For the twelfth time in school history, H.M. King High School’s Mighty Brahma Marching Band has set an appointment to compete at the University Interscholastic League state marching contest - to be held at the Alamodome in San Antonio Nov. 3 - after they finished in the top five amongst 26 high schools at the Area G contest in Calallen last weekend.

The Brahma Band finished in second place after the preliminary round of area and advanced into the finals where they placed third. Joining H.M. King at state are fellow area bands Roma, Calallen, Edcouch-Elsa and Alice.

“The first performance was probably the strongest of the two and still a very safe performance,” Assistant Band Director Porfirio Mendez said. “This is a young group and area contest was a big venue so they understood the ramifications of not having a strong performance. In a way, they were trying harder to not make mistakes than they were trying to perform.”

H.M. King did well at the final round in area despite not reaching their zenith.

“The pressure became more intense as we got to the finals and basically the same thing happened,” Mendez said. “We had a very consistent performance but have not peaked yet and that is what we are hoping to do at state. We have another week of rehearsals before state marching contest to hopefully get that peak performance out of them.”

At state H.M. King will have to contend with opposition from Hays, Waxahachie, Legacy, Frenship, Brenham, Newman Smith, Friendswood, Del Valle, Boswell, LBJ, Poteet, Galena Park, Wakeland, Dripping Springs, Waller Dawson, Forney, Azle, Hendrickson, Southwest and Saginaw.

“The competition at state will be twice as hard as it was at area as we will have to compete against champions and qualifiers from all of the respective areas,” Mendez said. “We are now at the elite level so you go through your show and music with a fine tooth comb to tune and balance every single note, every single measure because every minute detail counts at state.”

H.M. King has rehearsed ‘Visions and Dreams’ through numerous practices - which began in the summer - and six halftime performances this season. Marching bands only qualify for state every other year; 4A’s move on this year while 5A’s go no further than region contest. H.M. King’s last trek to the big dance was in 2007 when they placed sixteenth while performing ‘Exodus’.

“We have had a strong program for so long as students matriculate into it just because of its history,” Mendez said. “Reaching state for the second consecutive time is significant because we have a high turnover of students every two years. These kids are just stepping up to the plate and playing up to the venue.”

Assisting Mendez and Head Band Director Rolando Molina are Ray Mendez, Mae- Trevino Mendez, Eli Lopez and Student Teacher Raul Reyes. Robert Guindangen, Ariel Ramirez and Samantha Cantu are this year‘s drum majors.