Denton ISD Our Impact In Your Community Magazine Winter 2015-2016 | Page 20

unified JAm SeSSion
Denton student shares experiences with current students

Denton jazz students now have a one-of-a-kind
custom Pearl drum kit thanks to the former U.N.
ambassador’s donation

D

enton igh School ja students
recently received a new drum set, but
perhaps the more significant aspect of
the gift was talking to who it came from
– Warren Tichenor, a former United States
ambassador to the United Nations who is
also a former Denton student.
Mr. Tichenor attended Denton ISD schools
from 1970 to 1977, including Denton High
until the end of his junior year before
moving. For that entire period, he was a
drum fanatic, playing from a young age
until he was old enough to join the Denton
High stage band, the equivalent of today’s
ja bands. There, he played a set of white
Pearl drums and received acclaim for his
musical acumen.
When Mr. Tichenor connected with Jesse
Woolery, director of ja bands at Denton
igh, he had a very specific idea of how he
wanted to provide support for the school’s
musical programs.
“About a year or two ago, I called Jesse
and said, ‘Look, I’d like to do something
nice for my former school,’ and I
immediately knew I wanted to provide
a drum kit identical to what I had,” Mr.
Tichenor said. “When I say identical, I mean
it’s literally almost the exact same. We had
this custom made by a shop in Hollywood,
and it took about six months for them to
make this 2015 model look like my old set in
19 with the same finish.

18

Mr. Tichenor added that he was excited
to come back to the area to see how its
changed. The city’s namesake high school
is largely how he remembers it, even with
several new additions, but the community
has seen substantial transformations. When
Mr. Tichenor lived in Denton, for instance,
traveling from Denton to Dallas meant
going through rural areas; now, it’s “much
more like Denton and Dallas are joined
together” by now-developed towns and
cities, he said.
After watching ja students perform,
including two on the program’s new
drum kit, Mr. Tichenor discussed his time
at Denton High as well as his political
experiences. Mr. Tichenor was appointed
by President George W. Bush as the
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and other
international organizations in Geneva in
2006, a position he held until 2009.
One important lesson Mr. Tichenor learned
from both his educational and political
careers is that fine arts can transcend
barriers and serve as a common interest,
he said.
“When I was an ambassador, we’d do
these kinds of [culture exchange] things
with painters, musicians and other artists,”
Mr. Tichenor explained. “We often take our
culture for granted. But, you can see how
ubiquitous American culture is. It’s a way
to kind of break the ice and find common