Hattiesburg High School will introduce a new band director this weekend when the HHS Tigers host the Petal Panthers Saturday.
Jorge Reyes will bring his experience from Moss Point to HHS’s “Best Kept Secret of the South.”Reyes said he is anxious to start the season even though this is a rebuilding year for his band comprised of about 50. The band will be wearing new uniforms as they entertain at halftime. “We had about 22 seniors graduate last year,” he said. “We’ve got more juniors than seniors this year. We’re in a rebuilding stage. We’ve been working hard at the elementary schools, STEAM Academy and Burger Middle to make them excited about band.” Being the third band director in the past four years has been a hurdle for keeping band members. However, Reyes said the band now has four directors who can work individually with students.“We also have a new director – Frederick Hawkins – who is taking over the Burger band,” he said.
Drum major Kylan Johnson-Parker will be leading the Tiger band on the field. Reyes said he believes the halftime show will be a crowd pleaser. “We have like an old-school theme with a tribute to legends. These are the songs their parents would know, that they fell in love to and danced to, songs like ‘Just Got Paid,’ ‘Let it Whip’ and stuff like that,” he said. “We are also going to try to put a new spin to it during the dance routine with some hip hop.” Pickering will have his 209 band members on the field Saturday when Petal comes to town. The band’s size is about the same as last year, he said. “The senior class that graduated last year was pretty large, and the freshman class coming in is large this year,” he said. “Our drum majors this year are junior Emma Burch, Jalen Hollomon and McKenna Jacobs.”
Pickering said this year’s halftime show is called “Serpentine.” The show is being developed during the football season. “It’s a work in progress,” he said. “This week, we will start slowly with the first segment we are going to do. Then we will add as we go throughout the year.” The show is about snakes and snake charmers “and how maybe the tables could get turned between a snake and a snake charmer,” Pickering said. “The snake charmer succumbs to the snake usually at the end,” he said. “That’s the storyline we’re going with. There’s a lot of Middle Eastern and Egyptian percussion and different kinds of sounds you are going to hear. It’s an interesting soundtrack and we’re doing a lot of body movements that we’re trying to represent hieroglyphics.”
The two main characters in the show are Caleb Perniciaro, the snake charmer who plays an electronic instrument called an ewi. Arionne Magee is personifying the snake, and she is like the queen snake. Some of the color guard interacts with her. “We’re featuring a saxophone quartet as well,” Pickering said. “And our percussion section will be featured very prominently throughout the show. They will have a big moment toward the end of the show when they will do some cool stuff with choreography and actually different kinds of instruments around on the field. There will be a surprise ending that will feature some of our prop work. It’s going to be a really good production.”
Other Pine Belt bands have been working hard during the summer to prepare for the football season. Other schools include:
Petal – Director Mike Garnand said the 145 members include woodwind, brass, percussion and color guard. Leading the band on the field will be drum majors Destanee Lange and Megan Green. ‘The show is titled ‘Out There,’” Garnand said. “This show is based on the story from the 1960s in which the U.S. military conducted experiments sending signals into outer space in search of other life. You will see a variety of activity on the field with the use of satellite props and performer characterization.”Garnand is in his 12th year as the Director of Bands in the Petal School District. He is a member of the Mississippi Bandmasters Association, Phi Beta Mu and The Southeast Mississippi Band Directors Association, where he was named High School Director of the Year for 2006-2007.
Purvis – Nicole Allen will lead the Pride of Purvis’ 52 band members during her eighth year as band director at Purvis High School. On the field, Michael Jochumsen is the school’s drum major.The band’s halftime theme this year is “I'll Be There,” Allen said. “The show is about how your friends are the people who help you to navigate high school,” she said. Allen is a past president of the Southeast Mississippi Band Directors' Association as well as a past president of the Mississippi Women Band Directors' Association. She was named SEMBDA High School Band Director of the year for the 2015-2016 school year and was also the Mississippi recipient of School Band and Orchestra Magazine's 2015 "50 Directors Who Make a Difference" award.
Sumrall – William Garner’s “Spirit of Sumrall” band includes 72 students this year, with on-field direction from drum major Jimmy Dilwith. Garner said this year’s halftime show is filled with “Joy.” “It will be broken up into four movements: Creating Joy, Joy in the Unknown, Tears of Joy, and Joyful,” he said. Garner is a member of the Mississippi Band Directors' Association, National Band Association, American School Band Directors' Association and Southeast Mississippi Band Directors' Association (Past-President and current Treasurer).
