Continuing the tradition of success for the Sundown Band, the Pride of the Oil Patch returned home as state finalist.
Competing in the two day event, the band took seventh place to end their marching season. 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.”
“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.”
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.
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 Corlea. 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 by 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.”