The Recent Past
In more recent years, the band has grown in size and stature, qualifying in 2006 for the UIL State competition for the first time since Clear Brook became a 5A school. At one point, it took nine school buses and two rented equipment trucks to get the band to games and contests. While fewer buses are required these days, the band’s reputation continues to grow, and a truck pulling a semi-trailer now hauls the band’s equipment.
In the fall of 2001, the program was “The Mummy” and featured music from the sequel to the first mummy movie. Color guard costumes looked Egyptian, and the field was awash with white and gold props.
John Stuckey resigned in the spring of 2002, and assistant band director Matt Atkinson led the students through marching season that fall with a program focusing on fire, wind, air and water — “The Four Elements.” The show contained music from James Horner’s movie scores and was the first Brook program in which band students stepped outside traditional marching patterns with a jazz run and hand motions. Color guard flags coordinated with each movement; flaming red flags symbolized fire, and sky blue flags symbolized the air.
The following year, Stan Mauldin, who had previously directed a smaller award-winning band in Holliday, Texas, became Clear Brook Band director. Under his direction, the band’s 2003 show was “Spindletop, Texas,” featuring movements from Tulsa, A Portrait in Oil, Vide Cor Meum, and Copland’s Hoe-Down. On the field for the show were white wooden oil derricks, which soloists courageously climbed and perched on for each performance. The band won first in its class at the Katy Marching Festival that season.
Just prior to the marching season, the band acquired a 57-foot semi-trailer from a snack food company, and students and parents sanded and painted it black. A local sign painter took band student Jeffrey Cherewaty’s graphics design and painted the trailer with the bold red, white and black pattern chosen by the students. A group of band dads, led by Rick Whitehead, created custom-built shelving to hold all the instruments safely inside the trailer. The trailer made its debut in October, 2003. During the first couple of years, the band did not have a truck of its own, and the band paid a truck owner to attach his dark blue vehicle each week and haul the load.
Also in 2003, Drum Corps International (DCI) veteran Chris Retschulte joined the program as a percussion director and began to develop a competitive drumline. During the winterguard season that school year, Barbara Keiffer took a hard fall from an elevated prop while demonstrating a move to guard members. The fall sidelined Mrs. Keiffer for some time, but the guard managed to win numerous awards for its edgy but touching show about a combat soldier writing home during World War II.
At the end of the 2003-04 school year, assistant band director Matt Atkinson left Brook to take a position at a new school in the Austin area, and Mr. Mauldin brought in Mike Ary as his assistant. Mr. Ary had previously worked with Mr. Mauldin in Holliday and in DCI programs.
In the fall of 2004, the show was “Kaleidoscopic Fantasy,” with music from Leonard Bernstein’s On the Waterfront and On the Town scores. The show depicted geometric shapes as they moved across the field and morphed into new shapes. Drum majors began wearing the washable uniforms that the rest of the band would wear the following year. Near the end of the season, the uniform committee attached satin sashes in bright kaleidoscopic colors to the wool uniforms being used for the last year.
The fall 2004 season was memorable as one of the wettest ever. On Oct. 2, six charter buses departed very early for the band’s first ever appearance at the Bands of America (BOA) Houston regional contest, that year held in Huntsville. A bus broke down in the rain not too far from the stadium, and another bus circled back to pick up the stranded students. The band performed without plumes in the rain, and then departed on five buses for the pre-UIL marching festival in Galena Park. There, they performed in wet uniforms on a drier field. Believing that it was unlikely that the band would make finals at its first ever BOA appearance, the directors planned to direct the buses back to the school. Then, Mr. Mauldin received a phone call that the band had indeed made finals, and the buses turned around and went back to Huntsville. The band ultimately placed last among the finalists, but they were nevertheless thrilled to be on the field that night among the best. A bus driver walked off the job before the trip home, and the band piled into only four charter buses for a wild, crowded ride home.
Wet weather also affected the UIL Area contest in 2004. Brook Band performed admirably in the rain again in the first round of competition and stood a good chance at qualifying for the state contest. The band directors at the contest voted to call off further competition because of the rain, and the state competitors were chosen from the results of the earlier performances. Soon thereafter, the skies cleared.
Meanwhile, the indoor drumline made incredible strides during the other band members’ concert seasons. In the spring of 2005, Brook’s indoor percussion ensemble, with its “Cityscapes” show, became the world champions in the open class category at the Winterguard International (WGI) contest in Dayton, Ohio.
In the fall of 2005, the band, now in strikingly updated uniforms, expanded its competitiveness by journeying to the BOA Super Regional contest in San Antonio. The group earned a first division rating but did not move beyond the preliminary competition. Brook Band did move up a notch and placed ninth in finals competition at the BOA Houston contest, that year closer to home at Rice University.
