The mighty Maverick Marching Band came home from the Texas Marching Classic competition with a third place trophy on Oct. 12 after a successful performance of its show Garden of the Mind.

“I think that our performances were the best that they had been this year,” director Travis Ancelet said. “Visually we had fixed a lot of things in the last couple of weeks, so I knew that no matter what happened we had performed really well.”

Along with the good performance at the competition, the judges were pleased with the show, which represents the logical left side and creative right side of the brain.

“After seeing us finally perform the show really well and seeing the whole thing as a production, it seems that the McNeil band has found its identity as far as what kind of show to perform,” assistant director Jason Dimiceli said. “The show contains familiar music, change in character, beautiful and powerful sections along with a lighthearted aspect which adds a lot to it. “

The success of the band relies on both the directors and the students. The efforts that the students put forth towards practicing and improving contributes to the success of the organization as a whole.

“I feel like the band performed their hardest and that our hard work paid off,” drum major Kelsey Chandler said. “We have a lot of dedicated marchers who put band as one of their top priorities and care a lot about the organization.”

The band directors realize the efforts and importance of the students as part of the organization’s attitude.

“It’s their band program,” Ancelet said. “If they work as a team they get the benefits of that. As directors, we always try to be enthusiastic and we work hard ourselves so hopefully they want to perform at a high level.”

The band members practiced every morning leading up the the competition. The band had two weeks since the last contest to prepare for Texas Marching Classic.

“I think our results reflected our efforts,” junior Ben Hrechko said. “We worked really hard the two weeks before the contest and I think it definitely helped.”

The hard workers of the band enjoy being a part of the music-making group.

“I feel lucky to participate in such an amazing organization,” freshman Mina Murasugi said. “I’m so glad I chose to do band because I’ve met a bunch of new people and I’ve had great opportunities.”

Although the band was successful and earned third place at the last competition, members and directors are ready to improve even more.

“After our first contest, we knew very specific things we needed to work on, so we had a full two weeks to improve those things,” Dimiceli said. “We definitely have parts of the show that we want to work on in preparation for our final contest.”

For the Maverick Band, hard work is put forth towards creating a pleasing final product.

“We do what we need to do for ourselves, make sure we have a good product, and it just falls into place,” Ancelet said. “Im looking forward to the rest of the season because
the better it gets, the more enjoyable it becomes.”