Over 130 eighth-grade band students from Gold Hill MS, Pleasant Knoll MS, and Banks Trail MS joined the Fort Mill HS Band at Bob Jones Stadium on Saturday night to play music and see first-hand what high-school band is like. After their performance with the middle school band students, the Fort Mill HS Band gave its annual Community Preview performance of this fall’s marching band show, titled “In My Beginning.”
Inspired by T.S. Eliot’s poem “East Coker,” the 2026 Fort Mill HS Band show uses music by Max Richter and Gustav Mahler to explore ways we find new beginnings out of difficult endings. Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 is the primary source of music for the show.
Fort Mill will begin its competitive season next Saturday at Carolina Crown’s BandBEAT show, hosted by Catawba Ridge HS. After the fall break, Fort Mill will travel to Tennessee for the Bands of America (BOA) Regionals at East Tennessee State University (Oct. 17) and Tennessee Tech University (Oct. 31). The season will end at SC 6A State Championships, hosted by SC State University (Nov. 7).
More than 200 students perform in the Fort Mill HS Band, directed by Ren Patel, with assistance from Landon Vaca, Dylan Sims, and the rest of the band staff.
Photos by John Patyk
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Thomas Hyslip lives in Tega Cay with his wife and daughter. After 27 years in the U.S. Army and Federal Law Enforcement, he retired to pursue his passion for teaching. Tom is now an Associate Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida. In 2 short years he has won 10 awards from the South Carolina Press Association, including first place in column writing, education beat reporting and best podcast.
