Tioga High School’s marching band will field 29 members this year, including students in eighth through 12th grades.
This year’s show, titled “Obscura,” is designed to evoke a mysterious atmosphere for audiences.
Band Director Dustin Nguyen is in his first year with the program and said the music was written specifically for the show.
The band includes a three-member color guard along with its instrumentalists.
Nguyen said the band is like a second family for its members, and he has been excited to see the positive and encouraging attitude they bring to the program.
“We are really pushing for our best performances. We’re not really worried about results,” he said. “The results will come, but as long as we’re still putting in the work every day and trusting each other and trusting the process, I am really excited about what this year will bring.”
The band plans to take part in several competitions this year, including last weekend’s Aubrey Marching Classic and this weekend’s Celina Marching Invitational, before competing in the UIL Class 2A marching competition in Denton.
It takes plenty of help to get the band to those competitions, but Nguyen said community support has not been a problem in Tioga.
“This band program is very heavily supported by the community,” Nguyen said, noting that the band boosters have been particularly helpful.
He said the band is relatively young and includes several students who are heavily involved in other extracurricular activities in addition to band.
Nguyen hopes to build on that foundation in the coming years.
“Even though we are small right now, I am really looking into growing the program over the next couple of years,” he said. “The middle school program is very excited about all of the things that we are doing down there, so there are good things to come for the Tioga band.”
