a band sound like our group did that day. It was absolutely phenomenal, especially considering it poured on them for the last three minutes of the show. They were pros, continuing to give it their all like nothing was happening. I have never had a band perform in that kind of weather, it was like the storm made them extra edgy.”

Concerning the honor of being selected, Schueller said, “This is a tremendous honor for our students, the School of Music, Department of Bands and of course, Texas State University. There were many great bands who submitted recordings, and we were judged to be on par with the elite in college marching band.”