When the 2021-22 Commerce High School Roaring Tiger Band assembled to begin the school year in August, it’s doubtful that anyone in the band was thinking much about November. Much less going to San Antonio in November, to march in the state competition at the Alamodome. But that’s where the Tiger band will be tomorrow, which will mark the first Commerce High School presence at state since 1990.
Band director Kara Wallace said the success of this year’s band wasn’t the result of a commitment to a long-term goal. Instead, it was a commitment that the band made for themselves to fulfill daily.
“Our goal wasn’t to make the state band,” Wallace said. When Wallace surveyed the students to learn what their goals were, she said the response wasn’t to reach a certain level of recognition.
“They wanted ‘Let’s just be the best we can be,’ and so as a band director, I was super happy about that,” Wallace said. To make that happen, Wallace told the students that being the best they could be required daily improvement.
“When I talked to the kids, I said every day, we just get better,” Wallace said. “It could be the marching, it could be the music, it could be turning in your school assignments . . . all the things. Every day, we improve somehow.”
“Watching this band grow has been one of my favorite things that I’ve ever gotten to experience,” drum major Olivia Verska said.
Additional CHS staff have assisted with the percussion and color guard sections, Wallace said. Also, the addition of some selected eighth graders from Commerce Middle School has helped boost the band’s sound.
“Our playing has been really great this season,” Veska said. “In the past couple of years, we’ve good players, but this year, with the addition of the eighth graders, we have an amazing set of players and we work really hard to improve every day.”
“I’m really excited about Wednesday,” Verska said. “I’m strangely not nervous . . . We got this far, and that’s a really big accomplishment.”