The show for 2005 was “Summon the Heroes,” with patriotic music paying tribute to the space program. Three astronauts were band dads that year, and two were scheduled to go on a shuttle mission that was eventually postponed. The color guard wore red, white and blue costumes and displayed flags with the words “an act of faith and vision,” while band students unfurled giant historical NASA photos in the show.
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In the fall of 2006, band directors talked about four days becoming one extended day. At long last, Brook Band qualified for the UIL State contest. First, Brook Band blew everyone away and was grand champion at the Desoto Marching Classic. Then the group placed fifth in finals at BOA Houston, which had moved to its latest location at Pearland High School. At the BOA Super Regional in San Antonio’s Alamodome, the band placed eleventh in finals competition. That contest was on a Saturday, and the school district did not allow the band to stay more than one night in a hotel, so the students returned home early Sunday, practiced and then boarded charter buses again Monday afternoon for a Tuesday performance at the UIL State contest, again in San Antonio. When the band did not make finals, the group returned home late that night. Phew!
The 2006 program was “Illumination.” With music from Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the show explored the movement from darkness to light. The band recycled the Greek columns used in the indoor percussion program the previous spring, and students turned sunset-colored columns around during the show to reveal colors from the dawn. A giant Japanese drum added drama to the show.
Mr. Retschulte left the Brook program and Dusty Norris, another DCI veteran and former colleague of Mr. Ary, became the new percussion director in 2007.
That fall, Brook Band really took its “Repercussion” show on the road! In the middle movement, the show featured woodwind players dancing alongside guard members, whose whimsical costumes were mauve, purple and yellow. This time, the band did not make finals at the BOA Super Regional in San Antonio, but it did place fourth in finals at the BOA Houston contest and then ninth in finals at the BOA competition in Arlington, where Brook Band had never before competed.
For the season’s grand finale, Brook Band journeyed by charter buses to the BOA Grand Nationals in Indianapolis. At their first appearance among 90 of the country’s top bands, the hometown students earned a spot with 33 bands in semi-finals competition. The band placed 17th in semi-finals and missed making finals by only two points.
Vicki M. Cherewaty, band mom 2001-2008
In the spring of 2008 Mr. Mauldin resigned and Mr. Ary became the interim head band director. That same spring, Don Click was brought on board to help teach the Winter Drumline who placed 1st at the Texas Color Guard Circuit Championships, and traveled to Dayton OH for the WGI National Championships. In order for the drumline to make the trip to Ohio, all three concert bands had to perform their UIL programs on the same day. Directly following the Wind Ensembles performance, two Enterprise trucks were loaded with all the percussion equipment and left for Ohio that evening. As the trucks were being loaded, the International Space Station flew over the school. This was a unique coincidence because the drumline show was entitled, “Beyond the Atmosphere”, a journey into space and back. The drumline competed in three rounds of competition against 45 other schools from around the country and placed 4th at finals.
The Winter Colorguard also had a successful spring, placing 2nd at the Austin WGI Regional, and 5th Texas Color Guard Circuit Championships.
In the Fall of 2008, Jason Smith was hired as the new assistant band director. Mr. Smith is a graduate of The University of Houston and had a student teaching job at Brook the previous spring semester.
The 2008 marching show was entitled “The Perfect Fit”. Music included Profination by Leonard Bernstein, Symphonic Metamorphoses by Paul Hindemith, and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. The music that year was arranged by Aaron Guidry, music director and performer for Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. Brook also acquired Bryan Harmsen as their new percussion arranger and Mr. Ary began writing the drill. The shows visual idea was based around one color guard soloist finding her “Perfect Fit”.
In the spring of 2009 the Winter Color Guard traveled to Dayton OH to perform at the WGI National Championships. The color guard competed against 130 color guards from around the country and advanced to the semi finals.
The Clear Brook Band Booster Club purchased its second semi trailer during the summer of 2009. This trailer was 53 feet long, and was the legal size limit to travel through all the states on the route to Indiana and Ohio.
The 2009 fall marching show was entitled “Repeat...Repeat...Repeat...Repeat...Repeat”. The music was an original composition written by Richard Saucedo. John Whalin was brought on board as the Clear Brook visual coordinator. The concept for the show concept that year was based around repeating various musical and visual ideas. Throughout the show there were many electronic repetitive effects. Halfway through the show, the band reset back to the opening set to repeat the show. The directors hired Chuck Henson (The voice of BOA) to record his usual pre-show announcement so that is could be played through the front ensembles sound system during the reset. For the second time, the band traveled to Indianapolis for the Bands of America Grand Nationals.