The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
A day before Churchill High School’s marching band performed at Heroes Stadium, director of bands Amy Plazek watched more than 170 students rehearse from the home-side stands.
Instrument cases, backpacks and Churchill-labeled water jugs dotted the track. Parents worked with props along the sidelines as students repeated their formations on the field.
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“Tempo change, tempo change,” Plazek called, her voice echoing through the stadium.
A little later, she called out: “We’re losing energy.”
Then: “Keep your head straight and move your eyes.”
Churchill rehearsed for nearly three hours Monday, running through its performance and practicing the movement of props onto and off the field. The transitions were crucial: At North East ISD’s Fall Marching Festival the following night, the band would have 15 minutes to enter the field, set up its production, perform and clear the field.
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For Plazek, the festival also marked a milestone: her first season as Churchill’s director of bands after four years as an associate director.
“I already kind of know the community, know the families, know the kids,” Plazek said. “I already love the program.”
ALSO READ: Reagan marching band builds on storied tradition with new director Connor Vaughn at the helm
A familiar face takes over
In May, Plazek learned that her predecessor was leaving for another position. After a series of conversations and interviews, she was selected to lead a program whose culture she had helped shape.
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She wasn’t looking to create a new identity. She wanted to preserve Churchill’s emphasis on relationships, responsibility and leaving the program better than students found it.
“We’re not just making strong musicians,” Plazek said. “Our mission is to create better human beings through music.”
Churchill’s band program has about 172 students, with enrollment spread relatively evenly across grade levels. Plazek relies on student leaders to help maintain the program’s culture and guide younger musicians.
Two of those leaders are drum majors Peyton Parker, a junior, and Elijah Herrera, a senior.
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Parker is in her second year as a drum major, having earned the position as a sophomore. She helps conduct the band and maintain tempo, but said the role involves more than performing.
“I think it’s a lot of responsibility, but I’ve definitely grown a lot in this position,” Parker said.
Herrera described this year’s band in one word: determined. He said the group has a large freshman class, and its younger members quickly embraced their roles and the expectations that came with them.
Months behind 15 minutes
What spectators see on the field is only a fraction of the work behind the performance.
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Churchill’s band spent four weeks in summer band, with students working from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. During the school year, they rehearse after school while balancing classes, football games and performances.
“You get to see 10 minutes of 10,000 hours of work over the course of the summer and over the course of the year,” Parker said.
Work on the band’s production begins even earlier. Churchill’s show, “Butterfly in the Sky,” draws inspiration from “Reading Rainbow” and celebrates imagination, curiosity and the childlike wonder of stories coming alive.
Planning began after last season. The music, percussion, drill and choreography were developed before being brought together as one production.
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Large bookshelves, butterflies and an oversized book help transform the field. The book’s pages turn throughout the show, creating the effect of Churchill moving from one story to another.
“There’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into it,” Plazek said.
Plazek works with associate directors Spencer Katz and Randy Sifuentes, who also teaches percussion, and color guard director Ray Ramirez. Parents also play a significant role, including by constructing and moving the show’s props.
“It takes an incredible amount of discipline and attention to detail, not just from the staff, but also from the kids,” Plazek said.
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Under the Tuesday night lights
By Tuesday evening, weeks of rehearsal had given way to anticipation.
Bands from across NEISD filled the Heroes Stadium parking lot, unloading instruments, equipment and props. Students warmed up outside as families, friends and marching band supporters filled the stands.
For Parker, performing at the Fall Marching Festival had a different energy from a typical Friday night football game.
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“This is all bands,” Parker said. “Everyone here understands the work that we’ve put into it.”
As Churchill’s performance time approached, students gathered near the stadium scoreboard, forming groups and organizing equipment.
Around 8 p.m., Churchill took the field. Students ran out carrying pieces of the “Butterfly in the Sky” production as parents and other students helped move larger props and instruments into position.
The band wore black uniforms with sweeping silver-gray stripes across the chest, glittery red sleeves and shimmering gray shoulder cuffs. Tall hats called shakos were topped with red, white and silver plumes.
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The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
Family members raised their phones.
READ ALSO: ‘Win the rep’: How Johnson High School’s 254-member marching band is building toward new season
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Parker and Herrera climbed onto their drum major podiums and raised their arms.
On the track, Plazek and her staff watched.
After months of preparation, Churchill had 15 minutes to enter, perform and clear the field. Every transition the band had rehearsed the night before now mattered.
Woodwinds and brass moved through formations. Percussion drove the music forward. The color guard swept across the field as oversized books, bookshelves and butterflies helped bring Churchill’s story to life.
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The night before, Plazek had stopped students to correct their tempo, fading energy and even the direction of their eyes.
When the performance ended, cheers and applause rose from the stands.
Herrera had one word for how he felt afterward.
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The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
The Winston Churchill High School marching band performs at the Fall Festival at Heroes Stadium on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Clint Datchuk / For The Express-News
Clint Datchuk
Herrera described marching band as an art form, with music, movement and visual elements coming together in a single production.
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“There’s a point where it gets to be so much work that it feels like the satisfaction’s never gonna come,” Herrera said. “It’s a very delayed gratification.”
The festival brought that payoff Tuesday night.
“When we get to go out to shows and get scored and feel the roar of an audience clapping,” Herrera said, “it’s just an amazing feeling. That can’t be beat.”
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