McDade High School Band has placed 3rd in the State for their recording of The Red Cape! We recorded three songs on the UIL Concert stage in March of this year and submitted them to be ranked against other 1A schools. The Red Cape is a concert march piece and won 3rd in the Concert March Category.

We also had our other two recording place in the state rankings! We won 6th Place in State for our recording of Wind Storm featuring a flute solo! And 12th of our recording of Pinnacle both in the Concert Music category. Great things are happening in McDade! Stay tuned for our upcoming marching season!!

Join us for our End of Year Concert at the Watermelon Festival Pavilion at 7:30pm on Thursday May 18th. 

Students will have jobs to complete before they are dismissed. 

We will also be saying farwell to our Senior Class of 2023.

Cant wait to see you there!

We have our Fall 2023 Color Guard Members!! Congratulations to the students who showed up everyday after school to learn their routine! The first photo is the entire squad with Color Guard Instructor  McKenzie Petitt and Ryan Smith. 

We also had Color Guard Leadership auditions! We are happy to announce that this year's Co-captains are Sheila Luego and Jessica Dube, with Shyanne Alexander serving as Lieutenant. These students had to write their own routine as well as teach someone who has never been in guard a few guard techniques. Congrats ladies!

-4/30/23

The Lime Lights had a great performance last Wednesday night at the Roadhouse in Paige! They hosted a sit-in session and we had a few great turn outs. It was great to see Mr. Craig Hobbs (trumpet) performing with his son, Mark Hobbs (trumpet)! Those were some great solos that went back and forth. We were also graced by the presence of Tenor Sax Pro Juan Rangel! If anyone is looking for a Tenor Sax teacher I'd be glad to recommend him and give you his professional contact information. 

Unfortunatley, this will be the last time the Lime Lights play at the Roadhouse since the majority of this group are graduating seniors and have decided to retire the name after their graduation. You'll get one last chance to see them at their last gig at Scales Cafe in McDade on May 13th!

-4/28/23

The McDade High School Band had another great parade in Smithville this last Saturday! This time it was for the Smithville Jamboree!! We really appreciate being invited back after our Holiday parade appearance. The band got to the parade starting point a little early so we took a walk where we got to meet another McDade student who was on the float with ELVIS!! 

After the parade the band was able to visit the beloved Mr. Pendersen's home. He was gracious enough to allow the band to re-group on his front yard before departing back home. It was quite hot so he even opened his home for us to cool down. His dog was espeically appreciative of all the attention. Thanks Mr. Pendersen!

Thank you Smithville Chamber of Commerce for being excellent hosts! 

-4/16/23

We wanted to thank everyone for coming out to support our students in their great performance yesterday! The students really enjoyed getting to play so much music (10 separate pieces!) for the McDade crowd! Thank you again for helping us have a wonderful Spring Concert!

This last Wednesday the McDade Jazz Band, The Lime Lights, performed at Scales for the first time! They did a great hour and half set, playing varying levels of jazz with full improvising solos to a packed crowd! We're very excited that we got to perform at our local restaurant for the first time! Looking forward to many more performances at Scales Café!
-3/29/23

Its another first for the McDade High School Band! This year the McDade Bulldog band took part in the UIL Concert and Sight Reading Contest. The band performed 3 prepared pieces on stage for 3 judges and a piece they had never seen before for another 3 judges. The band received 1's from all the judges! This is the highest score you can receive from the competition and these students definitely earned it! The performed a wonderful stage concert and sight read wonderfully! These graduating seniors are leaving behind a legacy of success that they and the whole band can be proud of. 

It was wonderful to have such huge support from our community too! We had a terrific representation in the concert auditorium and filled up the sight reading room! Its great to see how many McDade parents and staff come out to support us in concerts and competitions. Thank you McDade!

-3/7/23

You can find the Limelights  out and about for the next month. Join us for a show!

Tuesday  March 21st
Roadhouse Paige  -  7:00pm - 8:15pm - 147 Old Hwy 20 E, Paige, TX 78659 

Tuesday March 28th
Scales Restaurant - 5:00pm - 6:30pm - 1606 US-290, McDade, TX 78650

Wednesday April 26th
Roadhouse Paige - 7:00pm - 8:15pm - 147 Old Hwy 20 E Paige, TX 78659

More shows to come! Stay tuned!

