After months of preparation, the Westwood Band showcased their program at the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Concert and Sight-Reading Evaluation on Wednesday, April 15 and Thursday, April 16. The band swept with all ones’, earning superior ratings from every judge and was the only Round Rock ISD school to do so.
The band played notable pieces such as Three Celtic Dances by Brian Balmages, O Waly, Waly, by Jay Bocook, The Trombone King by Karl King arranged by John Paytner, and Symphonic Metamorphosis by Paul Hindemith.
“I thought we sounded really good, and the music we played was really fun,” Brody Walker ‘28 said. “October by Eric Whitacre was my favorite piece. I had a really good part in [it] and it sounded good when we all put our parts together.”
After their holiday concert and winter break, it’s full swing into the UIL season for the band. Unlike marching band, concert season does not have weekly competitions, but just a singular performance to demonstrate months of preparation.
“It was a lot of rehearsal but [it] was fun because all my friends were there.” Walker said. “We had a lot to focus on [and there] were all these little details that we fixed that made it all the more better.”
On April 1, two weeks before the evaluation, the band held their annual Pre-UIL concert at the Cedar Ridge High School Auditorium. The concert was an opportunity to run their program for an encouraging audience of parents and peers and take note of what still needed to be improved on before the big day.
“At our Pre-UIL concert, there were missed entrances and in some sections there were tears, but we [improved a lot and] didn’t make a single mistake for UIL,” Adaline Boyd ‘26 said.
The UIL Evaluation was spread across two days, where each band within the program had their opportunity to perform their pieces and sight-read for the judges.
“We did sound very good, and I think we learned how to sound better as an ensemble instead of just individual players,” Boyd said. “We were able to play relatively hard pieces well, and for the short amount of time that we had [to prepare at the same time as] UIL Orchestra, I think we did pretty good.”
