BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Union County High School’s Marching Tigers continue to perform at the highest level, earning an overall Superior rating at the fall Music Performance Assessment, which was held Nov. 2 at Alachua’s Santa Fe High School.
The Marching Tigers, composed of 80 members, earned Superior in each category: Music (two judges), Visual Performance/Marching and Maneuvering, General Effect and Auxiliary.
It was the second straight year Union earned straight Superiors and the fourth time in five years the Marching Tigers have accomplished it.
The performance came on the heels of traveling for the football team’s game in Chiefland on Nov. 1.
“I was so proud of them,” UCHS Director Kelly Dorsey said. “We were like, ‘Whew.’ Those poor babies were tired after that away game the night before. They still pulled it out.”
Union was one of 19 bands competing at the District 4 event and one of 12 that earned an overall Superior rating, joining Baker County, Bell, Buchholz, Fort White, Gainesville, Newberry, P.K. Yonge, Q.I. Roberts, Santa Fe, Trenton and Williston.
Despite being in the class size for smallest student population, the Marching Tigers had the third-largest band in terms of numbers competing at the event. Buchholz had 132 members, while Gainesville had 111 members.
Bradford, Columbia, Eastside, Interlachen and Suwannee achieved overall ratings of Excellent, while Dixie County and Palatka earned Good ratings.
Some outside the program simply assume this is going to be the outcome for the Marching Tigers every year. After all, you probably have to go back to the early 1980s to find a UCHS band that didn’t earn an overall Superior at the fall MPA.
Dorsey said while that result is expected every year, it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.
“It’s a different group every year with different challenges,” Dorsey said, adding, “We’ve taught them that it’s not just a given. You have to earn it. I always tell them, ‘Yesterday’s home run doesn’t win today’s game.’”
As Dorsey likes to tell other band directors, her program starts at the same place as theirs at the start of every year. Sometimes, she said, her band starts “at more of a deficit” than other programs.
“We just work hard every single year,” Dorsey said. “Every year, we just roll up the sleeves.”
Dorsey said her brass players made some of the biggest strides from the beginning of the year. She described them as sounding quiet, saying, “Just getting air into the horn was big.”
Plus, they were a small group.
“We don’t have a lot of brass on the field,” Dorsey said. “We have a lot of woodwinds, so they’re outnumbered. Brass has had to work exceptionally hard.”
Dorsey said her band sounds like it has more than two French horn players, but that’s all the Marching Tigers have. One of the horn players is a senior, while the other is a freshman. Dorsey said the senior has embraced being a mentor to the freshman, while the freshman has been eager to learn everything he’s teaching her.
“They play really well together,” Dorsey said.
Another group Dorsey praised was the drumline, which is made up mostly of sophomores.
“The drumline worked really hard. They don’t sound like tennis shoes in a dryer anymore,” Dorsey said, adding, “We’ve gotten lots of compliments on how they sound out there.”
The relationship Dorsey described between her senior and freshman French horn players can really describe this year’s whole band. Dorsey said the push this year has been for leaders to be positive influences on the younger members. What has resulted is a supportive, nurturing environment.
“Our leaders don’t get the power trip,” Dorsey said. “They have a servant’s attitude. We celebrate each other every day in class. Somebody plays something, and everybody’s like, ‘Yeah!’ The kids are thriving on that.”
Dorsey described this year’s band as a “consistently hard-working group.” That includes students who’ve been involved since the covid year. It was up to them to be the backbone of the program when students were able to return to school after the pandemic, even though they were young at that time.
“Back then, we just couldn’t get the upper classmen to re-engage,” Dorsey said. “They’ve kind of had to be the leaders all the way through. Now, they’re really getting to enjoy that ride. I couldn’t be more thrilled for them.”
The MPA performance was later celebrated with a movie night.
“We had popcorn and pizza. All the families were invited. It was a nice night,” Dorsey said. “We had a good time.”
It was a well-earned celebration. It’s not easy to perform at a high level year after year, but this year’s group did it, much like so many bands that came before them.
“They have a legacy to live up to,” Dorsey said, adding, “The history of the program is really important to me.”
