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Dustin Shreve, Snyder High School’s new band director, looked through music files during band registration Tuesday.
Snyder High School has named Dustin Shreve as its new band director. He has wasted little time, jumping right into the role and opened registration this week.
Shreve moved to Snyder from New Mexico, where he taught music education for five years. Previously, he taught both high school and junior high school bands at the same time, and he is looking forward to being able to focus on the high school band program.
“The area I was in was great. The kids were great and the community was nice, but I’ve always wanted to teach in Texas, so this was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” he said. “Texas is very supportive of its music and arts education and a lot of the music programs across the state have a very good reputation nationwide. You’ve got several band programs that are almost legendary on the national level. It’s just a great place for music education in general.”
Shreve said that he and his family are excited to be in Snyder. His four children are looking forward to becoming involved in community activities and sports when those organizations begin to reopen.
“We’re moving up in the world, according to my wife,” he laughed. “We don’t have to go out of town to find most things, and not only that, but the community is much nicer.”
Shreve said that he has been given several priorities for this year, but his main focus will be improving and growing Snyder High School’s band program.
“I am definitely being tasked with bringing back the competitiveness, really beefing up the quality of the program, and hopefully bringing in more participants. Bigger isn’t always that important. It’s more about the quality and how you use what you have,” he said. “It’s the journey. What opportunities do the kids have to improve on an individual level? As a group, how can we focus on growth as musicians? My biggest focus is creating a quality product that these kids can be proud of, and hopefully the numbers will grow along with that.”
The Pride of the West band and color guard will be open to eighth graders as well as high school students. Registration began on Monday and will continue Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. until July 9.
Band camp will begin July 27.
“If there are students that are interested in being in band, I hope they won’t hesitate to come and talk to us,” Shreve said. “Becoming an instrumentalist or learning color guard — that’s for everybody. Come try it out.”