AUSTIN HIGH BAND

Our marching band is the most vital and fun-filled activity for our students at AHS because it combines everyone in our program in the fall into one large group regardless of age/ability. They work together as a team to create an elaborate musical and visual production which competes at local competitions. We have performed with the British rock group Mumford & Sons three times, marched a parade for Kendra Scott, and have been featured on the nationally televised NBC Today Show with Hoda & Jenna twice!

Summer Band

Marching band starts at the end of July and usually runs for about three weeks plus a few days. The first few days are spent learning marching fundamentals and rehearsing the music for the show.

Marching band shows have a limited number of positions and are always designed for fewer than our total number of musicians in the band in case students have absences or family emergencies. To fit the band with the show, we hold auditions after refining our marching fundamentals for a few days. All Band members have a responsibility in our show, and some of our younger members alternate with each other so everyone has a chance to perform. We all sit together in the stands, play the show music, march at the high school football games, dance at pep rallies, and play for the drill team.

Summer band cools off with the largest annual band water ballon fight and a party in the band hall for students to celebrate a team effort well done.

Marching Season

The start of school also brings the start of football season. The marching band reherses around seven and half hours outside of school, typically on Monday/Tuesday evenings and some mornings before school. Every part of the band also has special times to work independently before coming together each week. The band spends Friday afternoons at the band hall eating dinner, socializing, and getting ready to go to the game. All of the equipment for the show and the game travels on a band semi-trailer and box truck, loaded and unloaded by students on our trailer crew.

Our band sits in the stands together and supports our football team by playing music and cheering for them. Austin High has been playing home games at historic House Park stadium since 1939. Free parking for parents is available at the ACC parking garage next door to the stadium. House Park has no track around the field, so both parents and students experience the action of the game closer than most other local football stadiums. To top off, it also has fantastic evening views of the Texas Capitol and the downtown Austin skyline.

During late September and October, the band travels to marching band competitions. Most of them are on Saturdays and are held in the Austin area. These competitions lead up to our UIL Region Marching evaluation, typically held on a Tuesday afternoon/evening in late October. In Texas, bands are able to further advance to UIL Area/State competitions every other year, which is kind of like making playoffs, but for band. Austin High is proud to have advanced to the Area level of competition every year without fail, and even the prestigious State Marching Contest in 2017!

Drum Corps

Some Austin High kids can’t get enough of marching band and decide to audition for drum corps, where they spend their summer traveling around the country elevating their marching and playing “chops” to professional levels, all while getting a pretty nice tan!

In recent years, Austin High students have been a part of the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps, a world-class drum corps based in San Antonio, The Cavaliers, based outside of Chicago, and The Academy, outside of Phoenix Arizona.

College Marching Band

After high school, many Austin High students continue on to march and perform in college marching bands, earning thousands of dollars in scholarships every year! College marching band usually has a smaller time commitment but students play for Saturday crowds of up to 100,000 people.

Many universities even host an alumni band event every year! In the picture shown on the right, our head director Brian Frock is back at UT for Alumni Band to march for a day and catch up with two former Austin High students, now in Longhorn Band.