Mr. Gerry Miller, Director of Bands
Fine Arts Department Chair

Mr. Miller serves as Wakeland’s first Director of Bands and Fine Arts Department Chair Under his direction, the Wakeland HS Wind Symphony earned 1^st Runner-Up in the 2009 AAAA TMEA Honor Band Competition and the 2008 AAA TMEA Honor Band Competition. The Marching Band earned a 4^th place finish at the 2009 UIL AAAA State Marching Band Contest. The Marching Band earned The Marching Band won Grand Champion at the 2008 and 2009 Denton Golden Triangle Marching Contest and the 2009 Centennial Marching Festival, sweeping all captions at both. Throughout his tenure at Wakeland HS, the marching band has been a consistent finalist in several Dallas-Fort Worth area marching contests.

The Wakeland Band has numerous soloists and ensembles that earn 1^st Division Ratings at UIL Region Solo and Ensemble Contest each year, with the majority continuing on to UIL Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest. Since its inception, the Wakeland Band has earned the UIL Sweepstakes Award for receiving overall 1^st Division (Superior) Ratings in Marching, Concert, and Sightreading Contests. In 2008, Mr. Miller was awarded the prestigious UIL Sponsor Excellence Award.

Mr. Miller also works on the staff of DCI’s 9-time World Champion Drum Corps – The Cadets. He first joined the Cadets staff for their 2007 program “This I Believe”, the 2008 show entitled “…and the pursuit of happiness”, and the 2009 program “Conflict and Resolution”. He is excited to return for the 2010 production.

Mr. Miller received his Bachelors of Music Education at Loyola University - New Orleans where he served as President of the Loyola University Collegiate Music Education Chapter, President of the Loyola University Bands, and Student Coordinator for the Dean's Student Advisory Council. He is in the process of completing his Masters of Music Education.

Mr. Miller and his wife Lori live in McKinney, Texas with their 10-year-old son Gerry and 3-year-old son Benjamin.

Mr. Arturo Denis, Associate Director of Bands
Mr. Denis is Wakeland High School’s first Associate Director of Bands. Previously, he served as Assistant Band Director at Clark Middle School in Frisco under David Dunham.

During his tenure at Wakeland High School, the marching band has been a consistent finalist in several Dallas-Fort Worth area marching contests. The Jazz Band was awarded the “Outstanding Band Award” by the Collin County Community College Jazz Festival in both 2007 and 2008. Under his direction, the Jazz Band won the AAA Classification of the 2008 Texas Christian University Jazz Festival. Mr. Denis’ Symphonic Band earned the school’s first-ever Non-Varsity UIL Sweepstakes Award for receiving overall 1^st Division (Superior) Ratings in Marching, Concert, and Sightreading Contests.

While at Clark Middle School, both Mr. Denis’ Concert II and Jazz II bands received “Best In Class" Awards at the Sandy Lake Festival and his Concert Band II (CC Sub-NV) received Superior Ratings at both Pre-UIL and University Interscholastic League Region XXIV performances.

Mr. Denis attended The University of Texas at Austin earning a Bachelors Degree in Music Education. While studying at Texas, he was part of several organizations including Delta Sigma Phi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and the Longhorn Marching Band where he received an award for Most Outstanding Musician. As a member of the “Showband of the Southwest”, Mr. Denis was a section leader and a trumpet soloist for the Longhorn Band. He was also a member of the University of Texas Wind Ensemble under the direction of esteemed conductor Jerry F. Junkin. While working on his degree, Mr. Denis was a marching technician for the Richardson High School and Austin-Westlake High School Bands, taught lessons and master classes in Austin, and worked both as staff and a counselor for the Longhorn Music Camps.

Mr. Denis  is a member of the Texas Bandmasters Association and the Texas Music Educators Association. 

Mr. Denis is married to Jenny Denis, a band director at Fowler Middle School in Frisco. Together, they have two chihuahuas – Tico and Bruno.

Mrs. Sarah Marquez, Associate Director of Bands

Mrs. Marquez comes to Wakeland High School from North Mesquite High School in the Mesquite ISD.

For the past two years, she has served an Assistant Director of Bands at North Mesquite High School where she taught the concert band and assisted with various middle school and high school classes.  Mrs. Marquez student taught in the Spring of 2006 at Lakeview Centennial High School under Mr. Miller’s supervision.  

She attended the University of North Texas on a music scholarship and graduated in 2006 with a degree in Music Education. While at UNT, she performed in the Symphonic Band under Dennis Fisher and the esteemed UNT Wind Symphony under Eugene Migliaro Corporon.  Additionally, she led the UNT Green Brigade Marching Band for two years as drum major and performed as a member of the Clarinet Studio studying with Dr. Jim Gillespie. Mrs. Marquez is a 2002 graduate of Coppell High School where she was Drum Major and a two-time All State clarinetist.

