It takes dedication to show up for hours upon hours of rehearsal in the best circumstances. On a hot October afternoon, immediately after class, with a mob of 107 sweaty teenagers ? That is unusual dedication.

For the Puma Regiment, that is just Thursday.

“It takes a lot of determination and patience,” says band director Brandon Kiesgen as he surveys his students. “In this activity, the more you give, the more you’re going to get.”

For their 2015 season, the Regiment has been performing “Film Noir,” a three-movement show playing with the classic film genre of the Forties and Fifties. Big band jazz, Bogart-esque detectives, and femme fatales all play a role.

“The movies and the genre has a very distinct feel to it,” says Kiesgen, who notes that the theme, “gave us the opportunity to educate the students about this genre and everything that they might not know about.”

“It started off as a complete joke,” percussion tech Taylor Willis-Highers recollects. “Someone was like ‘why don’t we just do a jazz show’ and we were like ‘no.’ It’s not something that I think is very prevalent within, especially, this generation today…Then we just developed it a little bit more and it ended up being something that we kind of liked that we saw was kind of iconic.”

Film noir shows have been done before, but the Regiment has worked hard to put a unique twist on their version. A single lamppost stands just off center-field and serves as focal point for the show’s design, seeming to throw shadows on a row of brick-wall backdrops to the left. The ballad features a member singing a pop standard over a trumpet solo. The colors are also a shade brighter than the traditional noir, with bursts of color popping out in the uniforms, flags, and color guard costumes.

“Everyone’s really excited about the show,” says senior Connor Maxwell. “The concept is something everyone can agree on.”

That optimistic feeling is crucial for a band: if members do not believe a show is worth the effort that attitude can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“We’re trying to always stay positive with each other,” says junior Savannah Bowers, “and give each other positive critiquing in the most kind ways.”

“They’re not putting all their emphasis on trying to be number one,” Kiesgen notes. “They’re putting their emphasis on some more attainable goals, which has helped keep their attitude up.”

That shift in focus is a crucial morale-boost for a band that has never really had the opportunity to compete against its peers. The Regiment has 107 members, which logistically places it in the top bracket of the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ABODA), the state’s band competition coordinator. The problem is that this bracket also includes bands with 160 and even 180 members, which, in the past, has left Perry crowded out of the top ten qualification for State Championships.

“There’s a little bit of bias,” says Maxwell, “towards bigger band, bigger score–the more sound you get out, the more competitive [you are].”

This year, the Regiment has remedied this by competing in a new circuit, the Arizona Marching Band Association, in addition to ABODA. Founded this year, AZMBA believes that “consistent and quality adjudication that follows national standards and trends will develop the marching band activity in Arizona.”

“We compete with people like Sandra Day O’Connor [High School, a 160-person band] in ABODA and we come ten points behind; we compete with them in the AZMBA show and we’re only behind by four points. It evens the playing field for bands like us,” says Maxwell.

The Regiment’s final ABODA placing was an “Excellent” score at the State Marching Band Festival. They did not advance to ABODA’s championships. On the AZMBA circuit, they most recently took third at Campo Verde, with a score of 70.45.