2024 Fall Season Recap

November 2024-

Ahoy! 2024 was a season to remember!! The first official fall marching band season of Cary Cochenour Visual brought my full time attention and care to thousands of incredible students, and countless music educators across the country. What an honor it has been to be immersed in this world, and I am truly grateful to each and every band program that had me involved this season.

I had a few outstanding clients this fall that I would love to highlight their achievements in the marching activity. First, I want to start with my newest adventure, drill writing. I had the honor to write competitive drill for 3 growing programs in 3 completely different avenues of the marching arts world. First is Pantego Christian Academy in Arlington, Texas, this program featured 12 amazing students performers with their show titled, The Totally Tubular 80s! PCA competed well among other private schools in the DFW area this fall, and I am so proud of their accomplishments on the field. Next was my new school Patrick Henry HS from Hamler, Ohio. Their program "Symphony of the Night," was the schools very first competitive marching show. The students performed incredibly for their first ever time competing with bands in the area, and again very proud of the students and staff from PHHS. I had the pleasure to collaborate with JDG Designs and Randil Jeffreys to write the colorguard drill for C.E. King HS in Houston, Texas, this fall as well! Thier production "Midnight City" was the perfect show for this growing program, and I was honored to work with some magnificent educators and designers on this project.

I had the pleasure to write band choreography for most of my full time instruction groups this fall, but was hired by Magnolia West HS to specifically write their band choreo for "Ballet of the Wolf." Their method of instruction was mostly digital, consisting of fully edited instructional videos, with a full mirrored performance to learn and practice with, and additional sections of the video featuring instruction on correct body shape and counts break down. I finished my involvement in October with one in person visit to help finish out the show. It was such a cool experience to create digitally for this group, and even more special to meet the performers and staff in person during the fall. Mag West advanced from Region to UIL Area F, and finished as an 8th place finalist at US Bands Southeastern Texas Championships!

The main projects that I worked on through this transitional period from full time classroom teaching, was being full time staff with several band programs across the country. Starting with my newest client, Churchill Fulshear HS, I cannot begin to describe how fun it was to teach the band from the town I live in. Two of the current band directors were already close personal friends, and sharing my love for marching band with their students each week was one of the largest rewards of the season. These kids worked so hard, and were hungry to be the best they could. Fulshear HS earned 2nd Place in the Alvin ISD Invitational, their first ever Bands of America Regional Finals Appearance (finishing 12th), 5th place at the Katy Marching Festival, and advanced to 6A Finals for the first time at UIL Area E. Beyond proud of "Beyond Spring."

Next, lets talk about Jordan HS. This school means so much to me, even though I've only been around for 2 seasons... why? because most of my former elementary school and junior high are now high schoolers at JHS. One of the biggest honors of my life was serving as their teacher years ago, and it is so cool to share my passion for marching band with them as they grow into young adults. And also... Jordan Band is INCREDIBLE! This season, Jordan Marching Band was named Grand Champion at both Katy Marching Festival (earning Katy ISD's coveted Katy Cup), and at the US Bands Southeastern Texas Championships, and earned 2nd Place at the annual Battle of the Berry in Cypress, Texas. Very very very proud to be a part of this program.

And now... meow! EVERYBODY wants to be Cy Woods! This show was one of the silliest and coolest marching band shows I've ever worked on, and oh my was it a blast! The students and staff have been so welcoming to me over the past two seasons, and it was honestly the highlight of my week to travel up to spend time with them.  The kitties performed their... tails... off- these members are so talented and genuinely love being a part of the band program. Cy Woods was named a finalist at the Texas Marching Classic in Austin, Texas, received the highest placement at UIL Area I, and performed twice in the Alamodome at Bands of America San Antonio & UIL State Championships.

My alma mater, Norwin HS from North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, proved to be one of my most enjoyable and most creative years of involvement. I was able to teach in person during summer band camp in August, and returned at the end of the season for the final week as the team pushed to Grand Nationals. Throughout the time in between, I looked for any way I could stay involved that I could through a digital format. It began with visual feedback about the show for the full time staff and directors, and it slowly morphed into direct student feedback videos- these were so cool because I could rewind the performance video and highlight areas of strength and areas for improvement, and directly speak with the students, in almost a twitch gaming/ live stream feel. It was so cool to provide that feedback and see noticeable differences in the production between receiving videos. To me, Norwin is where my band journey began, and it is so very rewarding to give back to the youth in the community that I grew up in. Norwin earned numerous accolades this season, beginning with being named Grand Champion of the Music For All Affiliate Event hosted at Norwin HS, 2nd Place at both Bands of America Newark, and PIMBA State Championships, and finished the season at one of the most competitive BOA Grand Nationals in history at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Norwin earned 22nd place after semi-finals, and was the bronze medalist in class AA.

Lastly, one of the most challenging yet most definitive seasons of my life at Seven Lakes HS. After a year of light involvement in 2023, I was asked to return to the program on a more consistent basis- which being truthful, helped me solidify my decision to leave public school teaching at the end of the school year. My role in 2024 was to, be as close to full time marching staff as I could be, choreograph remaining parts of the program after our visual designer Andy Toth visited, and write the drill for our almost 400 piece spirit band for halftime shows + alternate drill beside the work of the incredible Michael Gaines. I had my work cut out for me when I returned home in mid-august, but little by little we pieced our production "For Whom the Bell Tolls" together. Seven Lakes earned 9th Place at Bands of America South Houston, 2nd at Katy Marching Festival, 6th at Bands of America Waco, and 4th at UIL Area I... securing the last advancement to state championships in our area after the most stressful band competition of my entire life. We headed toward San Antonio for the ending of one of our toughest seasons yet, to our surprise at BOA SA when we were called as the last band to make finals at the nations most competitive marching competition. I could hardly believe that after the wild season we had, and after a decade of pouring my heart into the 7L band program, we finally did it... Super Regional Finalists. The amount of texts and calls of congratulations was overwhelming, and it took every ounce of me to hold it together in front of the kids so they would roll into finals and have an outstanding first performance at finals. I then headed home to Norwin, and missed UIL State for the first time in my life, and to our surprise again on Monday night, Seven Lakes was announced as a 6A State Finalist for the first time. A decade in the making- beyond proud of this band program and what it has given to me and so many others. I'll be writing another post about my experiences with 7L in the near future.

2024 full time band was no joke, but also the best band season of my life that I can remember- not sure if anything could ever be better than my first season of teaching band, but wow was this season great! The worlds most sincere thank you to everyone involved supporting my wonderful band programs this fall. To Tim & Brandon (NHS), John, Kyle & Brody (7LHS), Daniel, Lauren & Mitchell (JHS), TJ, Gabby & Sam (CWHS), and Andrew & Kenneth (CFHS)- thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting me to be a part of your bands this fall, and for helping me get Cary Cochenour Visual established- I am forever grateful for the 2024 season, and most importantly for your lifelong friendships.

TO ANY OF MY STUDENTS READING THIS: I am forever proud of you and the performances you gave this fall. You are among the best programs in the country, and I wish you a lifetime of happiness and success! I want you to know that I will ALWAYS be your biggest fan, and this time together will hold a special place in my heart. Thank you so much for welcoming me to your band fam this season, hoping to see you again in 2025!!

GO BAND!