It was a great day for the McDade Band! 3 soloists and the percussion ensemble performed today and they all made 1’s!! Congrats to Mark Hobbs, Sebastian Velazquez and Peyton Spriggs for their amazing work preparing their solos! Congrats to the percussion ensemble for navigating the difficulties of the last two weeks to be successful! That freeze really messed up a lot of our practice schedules but they persevered!

Special congratulations and thanks to Elijah Mills! Elijah is a beginning percussionist who was a last minute substitute. Elijah began working on the part on Tuesday and performed with the ensemble this Saturday! He is the first beginning percussionist to win a UIL Medal!!

It was also the maiden voyage of the McDade Band Trailer!! Thank you to everyone who donated to the McDade Band Trailer Fund!!

Shout to our fellow 1A band Round Top Carmine! It was great to see another 1A band out and about today!!

The last few days the choir has been delivering and performing their Singing Telegrams for Valentines Day!

We get to spread the joy of song, love and friendship throughout McDade ISD! While the students get to send songs to their sweethearts the teachers often send telegrams to each other or entire classes! This is always a fun event and the students get to use real world application of their performance skills!

We would also like to congratulate Mr. Pederson on receiving the most singing telegrams! While we had almost 50 telegrams to deliver Mr. Pederson had received 22 of them. He was touched the first few times we visited.....and then expressed his......."joy" the 15 extra times we visited. Thanks for being a good sport Mr. P! -2/15/23

McDade Music Students Mark Hobbs, Ransom Stidham and Sebastian Velazquez will be performing in the Association of Texas Small Schools All-Region Bands on Saturday, January 28th. These bands take the top high school musicians from an audition process that brings in all the schools in the surrounding region from 1A-4A and our McDade students won  spots in both bands!  

This is a free concert at the Bastrop Performing Arts Center starting at 5:00pm. We hope to see you there on Saturday, January 28th at 5:00pm

On Saturday January 28th, three McDade Music students participated in the the High School All Region Band Concert. These students went through a challenging audition process in order to earn their spot in these bands. Mark Hobbs and Sebastian Velazquez played in the High School Concert Band while Ransom Stidham performed in the Symphonic Band. These bands have 60-80 members and are conducted by some of the best clinicians in the business. The students performed wonderfully, the bands sounded great, and everyone had a good time! We have lots to be proud of here at McDade!

-1/28/23

On Saturday January 14th a group of our Middle School and High School students took part in the Middle School All Region Band concerts and the High School All Region Jazz Band Concerts. These students practiced a set of audition music and then competed against region 1A to 4A schools to win a spot in these bands. 8th grader Ian Johnson won a 12th chair trumpet in the Concert Band, 8th grader Lily Hobbs won 6th chair Flute in the Symphonic Band. We are super proud to have 1A students perform in a band with 2A, 3A, and 4A students in 70 student bands. 

Two of our High School Jazz students earned spots in the All Region Jazz Band. There were only 12 spots available and our students earned 2 of them! They also auditioned with students from 2A to 4A Jazz students. Both of our students also earned solos for the concert!

Winning these positions takes a lot of work. Students begin working on the audition music in August and perform the audition in late December. They come in for afterschool practices and even some Saturdays to perfect their music. We are very proud of all of their hard work!

McDade Music Students Ian Johnson and Lily Hobbs will be performing in the Association of Texas Small Schools All-Region Bands on Saturday, January 14th. These bands take the top musicians from an audition process that brings in all the schools in the surrounding region from 1A-4A and our McDade students won  spots in both bands! Its a great achievement, especially for students who are participating for the first time.

The ATSSB All-Region Jazz Band will also be performing at this concert. Ransom Stidham and Mark Hobbs won spots in this band while competing with high school students in surrounding 1A-4A schools on Jazz Music. They also submitted improvised solos where they were composing the music they were playing on-the-spot. 

