The San Saba High School Golden Armadillo Band, under the direction of Brian Sours, completed a collective three weeks of summer camp this past week. Summer camp started the last week in July and wrapped up with 3 weeks of full band on August 17. This year’s summer camp was by far the most productive and in-depth in the band’s history!The kids had positive attitudes, high excitement, and an eagerness to learn that made each day of camp productive. For the most part, summer band camp was indoors in the Civic Center. This was a great way to keep the kids focused on learning, but most importantly, safe from unrelenting heat. While nothing can replace the feel and technical demands of a grass field, the concrete floor indoors proved to give us a competitive advantage early on. We were able to put 2 and a half songs worth of drill on (about 24 sets)! This is the most the band has ever put on during summer camp, and is more sets than any other 1A band in our immediate area as of Aug. 17th. This allows the band to focus on refining the show during the school year, and providing a high energy Friday night experience full of entertainment for the audience. However, even with this early advantage, we could easily slip behind if we don’t continue to push ourselves to be a superior band. With this said, I see a different look in the eyes of our band than I’ve ever seen. That look says: “This is the year of the Armadillo, so let us lead the way!” Everyone in band has butterflies inside that say this could be a historic year for the San Saba Band.The high school band consists of grades 8th-12th, and there are approx. 54 students signed up for high school band. It’s a learner and meaner band than I’ve ever taught, and I can’t wait for the students to show you what they’ve learned! If success and excitement builds programs, you can easily see that there is plenty right now in the Golden Armadillo Band! Please come support all the Armadillo organizations at our season opener on Aug. 31th at Rogan Field against Tolar. Come see the difference!