New selections

First of all, it was great to listening to the Region 14 Symphonic Band (conducted by William Owens) perform "Los Braziles" at their Region Concert last January. Excellent performance to the students and Mr. Owens! I have finished a new marching band show entitled "Rising Temperatures" which I am very excited about. Percussion is being composed by Mr. Adam Clay. Adam is a percussion specialist/band director at Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas. He also is on the percussion staff of the Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps, from Rosemont Illinois. As I receive the movements, I will be posting on my website. Finally, besides teaching and composing music, I am coaching middle school tennis.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving means a lot of different things to different people. To me, it means being thankful for God, good health, my wonderful family, my job, and many other wonderful blessings. God has been great to me and I am very thankful for his blessings.

I hope you and your family have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

25 Years of Teaching

I am now entering my 5th year of teaching band at Los Obispos Middle School in Laredo. So far, it has been great experience working such wonderful students, fellow teachers, administrators, and parents. My co-worker, Victor Gunnoe, has been an exceptional person to work with.

Overall, this is my 25th year in education. Wow, where have all the years gone by? I had a great time in college at Western Illinois University in Macomb. During this period of time, I was able to study with Dale Hopper, Dennis Johnson, Christopher Izzo, Roger Collins, and many more. What a great group of educators whom really cared for us students! I was very blessed to attend this prestigous university.

I remember starting my career in Toulon, Illinois. I am blessed to still be in touch with a few of my former students at Toulon. I remember walking in the school and inheriting about 15 or so students. By the second week or so, we had about 17 -20 students. Our first goal was to perform at football games without any help from the local community band. We did it!! I remember the pride on their faces as we were able to perform by ourselves. I stayed at Toulon 2 years and then traveled down the road to Elmwood, Illinois. I spent 1 year at this school district and decided it was the right time to go back to school and earn my masters. Without hesitation, I enrolled at Vandercook College in Chicago, Illinois. I was able to study with several great educators including Victor Zajec, Roger Rocco, Ethel Merker, Bart Ghent, Michael Katterjohn, and many others.

After graduating from Vandercook, it was time to find another job. Things were tough in the midwest, so God blessed me and brought me to Laredo, Texas. I started out at United High School. This was an outstanding opportunity for me. I was able to teach with Javier Vera, Joel Wright, Carlos Gil, and Dennis Garza. They are still very good friends of mine. Later on, John Mallon, Luis Valdez and John Armstrong came on board. Great kids and support!! After 6 great years, I decided it was time to be a head director in Texas. I was the first head band director at John B. Alexander High School. We started with about 60 students (no seniors) and were able to put together a good program. During my last year, I realized that my family needed me and I needed a break from the hours taught at the high school level.

I went to the middle school level; first at Washington Middle School and now at Los Obispos Middle School. Both schools gave me the opportunity to develop my craft of composing/arranging music. I have many great memories of my years at Washington and now I'm making memories at Los Obispos.

In closing, I hope to teach about 10 to 15 more years and then hang up the baton. I hope that God will give me good health to continue.

Christmas Holidays

Christmas for 2009 is turning into one of the best ever! I am realizing more and more how precious these Christmas holidays have been with my family. We spent Christmas eve at church worshiping our Lord and King. The Church was so beautifully decorated and the air was filled with holiday spirits.

Christmas morning was a time to watch everybody open their presents and for remembering the true meaning of Christmas..........the birth of our Lord.

It definitely has been a wonderful Christmas holiday!

UIL Marching Contest & New Works

First of all, a big congratulations goes to Zapata High School (Amado Martinez, Director) for receiving straight 1's at last Saturday's UIL Marching Competition held in Sinton. Judges commented that their show was the most musical of all of the bands that had performed earlier. Note- they were one of the last bands to compete. I also want to thank the following Texas bands for allowing me the opportunity to write their shows: Tulia High School (Brandon Haynes, Director) and Elgin High School (Dave Polk, Director).

Secondly, I would like to thank Mr. Allen Clark and the University of Texas-Brownsville Wind Ensemble for recording my four latest works. These works include: "Legend of the Dragonfly", "Rocking with the Reindeer", "Los Braziles", and "Four Short Dances". These will be submitted very soon for publication consideration.

Finally, I am available for commissions for concert and marching bands. I am always willing to negotiate a fair price that band programs can afford. Just contact me.

Instrumentalist Magazine

The Instrumentalist Magazine has done several reviews on my newest works. I am extremely proud to have these works published and highly recommended. I hope I can continue to write excellent works for bands of all ages.

I am working on a few projects right now including a new show for Impactmarching.com. This show is titled "Escape from Mars". I also plan on writing a show of all Beethoven music, opera music, and much more. I have two string orchestra works that I am trying to get recorded and published. And finally, I am working on a few new concert works.

Life is great!!

New works

Several new works have come out this past summer with TRN Music Publishers. "Chango Loco", "River Oaks March", "Pacific March", and "G Force: The Ultimate Rollercoaster Ride" are now available from your favorite music dealer. I have several other works still in the process of being published by TRN. I will post more about them when available.

If you are looking for a composer to write a piece commissioned for your band, please consider me. I will be happy to work with you on your ideas using the instrumentation and level of your band.

Thanks,

Dennis