Article by Greg Jaklewicz
Taking a rehearsal break last week, Pure Gold marching band junior percussionist Laney Morris had an interesting observation.
The Wylie High band often is asked to participate in celebratory events, from welcoming back faculty and staff in August to sending off sports teams and other groups to playoffs or competitions.
“We do the sendoffs, and now we are going and we are going to be sent off,” she said. “That is so cool.”
On Sunday morning, bright and early, band fans sent off student musicians toward their biggest adventure in 12 years.
Start’er up bus driver!
Gas up the buses
Director Kyle McDonald's Wylie marching band qualified fourth at the Area A contest last weekend, earning a bus trip to San Antonio for the Class 5A contest. The last time Wylie qualified, the high school was classified as 4A and Mike Lunney was the director.
The band finished 18th out of 22 schools.
Pure Gold performs its “The Ashes of Us” show at 10:45 a.m. Monday at the Alamodome, by far its biggest venue of the year. Wylie leads off the second group of bands. There are five sessions and a total of 39 bands.
There will be a new champion because 5A kingpin Leander Cedar Park has moved to Class 6A.
Burleson Centennial is the first band on the field at 8:30 a.m., with C.C. Winn from Eagle Pass the last to go at 8:30 p.m.
El Paso Horizon, the area runnerup, is third in Session 3; area winner J.M. Hanks goes last in Session 4; and El Paso El Dorodo, the third-place band, goes fifth in Session 5.
At the area contest, Hanks scored all 1s in the finals to leap from fourth easily to first. Two points separated second from fourth.
Wylie made the 2025 finals and was seventh overall.
“I think they were our best,” Morris said. “Our prelims and our finals performances, you could tell the energy was different. Especially going into the finals. It was like, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re in third.
“It was the most unity the band has ever had.”
That energy will be needed again in San Antonio, where energy will abound.
The 12 state finalists will be announced after preliminaries, with competition resuming Tuesday afternoon. The first six bands perform at 2:15 p.m., with the next six starting at 4.
Pure Gold is staying Monday over Monday night to enjoy and study the other bands.
And just maybe …
Pure Gold goal
McDonald is realistic. Wylie may not make the finals, let alone finish with a medal.
Lubbock-Cooper, the No. 4 band last year, was 38th out of 38 bands in San Antonio.
“State was obviously the goal for a couple of years now, and finally we broke through,” he said. “When you walk into the Alamodome for the first time and you look up and see your family and friends and a thousand people who are there just to watch a state marching competition, it’s a really cool moment. You are filled with pride.
“Like I told the kids, you can’t buy your way to this moment. The only way to get there is through the hours of blood, sweat, and tears it took to get there. That is where the pride comes from.
“I hope when they go out there they take in the moment. It’s going to go by very fast, so appreciate every second while they’re there.”
Said Morris, “To try our hardest and see where we land. Have a good time. But in the future, especially next year, we can go to state again and place higher.
“Our motto in percussion is to never not progress. Even if we're not placing in the top 10 at state, we’re doing our best.”
There are more than 200 Class 5A marching bands.
Fewer than 40 made it to San Antonio.
Wylie High School in 2026 is one of those.
Work, more work, and more work
McDonald said he couldn’t believe Wylie was announced third after the Area A prelims.
“To be honest, I almost didn’t believe it,” he said. “It was one of the moments when you wonder, did the judges get it right? They listened to 23 bands all day and sometimes it’s tough to remember.”
But Wylie was third, and then fourth in the finals.
Morris remembered her reaction.
“It was such a surprise,” she said of the good news. “Our last two shows, I thought they were pretty great but we’ve gotten seventh. So just the jump from seventh to fourth, it’s just wild. Very unexpected.”
Wylie was fourth to compete, so it was a long wait until the 10 finalists were announced.
“The waiting was the worst,” Morris said. “We had to sit and think about it. I could see other people in the band and it was hitting them, ‘Wow, we’re going to the finals’ and there was all this pressure.”
Said soloist Noah Wilson, “The band just exploded” when it learned Wylie stood third going into the finals.
“We’ve never been anywhere close to that,” he said. The standing brought excitement and nervousness. The band, Wilson said, didn’t want to blow it.”
To avoid that, Wylie had work to do to prepare for the finals.
McDonald and his staff reviewed the prelim judges’ comments - there were five judges, three rating music and two the presentation.
After telling the band it was third, McDonald told them, “There are a lot of critiques on these tapes that we need to get better. The things that they said will elevate our performance or we won’t have a shot at making it to state.”
