Last summer they called him “King ‘Los” as Woodward senior Carlos Lira helped prepare the Boomer

Band for what would end up being a stellar year for Lira and the band and set the stage for his future endeavors. Carlos, who plays the baritone saxophone, has seen the evolution of the band since he was a freshman.

“That first year I was really shy and maybe a little intimated but I learned a lot. My sophomore year we dealt with Covid and didn’t have many competitions but that year I became the saxophone section leader and that really helped me open up more. We improved a little during my junior year but still weren’t where we wanted to be. This year when Gosie Gones, Chris Rosales and I were selected as drum majors, we set out to bring the band together and improve it. We had dinners and other events to get to know one another better. And we went to our band director Daci Crockett and we added some visuals into our competition program which was a first,” said Lira.

And improve they did, finishing in the finals and top 10 in most of their competitions, culminating with a fourth place finish out of 16 bands in the finals of the Elgin competition which included some 6A and 5A schools. They also scored 1s in concert band competitions and qualified for state.

“As a senior and drum major that Elgin competition was a real highlight for me,” said Carlos. “I think it proved to the band and the community how good we could be.”

At Woodward there is also the tradition of a Saxophone Choir which plays at competitions, community events and even got invited to play at the Oklahoma Music Masters Association banquet. Carlos is a part of that ensemble and is where he became involved in another area of excellence.

“My sophomore year we needed a soprano sax for our choir so I organized a fundraising dinner to purchase it and we raised $2000. Last year I put together another fund raiser to fund a jazz band and we raised over $3000.”

As a result, Carlos has decided to attend the University of Central Oklahoma next year to study organizational communications which encompasses areas like human resources, non-profits and fund raising.

Maybe the king of success and fund raising would be good titles for Carlos Lira of Woodward.