Reid Jacinto was a “big man on campus” at Italy High School, graduating as valedictorian for the class of 2013. He played sports, was in the National Honor Society, Student Council and was an important part of the Gladiator Regiment Band.

He started playing the trumpet in the seventh grade and continued in the band throughout high school.

When preparing for college, Jacinto said, “I always liked the University of Texas campus and the business school is a very good school to be in.”

Never to rest on his laurels, Jacinto, a business major, tried out for the University of Texas Longhorn Band (LHB) and passed all auditions to become a member of the coveted marching band.

Jacinto had preliminary playing auditions in June. From there, he was invited to band week on August 21. His second audition was August 23. That audition consisted of both playing and marching.

“The first couple of days of band week were extremely stressful because we were preparing for auditions,” Jacinto said. “Band week was pretty tough in general. We had to learn the pre-game show and our first halftime show in a week. That is an extremely fast pace compared to high school band.”

He continued, “The directors do an incredible job of teaching marching sets to such a large group and as the days went on, it became easier and easier.”

Jacinto said, “We had to audition on music that was distributed to us through email over the summer. We also had to learn a marching audition during the first two days of band week. I practiced a ton this summer. I spent at least three hours a day practicing and learning the music. I basically played until my lips couldn’t take any more and then I would take a break and come back to it a little later.”

He said the band consists of about 300 wind instruments and said about 400 tried out. He said many of those are returning members. This number does not include the flags or percussion members.

Jacinto said, “LHB has a pre-game show that stays the same every year. The pre-game show involves traditional music such as Texas Our Texas and Deep in the Heart of Texas. The halftime show will change from week to week.” He continued, “There are two different traditional shows that are performed every year for halftime. They are ’Script Texas’ and ‘Wall to Wall Band.’ We also have four different themed shows that we will perform throughout the season.”

Right now, he said the band practices Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

He said most freshmen don’t go to out of state games but there are exceptions. He will participate in all in-state games. Of course, he will play at all home games and he will play at the Cotton Bowl on October 12, at TCU on October 26 and Baylor on December 7.

Jacinto said he loved the band in high school and figured it was a good way to get involved and meet new people.

“I knew coming to a place as big as UT would be a huge change in my life and I knew if I made the band it would give me something familiar to have in my life,” he explained. And that decision is working well for Jacinto. “They have become my family here at UT. We are all one big family.”