By Amanda Alaniz

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – JULY 18, 2024 – UTRGV just one year ago introduced the Valley community to the very first UTRGV Marching Band.

Now, in another first for the university, the UTRGV College of Fine Arts this summer hosted the very first Vaquero Band Camp.

The summer camp took place June 24-27 on the Edinburg Campus, and was open to musicians from seventh to 12th grades from Valley schools. It was designed for band students with existing musical experience looking to elevate their skills and fine-tune their talents.

Campers learned from award-winning UTRGV instructors and met fellow musicians from across the Valley. Nearly 30 students attended the week-long camp, playing instruments from tuba to trumpet to percussion.

David Rios, program coordinator for Marching Band and part-time lecturer for music business, coordinated the logistics for the camp, and while there were a lot of moving parts – permission slips, guidelines, documents and background information – it was rewarding to see it come to fruition, he said.

“It is a learning experience, first time we do it. I am very excited about the future of doing these kinds of camps,” he said. “Maybe we can do some others, too, to really reach out to the community and get students excited about band, at the college level and UTRGV.”   

A variety of activities were planned for the campers, with students participating in indoor activities like talent shows to display their musical prowess, and social dances. They also took part in some team sports.

On the final day of camp, campers held a concert at the UTRGV Performing Arts Complex, playing the music they had learned over the course of the camp.

The students who attended are involved in band at their schools, and some said they were grateful for the opportunity to better their leadership skills.

Aria Crow, an eighth grader from Central Middle School in Weslaco, said she is first chair for the tuba in her marching band. Vaquero Band Camp was her first band camp, she said, and she was looking forward not just to getting better at playing the instrument, but also wanted to hone her leadership skills so she can help the younger students at her school.

“Band is super fun, that’s why I joined. And all your hard work pays off in the end,” she said. “I can apply everything I have learned from the camp. I can teach the seventh graders and sixth graders coming in, the beginners, and I get to be a good section leader.”

Alto saxophone player and Sharyland Pioneer High School junior Ulysses Flores had similar plans, hoping to help fellow band students back at his school.

He’s been playing alto sax for about six years. He, too, wants to help the new band students to elevate the marching band, so getting the opportunity to further his own skills will help.

“I am learning to play better and lead better. I plan to help with the section because we do have a lot of new students coming in, especially on alto,” he said.

UTRGV faculty in charge of the camp, like Rios, were all hoping students would go back to their respective marching bands as better players and better team members because of how impactful the UTRGV band camp was.

For more information about the UTRGV Marching Band, email marchingband@utrgv.edu.