Wylie Pure Gold Dazzles Audiences With New Show

During this 2021 season, the Wylie Pure Gold Band debuted a new marching show centered around the founding of the United States of America. This new show, titled “Dreams of Freedom”, impressed audiences and judges alike and allowed the band to make it all the way to the UIL 5A Area marching contest, where they placed among the top twenty out of all of the bands that competed.

Because of Covid restrictions, the Pure Gold Band had an unusual season last year to say the least. The band rarely had all of its members available for rehearsals or games, which made it extremely difficult to perform their halftime show or even practice it. In fact, last year’s show was performed only two times during football games because of the pandemic, which is eight less times than usual. After such a strange and unpredictable season, the band was more than ready to make a statement this football season.

After the theme of the show was selected, the band’s leadership team was decided upon after various auditions and tryouts. The new team, lead by band president president Zach New and head drum major Kyal Corbett, met during the summer a week before summer band, which is where the entire band comes together to work on fundamentals and their show for the upcoming year. Assistant Drum Major Maggie Fellona says that preparing for summer band was critical for the success of the organization. “It helped set the tone for the rest of the year,” she said. After a week of preparation, the leadership team and the band staff were ready to greet the rest of the ensemble as summer band got underway. Every weekday from 8 am to 1 pm, the entire band began putting together the pieces of their brand new show. Because this 2021 season was a competition year, every member was focused, and the entire band made it a goal to learn as much as they could each and every day. Because of the hard work and dedication shown by the Pure Gold, the band had the music for the entire show memorized before the first day of school even began. After a long summer of long hours and brutal temperatures, the band was more than ready to take their show to the marching field and perform under the Friday night lights and beyond.

As the season got underway, the band began to hit their stride. They had a total of five rehearsals during each week, which gave the group plenty of time to continue to work on their show. Every home game, the band would take the field during halftime and perform their show in front of their hometown crowd. The show would look and sound better every week, and the progress that was being made caused the band to begin to think about the month of October for one reason and one reason only: competitions. The band had four competitions that they would be participating in during the month, which meant traveling to a contest nearly every single week. As October drew nearer, the band made it their goal to achieve the highest possible rating at these upcoming competitions, which is exactly what they did. The group earned division one ratings in all contests, even the ones hosted by UIL. In their final competition, the UIL 5A Area contest, the band placed in the top twenty of all bands that competed. All season long, the band entertained audiences with a message of unity and freedom that will not soon be forgotten.

Photo taken by Mrs. Lessing.