Permian High School Director of Bands Jeff Whitaker knew he had a good group of musicians the first day of practice. He has just over 300 students this year, but expects that to increase after school starts.
“We started on July 25 and we had a great group of kids show up that day. You can tell on the first day what kind of team you’re going to have that year (or) at least kind of get a feel for what it’s going to be like. It was very positive from the first day,” Whitaker said Tuesday.
“Our officers have been doing a tremendous job. We have about 45 on our leadership team and these are students that just choose to do extra — above and beyond. They have different duties and assignments that they do. They show up before the rest of the band does. They make sure everything’s ready to go. They have meetings and organize things, mainly to make life easier for the rest of us …,” he added.
Whitaker said the freshman class is very strong, thanks to the middle school band directors who have done a great job.
“… Our goal is it doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or a senior, we’re all on varsity for this season. We’ve all got to perform at a high level, so our number one goal is to take our new members and get them up to the level of the upperclassmen as soon as possible,” Whitaker said.
Kinslea Blau, a 17-year-old senior, plays the mellophone and French horn and is a band captain this year.
She said summer band will run through Saturday and then they will start morning rehearsals.
Blau has been in band since sixth grade.
“I feel honored to get the responsibility to help be a part of leading this band,” Blau said.
She added that there are a good number of freshmen this year. “But they’re all really good and ready to learn,” Blau said.
She added that she is anticipating the start of marching season.
“I’m so excited. This is my favorite time of the year and this year we have a great show to learn,” Blau said.
Gilbert Flores, 17, is a senior trombone player this year. He has been in band through middle and high school. He is captain for equipment and a section leader.
“We get all these things set up before rehearsal even starts. We’re usually the first people on the field …,” Flores said.
“… We make sure that everything is on the field perfectly,” he added.
Flores said he likes the fact that his role helps everything run so much more smoothly and it allows directors not to worry about set ups.
He said this year’s band is going to be great.
“They pick up so fast. It’s going to be an amazing year,” Flores added.
This being his last year, he’s a little sad but he’s going to leave the band and his section knowing what their expectations are for future years and hopefully they will carry on.
The theme of the show this year is Birds, Bees, Flowers, Trees, so it’s a nature themed experience.
Whitaker said they start talking about what they’re going to do before they even finish the previous year’s show.
Their design team is led by BJ Brooks, who is the marching band director and professor at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.
“He has a team that he works with on the design side during what we would call the marching band off-season. They have put in a tremendous amount of hours and work,” Whitaker said.
As ideas are fleshed out, they have ongoing conversations.
“We see what opportunities can be created through the design, mostly they do, and they get feedback from us … It’s pretty magical how it all happens. It’s hard to explain because there are some things that they do that I am not aware of. And from my standpoint, they give us a great product. My part really starts when we meet with all the kids and we start teaching,” Whitaker said.
He added that the band collaborates with the dance department for the Color Guard program.
“That takes a lot of stress off of us as music teachers when we have talented, educated folks teaching the dance program in addition to our band directors,” Whitaker said.
He has added new staff members this year with Tyler Serrato and Daniel Ward. Trey Burns is returning.
John Carroll, who was associate director of bands at PHS, is now assistant band director at Monahans High School, and Lyndsay Eiben is now assistant band director at University of Texas Permian Basin.
