Drawing from racism, the performance reverberated beyond notes on the page.
Winslow Township High School marching band director Dave Parkhurst was listening to a sermon last year about the Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda. In the gospel, Jesus asks a crippled a man if he wants to be healed.
Parkhurst interpreted the message past the scripture, sparking the theme of the band’s 2017 award-winning repertoire, which clinched first place in eight competitions across the region, including the Atlantic Coast Championship on Nov. 4, the final competition in the Tournament of Bands circuit, which consists of 250 marching bands.
The “Do You Want To Be Healed?” performance encompasses 49 musicians, 15 color guard members, four songs and a conversation about racism in America.
“We push against this racism issue all the time and it occurred to me that a lot of people, especially with what’s going on currently in our country, don’t really want to be healed of their racial tendencies,” Parkhurst said. “I started to choose some songs that fit the scriptural aspect and the racial aspect.”
From “Wade in the Water” to “Shut Up and Dance,” songs were bridged together by quotes of activists and artists such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Maya Angelou.
Some of the profound sayings were pre-recorded and played on sound files, while others were delivered live. Along with vocalists and violinists, the sound mixes were one of a few unconventional marching band mediums featured throughout the performance.
“Our message wasn’t perceived just through one way. It was an art, so you danced it, you felt it, you heard it through the music,” color guard captain Christah Blackwell said.
The music and the message resounded on football fields throughout the region, including Timber Creek, Central Regional, Woodbridge and Queen Anne County Public in Maryland.
Along with winning eight first-place titles and nine specialty awards, for the first time the band “beat 90,” exceeding 90 points in a competition.
The band reached this milestone in the shadow of a racial incident at Washington Township High School, which hosted the Chapter 1 Championships in mid-October. During the incident, police responded to a disturbance at the school instigated by racial comments made by students on social media.
Students say they were fueled by the incident, intensifying the technicality, musicality and deliverance of the message, which could be attributed to their scoring of 91.54 points.
“You can feel the crowd feeling us. Our goal was to bring the crowd in with us. You can watch their emotions change as we change through the songs,” assistant drum major Tyron Goodman said.
The band maintained this success for the remainder of the season, earning 92.77 points at the Atlantic Coast Championship.
Some of the nine specialty awards it received included best color guard, best music and best visuals.
For the students, who are mostly seniors, “beating 90” was especially rewarding, but reaping the benefits surpasses numerical values.
“Really getting the message across was the main goal and focus, not winning first place,” drum major and senior Aliyah Jones said.
“It’s a constant fight. There’s not much more we can say about it. There’s not much more you can do. It’s there,” quartermaster and senior Josh Sabb said. “And people pretend to be oblivious about it, so we’re playing it out as much as we possibly can.”
