The Jenison High School Marching Band is going beyond the Friday night lights. “Third time is a charm,” they say. After applying three times to be in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, luck was in favor of Mr. Zamborsky. Although, the band’s pure skill played a large hand. Lots of preparation goes into the Macy’s parade for Jenison’s own marching band. The competition season has Monday and Tuesday practices from 6-9 p.m. and Saturday practices from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekly. But this season, to prepare for Macy’s, they have extra Thursday practices. This has been a lot of work for the students and has not been an easy battle. “It feels like a lot of what we’re doing right now is just working and working and working and not getting anywhere with it.” Said Jack Crary, who plays mellophone in the band, “but the work that we put in, has exponential results on how good of a group we are, and it is definitely worth it in the long run.”
One thing they can take off their plate, though, is nationals. Nationals will cut close to the parade, so to reduce stress the directors decided to sacrifice it. That way, they can get more practice in. Many students are sad because nationals are a big part of their season to look forward to. They all agreed, though, that it was worth it for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “Nationals is a very cool experience, but it’s also something that we are . . . fortunate enough to get to experience every year,” noted Dave Zamborsky, the head director of the band, “whereas this is going to be . . . not only the first time in the history of our program but something that very few bands can say they’ve done.”
The key question, though, is will they be ready? Lots of preparation and time goes into the making of this year’s show, “Deco”, so it is easy to imagine they will not be ready. With the mentality and drive of the band, they are confident they will make it happen, though. They are prepared to learn and adapt to any challenges that may present themselves. Even if that means last-minute changes on the spot. When asked if he thought he would be ready when Macy’s rolls around, drum major Jonathan Ngo replied, “Even by the time we’re there, we’re still going to find new things to get better at or anything if things go wrong.”
A lot of work goes into bringing “Deco” to life, but a lot of work and thought also went into the choosing of “Deco” for the show. There is a lot of architecture from the Art Deco era in New York City, so Mr. Zamborsky wanted to embody it in the show. It was also very important to him that they chose music with audience familiarity. He has hopes people watching at home will get excited hearing a piece they recognize. Thus, “Deco”, with music features from George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” was born. “So yeah, it . . . seemed to kind of perfectly fit together.
” Commented Zamborsky.
The band is well aware they are making history in Jenison’s music program. They are one of only six bands performing at Macy’s this year. They’re excited for everyone to see them off the football field and instead, in the Macy’s Parade.
