Bobcat Marching Band to be featured at national college band directors conference

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
March 9, 2007

The Texas State University-San Marcos Bobcat Marching Band will be featured in a marching band performance video session at the national conference of the College Band Directors National Association March 30 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The CBDNA made a call for tapes of halftime performances from last fall, acquiring recordings from college marching bands across the country. 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.

"When I saw the CBDNA e-mail calling for tapes, I immediately thought about submitting the tape of that performance," Schueller said. "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.

"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," he said. "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."

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, Schueller received notification from Kraig Williams of the University of Memphis, project manager for the Athletic Band Task Force for the national conference.

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

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.