The first marching band arrived at UTRGV at the beginning of the Fall 2023 semester. They expect to attract and invite new members to join the path to inspire new generations to pursue music, with nearly 150 members and the first ever marching band director Ronnie Rios.
UTRGV Director of Athletic Band Ronnie Rios expressed that he feels blessed and honored of being in charge of performing this great responsibility.
“I’m very blessed, I am very honored, humbled and have lots of gratitude towards the university for selecting me as their first marching band director.” Rios said.
He expresses that the feeling of excitement and pressure is constantly on his mind.
“I feel pressured that, do I have enough time on the day to get this all done, do I have enough time in the semester to get to the goals that we have achieved for our students.” Rios said. “But at the same time I feel very excited that everyday is fun, everyday I’m grateful to have such terrific students and to put together an art form that I really enjoy. I think it’s a little bit of both.”
He said that the performance is what he is most excited about. He looks forward to those days.
For the vision of the band Rios expressed that he wants UTRGV and the RGV community to embrace the marching band.
“Make sure that everybody is proud of the UTRGV Vaquero marching band,” Rios said. “And that everybody embraces them when they perform, in terms of they acknowledge their identity, their sound, their excellence in their movement, their incredible color guard, their exciting tones that they present in front of a live audience, their enthusiasm through their sound, their spirit, their positive karma.”
Drum major for the UTRGV marching band Mia Ramirez expressed her appreciation for being part of the band.
“It’s such an honor,” Ramirez said. “I didn’t think I would be able to be in this position, especially the first ever drum major position for the UTRGV [marching band]. Yeah, it’s a big deal and I’m just very honored and grateful to be part of it.”
She expressed that her love for music dates back to highschool where she was part of the marching band. She was a flute and piccolo.
Ramirez’s greatest inspiration was one of her drum majors for two years who was a good friend of hers. She always admired her for her maturity and good example for the rest of the band.
“You know one day I am going to be like that, I was presented with this opportunity and I’m like you know I am going to take it and I think I am comfortable enough,” She said.
Drum major Paul Farris, one of the first marching band members, expressed his excitement about joining the band.
“Whenever you have the opportunity to be the first of anything it’s not just a big deal, it’s an awesome experience,” Farris said. “And to be part of something not just we love but a lot of kids in the valley love music, marching, then marching and the playing and marching at the next level. It’s pretty fun.”
He said that one of his motivations for his music career is being the best version of himself. Words like, you are not good enough, really stuck to him in his highschool years.
Opposite to his friend Mia, he expressed that his drum majors in highschool were a disaster. However he saw that as a motivation to overcome those challenges and be now one of the first drum majors for the UTRGV band.
Farris expressed that they hope to become an inspiration for students around Texas.
“It just takes one student to say, hey, that’s pretty cool I want to do that, then we did our job.”
This is Fernanda Gonzalez for Vaquero Radio.
