On Friday, April 17th, 2026, the Brownwood Sixth-Grade Band performed at the 32nd annual Howard Payne University Band Festival. The HPU Band Festival services area band programs, with schools from all around Central Texas participating. The Sixth-Grade Band played three pieces of music: “Embark” by Carol Brittin Chambers, “Carnival” by JaRod Hall, and “Dragon Slayer” by Rob Grice. “The rating system traditionally goes from Division 1 (Superior) being the best, Division 2 (Excellent) being next, and so on until Division 5,” said Sixth-Grade Band Coordinator Ethan Yeats. “The band receiving a Division 1 means that they performed the music at a Superior level and got the best rating that they can.” Three judges listened to the performance, and each assigned a Division 1 Rating to the performance.

To get to this point of performance, the group of around eighty students were tested for aptitude and placed on their instruments in May 2025 and began instruction on their instruments in August. The students have been practicing these songs since February of 2026, daily learning how to read music, play as individuals, and perform as a group. “We incorporated learning that music into our everyday class routine,” Yeats said. “It also involves some one-on-one work via individual playing tests on parts of the music. Our class schedule has all of the instrument sections working separately from each other, so we had a combined rehearsal with everyone on the Thursday and Friday morning before we went to the contest. In those two rehearsals, we had to ensure that the band could perform as a group.” All four band directors with Brownwood ISD—Ethan Yeats, Juan Hernandez, Nathan Lacy, and Jason Jones—worked with the students in their sections to help them learn the rewarding discipline of playing the instrument well.

The Sixth-Grade Band has not participated in a contest for several years, but this result shows that recent efforts to increase enrollment, opportunity for improvement, and to challenge skill level indicate that the students are ready. “Band contests are an integral part of the band experience—it teaches students how to work diligently to make something as clean and polished as possible,” Yeats said. “Our Sixth-Grade band has not attended any contests in close to a decade, so I wanted to get the group back in the habit of doing so. It also prepares them in what to expect for contests in the future, such as UIL Concert, and Sightreading in Middle School and High School.” Starting students with an aptitude for playing together, well, allows them to find success needed for longevity in the arts. This festival’s results will enable these students to move confidently forward into Middle School Band. “I am very happy with the group’s progress this year and am proud of every one of our students,” Yeats said. “I am also very excited that this year’s Sixth-Grade Band is the most active beginner group we’ve had in many years, with three major performances throughout the year. We hope to keep this activity moving and maybe even expand upon it in the future.”