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Monday, May 29, 2000

West Oso performers stealing shows

School's bands, drill team earning honors, engaging audiences

By Sara Lee Fernandez
Caller-Times

Paul Iverson/Caller-Times

Jeremiah Rangel, 16, plays a saxophone solo with other members of the West Oso High School Jazz Band recently. The sophomore, who plans to attend Del Mar College after graduation, says he likes playing with the band because he can ham it up while playing solos.

Some would say that pitting a 3A school against a 5A school in competition is unfair, like pitting a Chihuahua up against a Doberman.
   But in the case of the West Oso Marching Band, West Oso Jazz Band and the West Oso Drill Team, the 3A school, though smaller, is the big dog.
   The West Oso High School band program has won 15 awards this year, many of them in direct competition with larger schools across the state and region, including 5A schools. And the drill team, in its first year, placed first, besting teams that have dominated competitions for decades.
   "My students love to play," said Carl Melton, band director. The marching band has won accolades at several competitions including the Buccaneer Parade in Corpus Christi and the Martin Lutheran King Day Parade in Houston. The jazz band placed first at the Rio Grande Valley Jazz Festival, the H.M. King Jazz Festival in Kingsville and the Coastal Jazz Festival held at West Oso.
   The West Oso High School principal said that band students have worked for their success.
   "It's a tradition that goes back to the early '70s," said Principal Maurice Portis, who was band director for 23 years at West Oso. "These kids work hard."
   Some of the 10 members of the jazz band play different instruments from the ones they play in the marching and concert bands. Graduation depleted the ranks, but new members are expected.
   One of the new members will be Joshua Herrera, 16.
   "I started listening (to jazz) last year. I first heard jazz on KEDT," said Joshua, who plays the tuba. "I like the arrangement."
   One of the veterans of the jazz band, Jeremiah Rangel, likes it because he can ham it up.
   "All my brothers before me were in jazz," he said. "I liked it so I went into the jazz band. I like that you get solos."
   Jeremiah, who plays the saxophone, is in a band with his brothers on the side as well. Music is a big part of his life and he plans to keep it that way.
   "I want to major in music education," he said. "I want to go to Del Mar (College) for two years and then transfer to (University of North Texas in Denton)."
   A departing member of the West Oso music program, Hector Gutierrez, 16, already is taking his music to the next level.
   Gutierrez, who plays the trumpet, will start at Del Mar College in the fall and major in music. He said he had been playing in a mariachi band when he decided to move into jazz.
   "I love to learn different styles of music," he said.
   Recently the organizers of the Martin Luther King Day Parade in Houston visited West Oso High School to present the award of Grand Champion. Parade organizers Charles Stamps and Bruce Jones said that for the first time one group, West Oso, had swept the competition with first-place wins in the marching band, flags, drill or dance teams and composition categories.
   West Oso was the first to make perfect scores in all four categories, Stamps said. The West Oso band, during the past four years of participating in the competition, has become legendary, Jones said.
   "Bruce almost got mobbed on Main Street," Stamps laughed. "Everyone kept asking where the Corpus band was. They would see a band in similar uniforms and ask Bruce, 'Is that the Corpus band?' They have become a mainstay."
   About 400,000 gathered to watch the parade this year. Stamps said West Oso is asked back year after year because of the quality of their performances and their attitude when not performing.
   "What they have done is raised the bar," Stamps said.
   Stamps said the behavior of band members when not marching is as impressive as when they are performing.
   "They have chemistry," he said. "They are caring and sharing with each other and it shows through academic accomplishments and their performances. These kids are truly a multicultural group. This school group epitomizes the vision of Dr. King. When you see them you don't see Hispanic kids, black kids or white kids. All you see are kids."
  
  

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Staff writer Sara Lee Fernandez can be reached at 886-3767 or by e-mail at fernandezs@caller.com

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