LEAVING NO DOUBT

Coming off inspired debut of new marching band show “Alice” during Homecoming, Clifton High School Band “The Pride of Clifton” named Grand Champions at Teague Invitational

For locals fans in Clifton, there’s no doubt just how good the Clifton High School Band will be year in and year out. But even with the expectation of an excellent performance, the Pride of Clifton Marching Band’s recent Homecoming performance had the spectators at the football game against the Hamilton Bulldogs gasp in awe. On the cusp of competition season, they already sounded and looked so impressive.

Then just two weeks later, the marching band captured the Grand Champion honors competing against 31 bands at the Teague Marching Band Invitational – which included Class 2A through 6A bands – solidifying the impression that the band stands prepared for University Interscholastic League competitions and ready to “leave no doubt” about their quality.

In the preliminary round at Teague, the band placed first overall in prelims with their 2024 show “Alice” a specially arranged show in collaboration with Luke McMillan and Clayton Harris, the Clifton band’s drill writer. The band received the “Class 3A Outstanding Soloist” award, “Best Guard in Class 3A, First Place,” “Best Percussion in Class 3A, Second Place,” and “Best Band in Class 3A, First Place.”

“It was not made clear which solo earned it,” Pride of Clifton Band Director Matt Nelson said. “So, we are treating it as both Jacob and Jayden Nickel earned it.”

Twelve bands advanced to the Final Round with The Pride of Clifton given the last performance time of the evening at 10:45 p.m. And in spite of the late hour at the end of a long day, the band gave their absolute best performance in the finals and earned the “Grand Champions” title.

“I talked with the students throughout the day and in the weeks leading up to Teague that this would be a long and challenging day to face,” Nelson said. “But if they worked hard and left no doubt in their performances, they would be happy with the results. They did just that and blew us all away with their finals performance.

“I spoke with some of our judges after the contest, and they were very pleased with how well they were prepared this early on in the season and excited to see where the band takes this show. Personally, I am so thankful the students got to see their hard work pay off and remind themselves just how far they have come already.”

As the 2024 Region 8, Area D Champion, Clifton’s 73-strong band led by senior Chelsea Canapi and sophomore Will Goolsby as Drum Majors consists of 17 freshmen, 17 sophomores, 15 juniors and 24 seniors. Assisted by Alison Hamilton and Robert Thomas while Danielle Spooner leads the color guard, Nelson came to Clifton as assistant band director starting the 2018-19 school year and took over as band director in Spring 2019.

“At the end of September, as we entered BANDtober – what we call October because of all the contests we have – the staff and I saw the kids doubting themselves, thinking they weren’t good enough” Nelson said. “We kept reminding them how much they have accomplished and showed them how far we have come. But I don’t think they truly realized until Saturday just how well they are doing.”

The Pride of Clifton selected “Alice” as their marching band show this year, written and arranged by Luke McMillan, a composer, arranger and designer for the marching arts. As a University of North Texas graduate and former band director at Wylie High School in Abilene, McMillan is passionate about small-school marching bands and focuses on writing innovative and engaging marching shows. McMillan has been writing music professionally since 2005, constantly studying and refining his craft so that a band sounds as best it can.

“Out of the shows we had come up with, we thought this show fit our students the best,” Nelson said. “It has really challenged our students to reach their fullest potential and make them become better musicians and performers. Other than that, I just love the variety of music the show has to offer. It is such a fun and entertaining show.”

The show tells the story of Alice in Wonderland, and the eight-minute marching show includes Pan’s Labyrinth Lullaby by Javier Navarrete, Let the Sunshine by Fifth Dimension, Perpetuum Mobile by Johan Strauss, Yesterday by the Beatles, White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, and Aquarius by Fifth Dimension.

The Pre-Show presents Alice lost in the woods until she meets the white rabbit in Scene One when Let the Sunshine starts. She starts chasing after the white rabbit when Perpetuum Mobile begins and enters the portal to Wonderland. When Let the Sunshine reprises, this shows Alice in awe by seeing the landscape of Wonderland for the first time. Scene Two featuring Yesterday tells the story of Alice meeting the Cheshire Cat, who has been known as Alice’s guide in the story.

“I think the music captures feelings of homesickness for Alice,” Nelson said. “But it also shows a sense of wonder of what is to come after being consulted by the Cheshire Cat.”

Scene Three with the Jefferson Airplane song White Rabbit portrays Alice meeting the Mad Hatter at a fun tea party tango, and things get a little mad and crazy.

“We like to think that Scene Four is about Alice meeting the Queen of Hearts,” Nelson said. “And that’s when she overthrows the Queen’s rule with all of her new friends in Wonderland.” After all, the song Aquarius tells about aligning of friendly forces and the dawn of a new liberating age with harmony, understanding, sympathy and trust abounding.

As the show goes from one song to the other, the backdrops turn from checker boards to reveal silhouettes of the iconic rabbit and its clock, the Cheshire cat with a rose, a teapot with the Mad Hatter, playing cards and crown symbolizing the Queen of Hearts. And the Color Guard changes props and banners to match.

Excited to see what they can do leading into the Academy Marching Invitational this Saturday, the Pride of Clifton will compete with 12 other bands in both prelims and finals. After that, they kick off the UIL contest season, determining whether or not they advance to the next round. The UIL Region 8 Class 3A Marching Contest at Troy High School on Oct. 16 kicks off the UIL season, where the band will be playing for a panel of judges to earn a division rating.

The regional contest will not be a contest against other bands, but designed to earn a rating. Earning a first division rating from the judges’ panel advances the band to Area competition. The UIL Area D 3A Marching Contest will be hosted at Robinson, where all the Area D 3A bands that earned a first division at their region contest compete against each other in a prelims/finals format. The band will have to place in the top 10 of bands at Area to earn a finals performance.

The amount of bands that participate at Area determines how many bands that can advance to the state contest. For every five bands that advance to Area, one band can advance to State. So, if there are 25 bands at Area, the top five bands in the finals performance advance to State.

With this excellent first contest, the band seems on track to earn their name “The Pride of Clifton” once again. With their sights set on conquering both region and area meets, the band expects to perform at the UIL State Marching Band Championships at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Nov. 6.

“If the band keeps up their hard work and continues to improve their marching show,” Nelson said, “they may be able to earn a spot amongst the very best in the state for a second year in a row.”

Photos by SIMONE WICHERS-VOSS