On Oct. 17, the Westwood Warrior Band performed at UIL. The band went home to fantastic news, earning ones in all categories, which is the highest possible score.

Their show (which had to be cut short due to time constraints) is about the experience of flying through the air on a hang glider. The band had performed its final three parts of its show. The first performed piece was “Hummingbrrd,” by Steven Bryant, followed by “Let Me Fall,” by Benoit Jutras, and finally “Kingfishers Catch Fire,” by John Mackey.

“My favorite thing about this show is the show theme itself,” Nathan Hoang ‘16 said. “Although not many people have experienced flying it’s something that everybody has dreamed of doing at one point or the other.”

This was the first time the band had performed their last movement, “Kingfishers Catch Fire,” at a competition, making many band members nervous and worried about the performance. This movement was relatively new to the band members, having only learning it a week and a half before the competition. However, there was no need to worry, since the band played and marched it extremely well, making them proud of their accomplishments.

“We hadn’t started working on it until recently, and with Turpin gone, I was worried,” Travis Buchowski ‘18 said. “But, I think we did a really good job.”

Not only was the final movement outstanding, but the other two were just as good. The first one was fast and technical, with a challenging marching drill, but the band, after its many practices, played and marched it close to perfect. The next movement was slower, and much more emotional. The music conveyed many emotions to the crowd, heightening the impact of the performance.

“I think that our music was really good, and triggered many emotions,” Bhavana Dokka ‘19 said.

The band’s performance on Saturday was certainly one of their best, and as they continue to improve every week, their hard work shines through.