Congratulations to the Lovejoy Marching Band for earning a First Division rating at the UIL Region 25 Marching Competition on Saturday, October 19!  The band now advances to UIL Area B Marching competition this Saturday at Birdville Stadium in North Richland Hills.   They are now one step away from State!  Out of 10 competing Varsity bands, only five advanced to Area from our Region.  This is a huge accomplishment because this is only the second year for Lovejoy to have marched and the first year at the varsity level!

Adding to this incredible achievement is the fact that the band (and the high school) have no Seniors as of yet due to Lovejoy High being a new school (third year in existence).  Next year's Senior class will be the first graduating class of Lovejoy High.  In addition to this great achievement, the band also placed 2nd in 3A competition at the Plano East Invitational marching competition on October 11.

The 116 member band is comprised not only of Freshman, Sophomores and Juniors, but also 15 middle school students who are participating this year at the varsity level!   These 15 middle school students perform on two bass drums, one in the front ensemble, and comprise 13 of the 20 total colorguard members.   A tremendous accomplishment for a group of young and very talented musicians and performers!

The UIL Contest Show is "Classic Schizophrenia".   The show opener is a piece called "Twisted Minuet" that takes on an interesting twist of a well known 1700's piece "Minuet in G".   The second feature is called "Short Circuit" that includes parts of many classical tunes.   The third piece is from a lovely Russian ballet from the opera Prince Igor and is titled "Poloritalin Dances" and features solo's performed by Caitlin Lake (trumpet) and one of four mellophone soloists that rotate at every performance.  These soloist are:   Alyssa Brant, Zach Bogucki, Rebecca Robinson and Natalie Malliet.  The band concludes with the famous Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, which gets interrupted by the band's rocking Drum Line, and then gets mixed with the flavor of Bach--hence, the title of the band's last piece "Bachtoven".

The band is lead onto the field by Drum Majors Nisha Lizana and Jessica Green.

The band is under the direction of Michael Cruz and James Bachrach.  Instructors are John Gurke (percussion), Nathan Lewis (front ensemble) and Jason Maier (colorguard).  Also, the band's middle school directors Kimberley Hoyle and David Bowman are a significant help to the band.