Highlander Band takes the field with a dreamy show, new drum majors
Some of the most show-stopping action at this season’s Highland Park football games will happen during halftime.
Students in the Highlander Band have high hopes for the success of their show, which melds classic melodies, such as Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty Waltz,” with modern compositions, including Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” The result transports viewers on a nighttime journey through both good dreams and bad.
“Our goal is to make it to the state marching competition,” head drum major Kaden Rice said, “and to put something on the field that we’re all really proud of.”
The Highlander Band hasn’t competed in the state marching contest at the Alamodome since 2021. But if hard work will take the students to this year’s championship, then they’re already well on their way.
The band began rehearsing at the end of July. Since the start of school in August, band members have practiced for three hours Monday evenings and have started rehearsing before sunrise on Tuesdays through Thursdays.
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They run through their program after school on Fridays before arriving at football games early to march into the stadium.
“It’s so rewarding being up there and getting to enjoy the music,” Rice said. “Being a part of the community on Friday night lights is just so fun.”
Rice is one of the Highlander Band’s three drum majors. Spectators will see the drum majors standing on podiums as they conduct the band, but their responsibilities on the field are only part of their role.
Drum major Ian Hyde compared the student leaders to mini-band directors of the approximately 100-member group.
They do everything and anything to ensure rehearsals and performances go smoothly, whether that means helping run and fix instruments, teaching younger musicians, setting up speakers, or keeping the band together and in time.
“A lot of people are relying on us,” Rice said. “We’re helping everybody out, and we’re setting a good example.”
The drum majors were selected through a competitive audition process, and they’ve managed to fit their responsibilities into schedules packed with activities and challenging courseloads.
Rice, who plays the flute, and fellow drum major Mitch Dauphinais, who plays the trombone, are involved in the high school’s youth and government club.
Rice, who hopes to become a commercial airline pilot and squeezes flight time into her weekends, is the club’s vice president.
Dauphinais represented HPHS and the Moody Family YMCA as a delegate at the Texas Youth and Government State Conference in February, where he earned recognition for his policy writing and civic engagement.
Hyde, who hopes to become a professional jazz musician, performs at area venues, and plays the clarinet with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra’s jazz combo, a small, selective group of high school musicians with a focus on improvisation.
The drum majors said that lending their skills to leadership is a way of doing more to help the band perform at its best.
“I’ve wanted to do this since freshman year,” Rice said. “It was something where you could help the band in a way bigger than just doing your part. You could actually make an impact. I’ve always wanted to make an impact and help everyone move forward in the best way that I can.”
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