The three-time state champion marching band is now also the two-time state honor band.

The Mineola High School Sound of the Swarm received notice recently that it had earned that honor for the second time.

Bands send in recordings of a three-selection performance that is then judged head-to-head at regional and area levels and then on to the state level which has a preliminary and a final round.

Band Director Jim Best said it took him a bit to get the message out to his students when he heard the word, admitting to a few tears and shaky hands.

Best took over the program last year following the band’s three straight state marching championships. He was formerly an assistant here.

Last year was a non-advancement year for Class 3A bands, but the students continued to excel, winning the region and area competitions.

Best explained that while the state honor band contest does not have the glamor of the marching contest, carried out at the Alamodome in San Antonio, it’s actually a higher level of achievement.

“It is pure musical excellence,” he said.

The band must capture a clean recording of its performance with selections that have a high degree of difficulty, then five judges sit in a room with the musical scores and rank each band’s efforts.

There is one winner, and that comes with the honor of playing a performance at the annual Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio in February.

The band will put together a concert of 6-7 pieces, Best said, which will include a couple pieces from the honor band recording and a percussion ensemble.

The TMEA meeting is the largest of its kind in the nation, Best noted. Students who make the all-state bands will also be performing during the event.

Winning honor band is proof that it is about the kids, he said.

“We have the best band in the state because we have the best kids,” he said.

“We are all so proud of them. They dug in deep to take it to a level that put them on top.”

He said the honor also means those graduating seniors from 2023 can cap their careers knowing they were part of the best band.

But there’s no rest.

Summer band drills began last week as the Sound of the Swarm attempts to win its fourth straight marching title.

This year’s program will be an Olympic-themed show, “Carry the torch.”

There will be plenty of visualizations of the torch, Best explained, following the journey of an athlete or performer who emerge victorious in the end.

“It means a lot to us,” he said, carrying on the band’s legacy and “keeping it strong.”

“We are excited about it,” Best said of the show.

“We are off to a real strong start.”

The band numbered around 100 to end the year in the spring and is up to 115-120, Best said.

The band will be unveiling new uniforms this marching season and will break them out at the first home game Friday, Sept. 1, which is also Mineola homecoming.

In the following weeks the band will be showing off some of the variations that the new uniforms allow.