HHS band contest goes indoors

By Submitted, 10/20/18 11:00 AM

HOPE – The Hope High School band program’s first-ever invitational marching band contest turned into an indoor precision concert event.
Hope Bands Director Julie Gladden postponed the event from its original Oct. 9 date because of a spate of fall rains, and moved it into the HHS MAC indoor practice facility on Oct. 15.
Arkansas High School, in Texarkana, won the grand championship among the 10 bands judged across four divisions.
Placement winners by division included 2A – Foreman, first, and Parkers Chapel, second; 3A — Fouke, first, and Horatio, second; 4A – Ashdown, first (only entry); and, 5A – Arkansas High, first, and DeQueen, second.
Winners were determined by a panel of three judges based upon composite performance ratings.
Gladden said the HHS Bobcat Marching Band performed its “Phoenix Rising: A Band Reborn” program as host band, but not for competition judging.
The HHS band’s 2018 contest presentation draws upon the music of the Igor Stravinsky classic ballet “The Firebird,” the tale of the mythical Phoenix and its rise from the ashes as symbolic of the renewed spirit of the Hope bands program. The Bobcat Marching Band currently has a show contingent of 70 musicians.
The HHS band marched into the MAC Center wearing new band uniforms which were displayed for the first time at the contest. The uniforms consist of a reflective plumed black and red hat over a black coat and dress trousers trimmed in Bobcat red with a distinctive Bobcat claw mark emblazoned along the front of the right shoulder.
Schools invited to the competition included Foreman High School, Parker’s Chapel High School, Fouke High School, Horatio High School, McGhee High School, Prescott High School, Smackover High School, Ashdown High School, Hamburg High School, Camden-Fairview High School, DeQueen High School, and Arkansas High School.