Hailey Norris, in Supergirl shirt, performs in the NISH band’s clarinet section. 

This is the most terrifying time of year for Kelly Landry.

New Iberia Senior High School’s band director kicked off the band’s 2014 marching season with almost 90 students Tuesday. 

“The funny thing is it’s terrifying … every year it really is. Every year you go in thinking you have new kids and a new show and the kids are scared,” Landry, who is in his fifth year as band director at NISH, said. “It’s what we expected to be on the first day. We’re not going to set the world on fire our first day, but we’re not going to sit back and let it burn either.”

The NISH marching program will perform in some seven to eight events over the year with the members putting in close to 1,000 hours of work, Landry said. That includes sprints, push ups, conditioning and everything in between.

Landry said the travel cost for the band comes out to about $12,000 to $14,000 a year with an operating cost of $64,000 last year.

“We really put in a lot of work,” Landry said. “I’m not the funniest guy to be around, especially toward the end of the season, but I have a great group of kids that understand it’s not going to be fun all the time.”  

This season, the Yellow Jackets will perform the show “Love Never Dies” based on the Phantom of the Opera. During the first day of practice the band program also had an opportunity to watch the 15-time national champion Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps from Concord, California.

“It’s a learning experience for the guys. I wanted to give the kids a chance to watch the Blue Devils,” Landry said. “We were able to watch them do sectionals inside and outside and they did a standstill in our parking lot. It was good for us to watch and see the best.”

Landry said he wants to continue to build a strong band program, and in doing so he likes to keep the talent “in house.”

Landry has several assistants who have graduated from NISH or were members of the NISH music program. Andre Rochelle, a NISH graduate from 2008, teaches the front ensemble otherwise known as “The Pit.” Rochelle started working with the band two years after graduation.

“It’s a great program … it really is,” Rochelle said. “It’s very promising. We have a lot of incoming freshman, so we’re just working on everything that they would be able to handle.”

Rochelle, 24, who has been instructing with the NISH band program for four years, said one of the biggest challenges is getting the kids in condition to handle the rigorous challenge of marching.

“I mean you’re burning say as many calories in a span of nine minutes like an Olympic runner,” Rochelle said. “The condition part is hard because you have to get the kids’ bodies in shape to handle a nine-minute routine.”

Despite returning a core group of seniors, Landry said he still has those “Oh my God” moments with the younger band members. Support from the community and encouragement will be key, he added.

“At the end of the day I do want them to have fun and cut down on some of those “Oh my God” moments, like ‘Oh my God, I have to have the music memorized,’ or ‘Oh my God, I have to march and play at the same time.’ It’s just going to be a learning experience,” Landry said. “We really hope the community gets behind us and not only watches us on Fridays but during the competitions on Saturday. It’s going to be a good year.”