Mrs. Marquez is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Women Band Directors International, Pi Kappa Lambda.

Mrs. Marquez’s husband Isaac teaches bilingual 1^st grade. Together, they have two cats and two dogs.

Mr. Jeremy Gomez, Percussion Instructor
Mr. Gomez serves as Wakeland High School first Percussion Instructor, also supervising percussion activities at Griffin Middle School and Staley Middle School. He previously served in a similar post at Flower Mound High School in the Lewisville ISD.

During his tenure at Wakeland, the marching band has been a consistent finalist in several Dallas-Fort Worth area marching contests. With his assistance, the Jazz Band has won numerous awards at the CCCC and TCU Jazz Festivals. Additionally, his assistance with the Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band percussion sections has led to 3 UIL Sweepstakes Awards in two years for receiving overall 1^st Division (Superior) Ratings in Marching, Concert, and Sightreading Contests (2007 – AAA Varsity; 2008 – AAA Varsity and AAA Non-Varsity). High School

Mr. Gomez holds a music performance degree from the University of North Texas and is at forefront of several contemporary fields of percussion. His focus on modern teaching methods, mixing ‘world’ rhythms into drumset performance and inventive marching cymbal technique have defined his career thus far. He is an in-demand percussionist in the Dallas area, having played with the North Texas Lab Bands, the UNT Steel Band, the UNT Drumline, and the UNT Pop Ensemble. At UNT, Mr. Gomez studied with Ed Soph, Dr. Robert Schietroma, Paul Rennick, Mark Ford, Chris Deane, and Dr. Jon Kellis.  Since 1995, he has explored South Indian rhythms and concepts under Poovular Sriji, traveling to India in 2000. With Mr. Gomez, the UNT Cross-Cultural South-Indian Ensemble has premiered several pieces and arrangements of Sriji’s., The Colony High School, and Colleyville. Under his direction, these groups have earned several awards, including highest honors at the high school PASIC competition. He is a clinician at The University of North Texas and has presented two clinics at PASIC - on demonstrating methods and techniques for fusing South Indian rhythms into marching percussion and on the talents of the Carolina Crown Cymbal Line. Mr. Gomez is proudly sponsored by the Zyldjian Cymbal Company.

Mr. Gomez teaches private percussion and drumset in Flower Mound, Plano, and Carrollton. He has developed original instruction methods and materials specializing in beginning percussion and drumset coordination.

 As a cymbal instructor, Mr. Gomez has written a unique method defining motions and their applications to cymbal movement in the drumline idiom. Since 1998, he has been instructing and writing the choreography for the UNT cymbal line, winning four Percussive Arts Society Championships and two Best Cymbal Line caption awards. At UNT, Mr. Gomez expanded cymbal applications in percussion and world ensembles. Working with composers Paul Rennick, Poovular Sriji, and Christopher Deane, he has arranged and premiered numerous cymbal ensemble pieces at both UNT and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). From 1998 to 2002, Jeremy served as the cymbal tech for the Carolina Crown Drum & Bugle Corp, winning two Cymbal Ensemble Championships. His pieces used elements of South Indian and Asian music forms combined with artistically appropriate choreography to entertain and educate. Mr. Gomez is an active drumline instructor in the Dallas-Fort Worth area; his high school credits include Plano Senior High School, Flower Mound High School

Mr. Gomez lives in Frisco and has a talented 2^nd-grade daughter named Renee.

Mr. Chris Kichline, Colorguard Instructor

Mr. Kichline serves as Wakeland High School’s first Colorguard Instructor. He previously taught in similar positions at Paschal High School and Arlington-Martin High School.

During his tenure at Wakeland High School, the marching band has been a consistent finalist in several Dallas-Fort Worth area marching contests. The 2007 Winterguard, the school’s first, won the NTCA Novice Class Championships. In 2008, the JV Winterguard won the Silver Medal in the Regional A Classification at NTCA Championships. The Varsity Guard won the Silver Medal in the Scholastic AA Classification.

In addition to his duties at WHS, Mr. Kichline has served on the staffs of Ars Nova Winterguard and Pioneer Drum and Bugle Corps. His guards at Ars Nova have been a consistent finalists at the Winter Guard International Independent A and Independent Open World Finals.

Prior to moving to Dallas-Forth Worth, Mr. Kichline served as the guard instructor and designer for Siloam Springs High School, the Fayetville Public School District, and the University of Arkansas. In 2000, he co-founded the Sarajevo Winterguard to provide access for students interested in high-level guard opportunities after high school level. Mr. Kichline was a member of the Delta Brigade, a 1995 Drum Corps International Division II Finalist Corps as well as Americanos, a DCI Division II Semi-Finalist Corps. He is an in-demand clinician in North Texas for his successful implementation of modern dance, ballet, and jazz into the Winterguard repertoire.

Mr. Kichline resides in Frisco.