Hanks, which was ranked fourth behind Wylie, proved his point. The El Paso marching band, usually one of the best in West Texas, had gone first and wasn’t happy with its performance. They went to work and wowed the judges that night at Astound Stadium in Midland.
“It was stellar. They went back up to first, which is what we expected,” McDonald said.
Wylie had to hold its ground, and it did, finishing ahead of No. 5 Lubbock-Cooper and its “Rome on the Range” show.
“There were parts of the night performance that were definitely better, and there were parts in the morning performance that were a little better,” McDonald. One judge really liked the trombone grouping in the finals while another thought the morning run was better, he said.
“I thought (the band) gave two great performances that day,” McDonald said. “I am really proud of them.”
Back at the band hall, staff created a spread sheet with judges’ finals comments and worked with each section of the band. As they rehearsed since the Area A competition, it’s “Hey, here is what the judges said. Let’s try to make it better,” McDonald said.
“Grinding through and trying to make each performance better.”
McDonald marched with a state champion band in high school in Colorado, then taught the drumline at his alma mater when they won again. He also took a band to state as director at Panhandle High School before coming to Wylie.
“I have had some experience at the state level,” he said.
And this week, his band will have that, too.
Encouraging young musicians
Morris has been in band since sixth grade. She remembers what it was like to join the high school band. Younger players are numerous in the band this year, and it’s imperative they perform at the same high that is asked of the upperclassmen.
She said it’s key to create a community in each section. She is a tenor drum in the drumline for marching season (she’ll be a snare for the indoor season)
“They see what happens when you really have fun and you try,” Morris said. “When you lock in and try, that’s where the fun is.”
It’s about being encouraging, too, she said.
“Uplift them. Tell them when they are doing good because when you’re doing something good, you want to do it more,” Morris said. “Tell them, ‘You’re doing great but here are some things you can fix.’ That's the greatest thing we can do.”
She was banging around, literally, in junior high band when she went to her first football game. That’s when drumming took hold for good.
“Just seeing them march out, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Morris said. “It was so cool, seeing them march those heavy drums. Drumline is so different because it’s so visual. Sometimes with other instruments, you can’t tell what they are playing.
“In drumline, you can tell when they are moving the sticks and they are together, when the highs are right.”
Laney Morris
In the spotlight
Noah Wilson
Noah Wilson, a senior, is one band member out of almost 200 who the audience will remember because he has one of two solos in the show. He is elevated and standing against a vivid background.
He plays the alto saxophone but for the “Ashes” show, he’s on tenor sax. His solo is in the second movement. Melaina Estrada has a flute solo in the first movement.
Wilson loves the show and sees it as the summit of his four years in high school.
“Since my freshman year, seeing the growth from my freshman year to now, it’s crazy,” he said. He credits McDonald, who started as director his eighth grade year.
“Being held to a higher standard,” Wilson said. “Effort. It’s an effort thing, in my opinion. Mr. Mac really holds us accountable. He makes sure we’re always giving 100 percent.”
That is something the band members had to learn, Wilson said.
“We’re only as good as our worst marcher,” he said.
McDonald came to him late last school year and told Wilson that show design called for a saxophone solo.
“It’s written for alto but I like how it sounds on tenor … would you be willing to do that?” Wilson recalled. He had solos in concert band but not in marching band.
“Last year, I played a concerto on piano, so I’m used to soloistic stuff but never marching band. These past few weekends, those were the biggest crowds I’ve ever had a solo for,” Wilson said.
He plans to stay in music as a performer, so he’s getting a taste of performing in the spotlight.
“It’s definitely a new experience,” Wilson said.
He is looking forward to performing in the Alamodome, but he knows he will be nervous.
“In moments like that, it’s impossible to calm your system down. You just have to turn that anxiety into excitement,” he said. “That’s the mindset I’ve always had for stuff like this.”
The key is put in the work and play with confidence, he said.
“Then you can get up there and have fun,” Wilson said.
Where has Pure Gold improved the most since August, when the show went from paper to performance?
General marching technique, especially for the freshmen, he said of getting to this point.
“It’s a never-ending goal,” Wilson said. “And the general band morale is a lot higher.”
It helps, too, when the band likes the show. Wilson does.
“I have not heard a single negative thing about our show,” he said. “It’s really a good show we have.”
Final thoughts
Morris likely speaks for others about the excitement of missing school to march at the Alamodome.
“It’s been hyped up to us, like the unachievable goal for so long.”
Wilson said that “even if we got dead last, I’d be over the moon. I’m so excited about this, regardless of how we do at state.
“The higher we get the better, but regardless, I’m just happy to be there.”