Photos courtesy of Union City Schools
By: Mike Hutchens, Union City Schools Communications Director
Members of the Union City High School Marching Band are hopeful of hitting all the high notes this season.
Returning to a traditional competition schedule is part of that plan.
Longtime director Jason Deem and his band of some 90 members have been practicing tirelessly for more than a month on this year’s show, entitled “Is Anybody Out There?”
Written by Benjamin Easley and Ryan Wilkerson, the production is a take-off of the adage and song by Pink Floyd: “Is there any life out there besides our own in other galaxies?” Deem claimed.
Musical selections from well-known composers Robert Sheldon, Eric Carmen and Michael Markowski are included in the show.
“It’s been exciting to see pieces of the show come together,” Deem said. “It’s still a work in progress with some polishing up and fine-tuning to do, but this is such a great group of kids who’ve worked so hard to get to where we are now.
“The thing I’m most happy about is returning to a full competitive schedule, complete with travel to other places. It’s something we’ve missed over the last couple of years, and the experiences and memories made – along with the competition – is priceless.
“We’re so blessed and fortunate to have an administration, a school board and a community who both support and promote our programs and our students.”
Highlighting this year’s competition schedule is a late October trip to Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium for the Bands of America Super Regional.
Eighteen seniors are part of this year’s group that will travel to Orlando and perform at Disney World in January of 2023.
The annual Union City Invitational will be held Sept. 24 at War Memorial Stadium.
The Marching Tornadoes had a brief audition of the performance at last week’s Purple and Gold Jamboree in Covington and will be on display Friday when UC opens its 2022 football season at Lake County.
UCHS Band 2022 Contest Schedule
9/17/22 – UT Martin Invitational, Martin TN (Evening contest)
9/24/22 – WTSBOA Marching Festival/Union City Invitational (UC)
10/1/22 – Huntingdon Marching Invitational (All Day Contest)
10/15/22 – Gibson County Marching Invitational (All Day Contest)
10/22/22 – Bands of America Super Regional at Lucas Oil Stadium
10/29/22 – Bandmasters Championship, University of Memphis (Evening Contest)
11/3/22 – Division 2 Marching Championships at Stewarts Creek in Smyrna
