An Odessa High School senior has memorialized band performances from decades ago to the present for a website he recently created.
Ezaiah Cisneros, 17, a percussionist in the OHS band, found the artifacts while cleaning out the band library in August with some of his fellow band leaders.
They found a big bucket of media with mini CDs, vinyl records, some cassette and VHS tapes.
Looking them over, Cisneros realized these were important items with sentimental value to the people who played during those years. It also dawned on him that many people do not have access to these performances.
“I really wanted to be able to do something to give people this access to be able to watch their old shows,” Cisneros said.
He wanted to archive everything he could find because it’s not just part of the school’s history, but a part of people’s past.
“I know that a lot of people hold their high school years very fondly,” Cisneros said.
He tried saving everything he had access to. Preserving the marching shows was a priority.
“Then once I had all that, it was pretty much just uploading them to a Google Drive. I used Google Sites to be able to make something to collect everything. … This is everything from 1958 all the way to 2022. There’s some missing. I wish I could have gotten everything, but I couldn’t find everything that I wanted to. Some … other things I really didn’t have access to. Some of them were the old vintage movie reels they’d have to get an old projector for. It wasn’t really accessible for me at that moment. … There are some things that I just couldn’t archive that I really would love to,” Cisneros said.
The project includes generations of OHS students.
“One of the things that we’re often told here is how much people value the school and this band program,” Cisneros said.
The band has 83 consecutive years of UIL Superior Division One ratings at marching contest and people want to see that carry on.
Cisneros said he’s been trying to preserve a lot of things lately.
“… I’m a senior at this point and when you realize that this is your last year of being in high school … In a lot of ways, I kind of empathize with everybody who feels this way,” Cisneros said.
He realized how important those moments would be for the rest of his life and wanted to give other people the same chance to relive those memories.
“I think nostalgia is probably the most beautiful thing out there,” Cisneros said.
He added that the archives are on the OHS website.
“It’s very active. It not only has the marching band shows, but also has a couple other important historical moments. Like there’s a pre-game with Larry Gatlin from 1997. There are two halftime shows. One of them was for 2001, which was of course in tribute to 9/11. There’s also the National Concert Band festival from 1993. … I also have the submission tape for the Rose Bowl, the one that we went to in 2003. I found the dedication ceremony for the Dean Room. That was really interesting to see. Also, I have the Sugar Bowl halftime performance from 1968, I believe. Funnily enough, that’s actually where my grandmother marched when she was in the band …,” Cisneros said.
Most of the feedback he’s gotten so far is from his dad and his dad’s friends.
“My dad was really excited to see this, especially because he is also a percussionist. He marched those three years when he was in high school. He also very fondly remembers (his) time back in marching band. I was able to have all three years that he marched on VHS and I was able to preserve it. He can watch it at any time and he really loves it. He really loves those tapes …,” Cisneros said.
Assistant Band Director Jimmy Olague said he thinks the project is fantastic. He added that a lot of those performances probably couldn’t be seen any other way because of the media they are on.
“The fact that he took time to move those and put it on something that anybody can see is incredible. This is just going to give the chance to all those people … a chance to see their performances from when they were back in school and bring back some great memories for them …,” Olague said.
He added that Cisneros made a great connection with his family by seeing his grandparents doing what he and his brothers, have done, and are doing now.
“The style of what they did then vs what we do now is totally different. The one thing that is the same is that it still requires you to be able to play your instrument and move your feet at the same time,” Olague said.
“Of course those students back then had a lot less things to interfere than the kids do now. Now you have cell phones and social media and all these game consoles; just so many things that can really take you away from that kind of thing that has been around for so long,” he added.
The archive also adds to the history of OHS.
“That’s the other thing is they get to see the history in front of their eyes. They know about the streak, the 83 Division 1s, but now they get to see some of the folks that are responsible for that, that started it and the people before them that existed that did what we’re trying to continue. It’s a fantastic history lesson for him and for everybody that gets to see all of this,” Olague said.
