LHS Band Showcases Powerful Halftime Show ‘Embracing Life’ at This Friday’s Season Opener

La Grange High School’s Mighty Leopard Band is jumping head-first back into practices for their upcoming season, rehearsing eight hours a week after school to prepare for their show called “Embracing Life.” “It follows the journey of a young woman battling depression as she searches for hope in overwhelming darkness,” said Head Band Director Chris Cooper. “Guided by friends who have overcome their own darkness, she learns that healing isn’t about escaping it, but about finding the strength to move through it and ultimately embrace life.”

The show’s protagonist features LHS senior Layla Pietsch, who helps lead the narrative through both a dance and horn solo.

“While watching some other marching bands perform last year, I had mentioned that it would be cool to dance in the show,” Pietsch said.

Due to the narrative nature of the show this year, the band will be making a few changes to showcase their performance to the highest level.

“It’s going to require a lot of not only great fighting skills and great movement skills, but also acting skills,” Cooper said. “In fact, one of the things we’re doing this year is we are not going to be wearing shakos, because we want the audience to be able to see the faces of all the performers. We also have special performance tops that are going to replace the jacket during the halftime show.”

With more than two-thirds of the band being underclassmen this year, Cooper said working with a less mature sound has been one of their main obstacles.

“We just graduated the largest senior class that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Cooper said. “They were all performers, and a lot of them were very talented. Even though we have a lot of hardworking kids in the freshman and sophomore classes this year, they just haven’t been on their instrument for as long.”

Despite working with a younger band this year, the physical aspects of marching have improved for the MLB.

“Both our marching fundamentals and our dance choreography are noticeably better than last year, which is exciting,” Cooper said. “

That’s an area that has always been a little bit weaker for us, so I’m really excited to see how that reflects in our performances and in our visual scores.”

This season follows two State Marching Band appearances in 2024 and 2025, but Cooper says that making it to state isn’t, and never was, the main priority.

“It’s a really fun performance to be able to go to the Alamo Dome, so we do obviously want that for them, but it’s not actually one of our goals, and it never has been,” Cooper said. “Our goal has always been to try to get our students to perform at the highest possible level that we can get them to.”

With Jacob Stephenson joining the staff in 2024 and Shelby Lane joining in 2025, the Mighty Leopard Band is heading into the season with a full returning staff for the first time in three years.

“It makes a big difference,” Cooper said. “That’s one of the things I was really excited about going into this year. That newness is not getting in the way anymore.”

LHS to Host 25-Band Contest Oct. 3

Later this season, La Grange High School will be making history by hosting a 25-band marching contest at Leopard Stadium Oct. 3 for the first time ever. Organized by Color Guard Director Sarah Fourmy, Cooper said the event will be one of the biggest small-school marching contests in this part of the state.

“What started as a crazy idea last fall has turned into something bigger than I ever expected,” Fourmy said. “There has been a tremendous amount of work put into planning this event, and we’ve spent a lot of time making sure every detail is covered so that the day runs as smoothly as possible. An event of this size takes a lot of coordination, and I’m incredibly thankful for everyone who has helped make it possible.”

Cooper would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who donated for the LGBBC Sponsorship Drive this year.

“It’s going to allow us to do some things that will give our students a better experience that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise,” Cooper said.

The band will be competing in their first competition of the season on Saturday, Sept. 26 in Brenham, hosted by Blinn College.