One hundred and forty members of the Cedar Hill High School Red Army Marching Band traveled to Huntsville, Alabama for the Southeastern Championships and Stats Grand Championships last Saturday.
“Our band’s 48 seniors built a huge legacy over the past four years,” Cedar Hill ISD Director of Fine Arts/Red Army Band Director Derrick Walker said. “They won a national championship last year and finished second this year. The entire band just did their job.”
The Red Army Band defeated Memphis Central last year to win the Southeastern & Stats at Prairie View A&M University. This season, Memphis Central edged Cedar Hill, 95.3 to 94.7.
They were the top two bands out of 25 from throughout the southeastern United States. Cedar Hill was the only band from Texas that qualified, and it was the first time they finished outside of first place since 2017.
The determining factors are Musical Effect (performance), Music Proficiency (how they sound), Ensemble Music (quality of sound) and Visual Effect (how the marching looks)
The Color Guard and Percussion both won best in their category, for the green division.
Cedar Hill will contend for another national championship next season when the event moves to Memphis.
The Red Army Band left Cedar Hill at 6 a.m. last Friday for the 12-hour bus ride to Huntsville.
They stopped a little more than halfway to practice at Meridian High School in Mississippi, just west of the Alabama border. Meridian is Walker’s hometown and the place where he served as a drum major in high school.
Once in Huntsville, the Red Army Band performed in a downpour. They impressed the host university, Alabama A&M University, to where AAMU is interested in recruiting Cedar Hill Band members with scholarship opportunities.
The four Red Army buses rolled into Cedar Hill around Noon last Sunday. The entire trip was paid for by the Cedar Hill Band Boosters.
In addition to upcoming concert performances, the band was selected to stand in for the University of South Carolina Band when that school’s defending national champion women’s basketball team plays TCU on December 8 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth.
