Permian High School Director of Bands Jeff Whitaker said they experienced the largest first day ever with the start of band camp last week.
They had 333 kids. Whitaker said he knows there are students still making their way back.
“We expect that to just go up from here,” he said.
Whitaker said they have a “massive” freshman class coming in, largely because of the work of the middle school band directors.
“They’ve done an incredible job getting our kids not just taught how to play, but wanting to be a part of the program and wanting to make that transition from middle school to high school,” Whitaker said.
“The biggest reason this band is big and successful is our middle school programs and our cluster are very, very healthy,” he added.
When he saw the band, Whitaker said it was great to see all the familiar faces mixed in with the new.
“Our big goal this week, and certainly the first day, is that our new members feel like they’re a part of the team from day one. We want those new people, and we do have some people that move in, in addition to our freshmen, but we want all those new first year band students at Permian whenever they leave here, they’re excited and ready to come back the next day and wanting to be a part of this team. … If we set that culture up right at the beginning, that will really define our success for the year,” Whitaker said.
He added that it’s a tough year. Their season is longer because of the way the UIL (University Interscholastic League) developed the calendar.
“For example, our state competition last year, Oct. 30 and 31st while our area competition this year, which is at Ratliff, it’s not until November 2, so our season really is extended by at least two weeks,” Whitaker said.
The title for this year’s show is AI, which means artificial intelligence.
“Some of the music is from (the movie) Oppenheimer. We’ve got music from Barbie, so some of the things that were hits from a year ago that we got the rights to use. All the music we use has to be approved through copyright. We were able to get those groups, was band literature that’s out there and what’s even maybe more interesting is that some of our music was written by AI itself.
“We were able to incorporate that with our design team. I think the show that we’re going to have, it’s gonna be very interesting, going to be a little different than some of the things we’ve done in the past,” Whitaker added.
The show designers started to work on the program in October and some new people have come on board like University of Texas Permian Basin lecturer and director of percussion Andrew Veit.
“Just being able to bring people like that on board has really helped us, and honestly, having a strong program at UTPB has made a huge difference for us. We’re already seeing the benefits of it. We’ve got a couple of student teachers here this year that are working with our program from that school, and they have already made an impact on how we do things, even though they’re student teachers, but that goes to show you that UTPB is really successful and it’s what we need out here.”
PHS also has graduates from West Texas A&M University and people from there helping out with the show.
“It helps our students understand that there is a path to a university and if band helps them get into a college or university and not just major in music, to do whatever they want to do later in life. We’re all about that; getting them ready for that next big step,” Whitaker said.
Molly Izaguirre, a senior mellophone section leader, Alexis Sanchez, a senior drum major, and Jacob Lobos, a senior brass lieutenant, have all been in band a total of seven years.
Lobos oversees all of the brass sections. He talks to section leaders to make sure that the brass sectionals are going well. If there are issues, the brass section leaders come to him and he lets his lieutenant know.
Izaguirre’s dad is a band director at Bonham Middle School.
She added that this group of kids is learning very fast and is very smart.
Sanchez said they are great kids.
Lobos said it was only the second day and they are already ahead of last year.
