Welcome to the Home of

Join the Winter Guard!

Congratulations to our All-Region and All-Area Finalists!

Thank you to everyone that made the

2020 BBQ with the Band & Blue Out

a HUGE success!

Congratulations to out RAFFLE BASKET winners!

A special congratulations to our

Plaid Gratitude Winner:

TJ Emsley!

We are so appreciative of all our HPISD employees!

Meet the 2020-2021 Highlander Band Leadership Team!

Welcome to our new band director!

Rylon Guidry

We want to welcome our new Band Director, Rylon Guidry. Mr. Guidry has been the director of bands for Lewisville's Arbor Creek Middle School since 2013. During his time there, he developed the band program increasing from 250 to more than 350 students. His students received national recognition for the Wind Band Honors Project for six consecutive years, a Program of Excellence Blue Ribbon Award from the National Band Association and consecutive sweepstakes awards since 2013. Additionally, Guidry's students earned the highest number of student placements in Lewisville ISD into All-District and All-Region Bands, as well as Outstanding Soloists for the Solo and Ensemble Contests. He has additionally served as the director of bands at Richardson's Lake Highlands Junior High School and associate band director at McKinney Boyd High School.

We are so excited for this new chapter of the Highlander Band!

May 2020

Highlander Band celebrates graduating seniors

Looking for a way to honor the band seniors while also honoring social distancing guidelines, Brumley and the rest of the band staff began planning a virtual celebration, led by the seniors themselves. The annual band banquet is traditionally a time for members of the band to receive awards for their achievements and for the graduating members to pass the torch to the next senior class. After two months of separation, the band’s directors knew the tight-knit group – accustomed to seeing each other daily – needed one last chance to connect.

The banquet, held Friday, May 14, allowed the whole band to gather virtually via Zoom to reminisce, laugh, celebrate individual achievements and take one last look back – all while celebrating safely at home with family. Then on a rainy Saturday reminiscent of that rainy 2018 marching season, director Brumley made the rounds to visit the home of each graduating senior and hand-deliver every band award.

“I can’t wait to see what these class of 2020 Highlander Band students are going to do in the world,” said Brumley. “One thing I know for sure is: it’s gonna be big.”

For the full press release, click here.

Fundraising

Tom Thumb Good Neighbor Program

Support the Highlander Band Booster Club when shopping at Tom Thumb! Complete and return this form to your neighborhood Tom Thumb and they will donate a portion of each purchase to our Band.

Amazon Smile

Support the Highlander Band while shopping on Amazon! Go to smile.amazon.com and log in with your Amazon username and password. Choose "Highlander Band Boosters, Inc." as your charity of choice and shop like you always do! Make sure to bookmark it for future shopping. A portion of all eligible purchases will go to the Highlander Band each time you shop.

Shop with Scrip

This is a great new way to raise money for the Highlander Band when you buy gift cards! Go to myscripwallet.com and create an account with enrollment code: 54B547E668917. Buy gift cards for shopping, restaurants and travel from over 400 different merchants and up to 20% of the cost of the gift card will go to the Highlander Band! See detailed instructions here.

Thank you for your support!

Highlander Band In The News...

February 2020

HP Winter Guard Places First at NTCA Competition

Colorguard at NTCA

The Highland Park Winter Guard received 1st place in the Scholastic A division of the competition at James Martin High School on February 1, 2020. They performed their new show 'I Love Paris' and the judges loved it! They will compete again on February 22 at Summit High School. It's a fabulous show, and we would love for you to come cheer on our HP Winter Guard.

Band 101

Current 8th grade HPMS band students and their parents got a chance to see what high school band is like at Band 101 recently. The event was a huge success!

January 2020

All-Region, All-Area, and All-State Musicians

All-State Band 2020

Congratulations to our talented musicians that were selected for All-Region Band, All-Area Band, and the All-State Band!

The following students will represent the Highlander Band in the 5A All-State Band concert in San Antonio in February:

Vincenzo Guandolo - 9th grade - Bassoon

Saif Saleh - 10th grade - Horn

Zack Shawver - 12th grade - Percussion (2nd time)

The following students made the 5A or 6A All-Area Band and represented the Highlander Band at the All-Region Band concert on Friday, January 17th at Duncanville High School:

Ava Sims - 12th grade - Flute

Michelle Cheng - 11th grade - Flute

Erin Harper - 12th grade - Piccolo

Noah Wasserman - 11th grade - Clarinet

Noah Busbee - 12th grade - Clarinet

Krishan Patel - 12th grade - Clarinet

Robby Triplett - 12th grade - Alto Sax

Rachel Sobolevitch - 11th grade - Alto Sax

AJ Mazzucchi - 12th grade - Bari Sax

Vincenzo Guandolo - 9th grade - Bassoon

Matthew Schultz - 12th grade - Oboe

Brandon Luk - 10th grade - Trumpet

Saif Saleh - 10th grade - Horn

Devin Monk - 12th grade - Trombone

Bradley Harrod - 11th grade - Trombone

Zack Shawver - 12th grade - Percussion

Maddox Linder - 11th grade - Percussion

Tyler Sharpe - 11th grade - Percussion

The following students were selected for the All-Region Band and performed at Duncanville High School on Jan. 17th:

