Sundown ISD Band Director Justin Mauldin is in his fourth year at the helm and has continued to find success with the “Pride of the Oil Patch.” In his 18th year of teaching, Mauldin has worked at several school districts with Canadian ISD being his first school district to work at. Since that time, Mauldin has worked in the Lubbock area including towns such as Abernathy, Frenship, Lubbock ISD, Levelland, Ropes and now Sundown. “At a lot of places I have been to I have taken the assistant role or head of the middle school program, but the first director role I took was at Ropes ISD,” said Mauldin. “I was there for two years before coming to Sundown.”
For those unfamiliar with the time gap between state competition for band, the groups go to state every other year which puts at least a one year gap from returning to the highest level in UIL competition. That rule could possibly change as of 2023 or later as the UIL committee chose to remove the rule that forces at least a oneyear gap.
However, for the current Sundown Band, their first trip was slated for two years ago before the Covid-19 pandemic began. With that pause in time, the band was allowed to compete in the competition last fall. Competing during the pandemic year, the band finished in sixth place at the state level and then the group from last year returned to the state competition and placed fourth. “The kids in Sundown work hard and they make it fun to be in front of every day because they come to work, enjoy it and make it feel like it isn’t work,” explained Mauldin. “They rehearse so well, they’re coachable and respond very well to the criticism that I have to give sometime as a band director.” As they rehearsed for one of the last times this week, Director Mauldin explained to his kids that the better the show is, the better the show must be. Additionally, the quality of show is represented by the fact of being in the state competition, but that means the little details and nuances that aren’t entirely the best become more relevant.
“I like to use the analogy that if someone goes to work wearing a white shirt and there is a small ketchup stain on it during lunch, everyone is going to notice the stain and not the nice shirt,” explained Mauldin. “That can bring tough criticism when working through the small kinks in the show, but these kids handle it so well and are willing to accept the challenge of focusing on the small details.”
While Mauldin is the head of the program, he will be the first to say it takes a village of dedicated individuals who help the Sundown program retain its dominance across the west plains.
Assistant Ashley Blount has been the right hand for Mauldin and the band program. Previously, Blount and Mauldin worked together at Frenship ISD for four years.
“We were a really good team back then and we were able to talk her into coming down to Sundown,” said Mauldin. “We are a great team and we complement each other well.”
What Mauldin calls an extended staff, these are the handful of individuals who take the time out of their day to help and teach the kids to become the best selves on the turf.
Mack Bibb assists the band by spending half a day with the kids working with the high school band and beginners. On Tuesday nights rehearsals the program has some supplemental staff who helps, Trisha Nevarez that works with the color guard. Amber Mauldin also works with the color guard.
Tristan Knock a former student of Director Mauldin while at Levelland, assists with battering percussion and John Rodgers works with the pit percussion.
“These guys aren’t full-time, but they come out once a week and just help the kids get better,” said Mauldin “It takes a village and there is a lot that goes into putting a marching show together and I could not do it without this extended staff.”
For this year, Shea Beetles, Daniella Reyna and Autumn Olivas, those are the three majors leading their fellow peers to the state competition.
Essentially a part of the extended staff, Mauldin feels comfortable letting his drum majors work with certain sections of the band to help facilitate the coaching efforts of everyone on the band.
“They are very active in the band and they are positive leaders for the kids,” said Mauldin. “The kids admire them and look up to them. They do an amazing job.”
For this year, the show the Sundown Band is putting on is called, “Legend Never Die.”
The opening theme of the show is a song that is called, “Legends Never Die” by a punkrock group called Against the Current.
During that part of the show, the band brings in a female vocalist which is Lizzie Corley. Some of the additional music within the show is, “New World Symphany” by Dvorak.
“We have some new music and classical music mixed within our show and our slow piece or ballad is by Queen,” said Mauldin. “There was a movie where the Queen song was in probably during the late 70s, but the song is Who Wants to Live Forever which is sung by our Watson Evans.”
With a group of kids that totals 115, that is one of the large bands in the 2A ranks and Mauldin is not afraid to make a lot of noise and let their numbers be known.
“’By the end of our performance it goes back to the “New World Symphony” to this big note, big sound ending piece that we love to have in Sundown with our big numbers,” said Mauldin “We can create some pretty big sounds whenever everybody plays and that is a nice little exclamation mark at the end of our show.”
This year which is the correct year for 2A bands to make a run at a state title, the Sundown Band will be tossing their hat in the ring on Tuesday, November 8, for 2A prelims which kick off at 8 a.m.
All prelims and finals will be held in San Antonio at the Alamodome. Additionally, the 2A finals will be held the same day as the prelims at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 per person, per session while a ticket price for a double session costs $35.
Tickets will be available at the box office or can be purchased through ticketmaster.