When the Ridgeland High School Panther Band takes the field this fall, it will be marching to music composed by UTC student Kobié Manuel.
Manuel, 26, is gaining a reputation among area high school band directors as the go-to guy for well-written, entertaining, original, marching-band shows. Bands from Oklahoma to Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe are playing Manuel’s music.
“People in the know, know about Kobié. He is trying to give band directors a sound nobody else has,” said Rick Chambers, Ridgeland band director. This is the fourth year that Manuel has written his band’s show.
“When he writes for us, he writes to the strength of this band. He knows how to put a lot of color into his music,” Chambers said.
“Kobié stays in touch with what’s going on in the pop-music world. He has been such a student of marching-band genre for years that I can hardly think of anybody else who would know it better than he does,” said Dr. Jonathan McNair, one of Manuel’s professors at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “Because he is so devoted to it, he has absorbed what is possible to do with the genre.”