Joni Perez
Joni Perez served The Woodlands High School Band in various roles and leadership positions between 2003-2022, the last 12 years of which as Director of Bands. Under her leadership, the concert and marching ensembles received exclusively superior ratings from the University Interscholastic League each and every year. TWHS Wind Ensemble was also a featured ensemble at the Midwest International Band & Orchestra Clinic held in Chicago and has been recognized as a National Wind Band Honors Mark of Excellence Winner. TWHS marching ensembles earned six consecutive appearances at either the 5A or 6A Texas State UIL Marching Band Championships (2010-2020) and competed as a Finalist on every occasion they attended. TWHS Marching Band was a regular participant, finalist, and champion at the Bands of America Regional, Super Regional, and Grand National Championships. The band was a Grand National Finalist all six times they attended under her direction. And in 2013, The Woodlands HS Band was recognized as the Bands of America Grand National Champion, making Perez the first ever female head director to earn that recognition.
Resulting from the accomplishments and scholastic accolades of TWHS Band, in 2013 the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity recognized Mrs. Perez as the Outstanding Young Bandmaster of the Year. In 2018, more widespread recognition followed when the John Philip Sousa Foundation recognized TWHS Band by awarding them the Sudler Shield, which is an international award recognizing high school, youth, and international marching bands of world class excellence. Most recently, Mrs. Perez was awarded with the Citation of Excellence from the National Band Association for an outstanding contribution to bands and band music. This award from the NBA was followed by The Woodlands High School Band program being named an NBA Blue Ribbon Award Program of Excellence for the 2019-2020 school year, signifying that TWHS Band serves its membership a total program through its solo, ensemble, concert band and marching band offerings and consistent successes year after year.
Perez attended the University of Houston earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education (2005). While at the University of Houston, she was afforded the opportunity to learn from highly respected musical influences such as Eddie Green, Tom Bennett, David Bertman, John Benzer and Nancy Goodearl.
Perez is a horn player and marched as a mellophone member with the Cadets of Bergen County Drum & Bugle Corps and aged out on the year of a DCI World Championship victory in 1998 under the direction of Donnie Van Doren, Frank Sullivan and Matt Harloff. She was an original cast member of the Tony Award-winning and Emmy nominated production, Blast!, and performed in the show from 1999-2003 while learning from Jon Vanderkolff, Wayne Downey, Jim Moore and Rosie Miller Queen. As an original London cast member, she toured four years performing on both horn and mellophone. She also completed two separate US performance tours and was a featured solo performer in both the Broadway and Disney productions.
Perez has served as a DCI brass-staff member for several organizations between 2003 and the present. She was a brass instructor for the Blue Knights from 2003-2007, the last two years of which as the Brass Caption Supervisor. She was also a brass instructor for the Cavaliers and Madison Scouts from 2008-2012, and has most recently served as a brass consultant for the Bluecoats during their ’20 & ‘23 seasons. Additionally, Perez returned to the Cavaliers in 2023 as an Ensemble Specialist.
Joni Perez is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association and the National Band Association. She is currently serving or has recently served on the UIL Marching Band Rules Committee, the BOA Advisory Board, the US Bands Texas adjudicator selection committee, and the John Philip Sousa Sudler Shield Jury Panel. Perez works as a guest conductor, an instructional coach and consultant for dozens of band programs across Texas, offers leadership workshops to high school students, and serves as an adjudicator across the country for various circuits and organizations, including BOA & UIL. Perez resides in The Woodlands, Texas with Brian Perez, her husband of seventeen years, and their three kitties Ziggy, Biskitt & Diddle.