Pride of Cove Band back in action for upcoming year

By LYNETTE SOWELL Cove Leader-Press The beginning of the school year is a little less than four weeks away, but already members of the Pride of Cove Band are showing up early at the high school and staying for the day as they learn their fall routine. This year, a new era of the band isbeginning, with new director of bands,  Andrew Nixon, at the helm. Like his predecessor, Randy Kelley, Nixon spends the time putting the students through their paces on the school’s blacktop. As the metronome echoes across the parking lot and off the nearby Lea Ledge Auditorium, Nixon gives instructions as the band marches in time. He is ever mindful of the Texas heat. “We have water breaks every 10 minutes,” Nixon said. Mornings are spent in the parking lot, with the band learning to march and step as one. Afternoons are spent with the music, and already Nixon is looking forwardto the fall’s halftime show, called “Gearworks.” The seven-minute, 15-second performance features music by composer Aaron Copland. The three-part show  has a numbe of tunes, from one of Copland’s operas, Symphony No. 3, and A Lincoln Portrait.  f course, the props on the field will match the Gearworks theme, and Nixon said the show will have a steampunk flair reflected in the color guard as well. This year Nixon has some help from Pride of Cove alumni who have gone on tothe next level. Quentin Knox and Shelby Young, both enrolled at the University of Texas at Arlington, are some of the ones taking the next few weeks to work with the band. Knox, a music major, is a sophomore at UTA and is part of the Mavericks marching band, where he plays the clarinet. He said this summer band is different, with the departure of Randy Kelley. “Mr. Nixon has some different, new ideas, things I had thought of before,”Knox said. “(Nixon) is definitely as tough as Mr. Kelley, and he has the same standards.” Knox has a goal of becoming a high school band director himself. Young, an incoming freshmen accounting major at UTA, was drum major last year for the Pride of Cove, and looks forward to marching with the Mavericks at UTA.  er role at summer band is quite similar to that of when she was a drum major for Pride of Cove, she said. “There is a difference, though,” she  added. “They’re still