Erin Harper - 12th grade - Piccolo

Bryn Hutton - 11th grade - Piccolo

Sophie Jejurikar - 12th grade - Flute

Jordan Meacham - 12th grade - Flute

Ava Sims - 12th grade - Flute

Hailey Turco - 12th grade - Flute

Michelle Cheng - 11th grade - Flute

Denise Devkumar - 11th grade - Flute

Freddy Phillips - 11th grade - Flute

Sally Dai - 9th grade - Flute

Olivia Kight - 9th grade - Flute

Ava Mitchell - 9th grade - Flute

Matthew Schultz - 12th grade - Oboe

Alex Moore - 12th grade - Bassoon

Vincenzo Guandolo - 9th grade - Bassoon

Noah Busbee - 12th grade - Clarinet

Elizabeth Lewis - 12th grade - Clarinet

Krishan Patel - 12th grade - Clarinet

Zoe Lloyd - 11th grade - Bass Clarinet

Noah Wasserman - 11th grade - Clarinet

Robby Triplett - 12th grade - Alto Sax

Rachel Sobolevitch - 11th grade - Alto Sax

AJ Mazzucchi - 12th grade - Bari Sax

Henry Lyke - 11th grade - Bari Sax

Bobby Lyle - 12th grade - Trumpet

Matthew Mathison - 12th grade - Trumpet

Ava White - 10th grade - Trumpet

Paris Rutherford - 9th grade - Trumpet

Saif Saleh - 10th grade - Horn

Spencer Dalton - 10th grade - Horn

Ainsley Wiseman - 10th grade - Horn

Hank Bishop - 11th grade - Trombone

Bradley Harrod - 11th grade - Trombone

Devin Monk - 12th grade - Bass Trombone

Zach Rhea - 10th grade - Bass Trombone

Jared Hart - 10th grade - Euphonium

Bonny Schiff - 12th grade - Tuba

Truman Barden - 9th grade - Tuba

Zack Shawver - 12th grade - Percussion

Maddox Linder - 11th grade - Percussion

Sophie Robertson - 11th grade - Percussion

Tyler Sharpe - 11th grade - Percussion

Andrew Liao - 9th grade - Percussion

We are very PROUD of all of your hard work!

December 2019

Highlander Band Senior Night

Band senior night

The Highlander Band Senior Night on Nov. 8th was a special evening to remember for the band Seniors and their families. Please click here or go to the About Us / Photos and More tab to view all of the beautiful pictures from Senior Night (must be logged in to the band website).

Special thanks goes out to our very own Ainsley Wiseman and to Melissa Macatee. We would also like to thank Stacey Patton for helping to make the night a success.

November 2019

HIGHLAND PARK DRUM LINE EARNS FIRST PLACE AT PRESTIGIOUS LONE STAR CLASSIC DRUMLINE COMPETITION

Lone Star Classic

The Highland Park Drumline took first place in the Standstill I Red Division at the Lone Star Classic Drumline Competition on Saturday, November 9 for their show, “Play!” Now in its 27th year, the Lone Star Classic is the largest high school drumline contest in the state of Texas.

The Highland Park Drumline also received the most soloist medals from among the 50 drum lines competing at Lone Star:

Zack Shawver, senior, second place, Tenor Solo
Maddox Linder, junior, third place, Tenor Solo
Nicholas Chang, senior, third place, Snare Solo

The win at Lone Star concludes a highly-successful season for the drumline under the direction of Daniel Reberger, Associate Director of Percussion for HPISD. Early in the season, the drumline took second place overall for AA Division II drum lines at the 2019 Plano Drumline Competition, with caption awards for Best Front Ensemble and Best Tenors/Quads. In Plano, Shawver won first place for his multi-tenor solo and Chang won first place for his snare solo.

Competing as part of the Highlander Band during the 2019 marching season, the drumline also earned best percussion honors at the 2019 Midlothian Marching Showcase and played a key role in the band’s run to second place in the UIL 5A State Marching Band Contest. Along the way, the Highlander Band earned Grand Champion titles at the Midlothian Marching Showcase and the Mansfield Preview of Champions and won its first-ever UIL Area Marching Championship with five unanimous first-place votes.

CONGRATULATIONS to the entire Drumline and to Mr Reberger on your first season with us!

The Highlander Band wins silver medal at State Marching Band Contest

The Highlander Band brought home the silver medal from the UIL 5A State Marching Band Contest on Nov. 5th at the Alamodome in San Antonio, its highest finish ever. With its 2019 marching show, entitled PLAY!, the Highlander Band completed its most accomplished competitive season to date, which includes:

First-ever UIL Area Marching Championship (with five unanimous first-place votes)
Grand Champion at the Mansfield Preview of Champions
Grand Champion at the Midlothian Marching Showcase, earning caption awards Best Music, Best Percussion, Best Winds, Best Marching, Best General Effect, Best Visual Presentation, Best Color Guard and Best Soloist for Brandon Luk's flugelhorn solo.

In addition, the HPHS Drumline took home a second-place award for AA Division II and earned Best Front Ensemble and Best Tenors/Quads captions at the Plano Drumline Competition.

"It has been a phenomenal year for our band and I am so proud of what we accomplished together," Director of Bands Reagan Brumley said. "It has been fantastic to see all of the work that these students put into the show since the summer be rewarded with these accolades. This is truly a special group with outstanding student leaders and soloists."

"Our students' performance at the UIL state marching finals was awe-inspiring. The artistry, the precision and the music were all beautiful," HPHS Principal Walter Kelly said. "I am so proud of where our band is right now and their journey to excellence."

"It has been very impressive to watch the band continually strive for excellence during the last five years," HPISD Superintendent Dr. Tom Trigg said. "We are all so proud of these students and their directors, and we look forward to honoring them at a future meeting of the Board of Trustees."

The band was ranked first among the 34 5A bands who competed in Monday's prelims, then advanced to competed against 11 bands during Tuesday's finals. At 147 members, the Highlander Band was the fourth-smallest band to advance to state and the second-smallest band to advance to the finals. It was HP's second trip to state following a 10th-place finish in the 2017 state contest. Cedar Park High School won the gold medal and Frisco Wakeland earned the bronze medal.

Click here for complete results.

Congratulations, Highlander Band!