We hope to see you at this FREE concert at the Bastrop Performing Arts Center this Saturday. Concerts start at 5:00pm 

Thursday, December 15th at the McDade Gym,

Come out and see our entire music program on display right before the winter holiday break.  This will be the Beginning Student's very first concert! The Begininng Winds will team up with the Beginning Percussion class for a few songs. The Beginning Percussion class will also team up with the Advanced Percussion class for some musical bucket ensemble madness! The High Schoolers will be doing all the things!! Choir Singing, Jazz Improv, Percussion Ensemble-ing, Concert band playing and Toboggan Racing!!

Concert starts at 6:30pm. Students are to wear their Sunday's Best. Student responsibility communications will be sent out via the Remind, in Google Classroom, email, and a paper hand out.  

We'll see you soon!

Thank you to everyone who donated to our trailer fund! We have definitely made our original goal of $8,500 but have surpassed it by anther $1000!!

We have made contact with a local dealer and will be checking out trailers soon. 

After making some inquiries we have found that it would be extremely useful to have a few extras that do not come standard on an enclosed trailer. We will be using the extra funds collected to add interior lighting, e-tracks down the walls and possible percussion/instrument shelving. We will also try to wrap it in McDade school colors. 

Stay tuned for more updates!

Saturday, December 3rd in Downtown Smithville, parade starts at 7:00pm

The Bulldog Band then participated in the Festival of Lights Parade in Smithville and won a marching trophy! The Band would like to thank the Smithville Chamber of Commerce for having us out this year! 

We also really appreciate the Smithville citizen who allowed us to camp out on their front yard as we waited to be be picked up by Coach John, who was on the exact opposite side of town, because that’s where Mr Baker told him to pick up the band. The students played every song they knew….we all had a great time!

We also want to thank the McDade Band Boosters for the marshmallow roast they organized for after the parade performance. The students had a great time!          -12/5/22

McDade had two middle school students audition for the Association of Texas Small School Bands (ATSSB) All Region Band for the first time in school history. Both won a place in a band! Ian Johnson made 11th chair Concert Band and Lily Hobbs won 7th chair Symphonic Band. They’ve been practicing since August and competed against 2A, 3A, and 4A middle school students to win their spots. We’re super proud of these two 8th graders!!

The All Region Band Concerts will be performed on January 14th. There will be three bands performing that night and all will have at least one McDade student performing  in it. Two of the performers are siblings!

ATSSB All Region Jazz Band - Ransom Stidham on Trombone and Mark Hobbs on Trumpet

ATSSB All Region Middle School Concert Band - Ian Johnson on Trumpet

ATSSB All Region Middle School Symphonic Band - Lily Hobbs on Flute 

We're looking forward to the concert on January 14th!! We're super proud of our 8th Graders! -12/5/22

McDade Trumpeter, Mark Hobbs, will be playing with the Baylor Golden Wave Marching Band as they take on TCU Horned Frogs this Saturday!! Mark will be getting the full college band experience; he'll meet with the band 4 hours before kick-off for a practice, play in the stands during the game, and even get to share a meal with the trumpet section. As a high school junior Mark is a decorated trumpet player; receiving awards for his solo performance at the UIL Solo and Ensemble contest, first trumpet in this this year's award winning Bulldog Marching Band, and has won a spot in this years' Association of Texas Small Schools Bands All-Region Jazz Band, which will perform in January. Mark found and pursed this opportunity all on his own and we are proud to have him in our music program! Have a great time Mark!

The McDade Bulldog choir had a great performance at the Watermelon Festival Fair Pavillion. They performed selections from 80s, including selections from the Stranger Things soundtrack and the theme from The Never Ending Story!

The Bulldog Choir will make their next appearance at the McDade Winter Concert on Thursday, December 15th with songs about all things Winter!

The LImelights had their first successful concert on Thursday, November 10th at the Watermelon Festival Faire Grounds. They played a few jazz standards like including Bags Groove and Blue Monk. 

The Limelights will be returning to the stage in December. Stay tuned for gig dates!

The Bulldog Band is raising funds to purchase a cargo trailer for when the band travels to away games during football games as well as for various competitions where we need to bring large pieces of equipment. 

The goal is to raise $8,500 for the purchase of the trailer. You can help by donating to our Boosters HERE via Venmo. 

Thanks for supporting the students and all the hard work they do!