July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Jay band takes 3rd (8/7/03)
Muncie Southside wins state title
Jay band takes 3rd (8/7/03)
INDIANAPOLIS — All the hard work, the four-hour practices and the pressure-packed performances of both day and night led to this: The track of the Indiana State Fairgrounds packed shoulder-to-shoulder with 16 of Indiana’s best marching bands — cheering, chanting, and praying that their name is called last.
If the contest were judged on enthusiasm and creativity during this animated period before the results were announced, the Jay County Marching Patriots would win Band Day hands-down every year. There are some schools that stand silently at attention as they wait for results, others clap, and even more talk quietly amongst themselves.
But not the Jay County kids.
They’re singing, dancing, laughing and carrying on like nobody’s watching. They do a dance called “The Banana,” then they sing “The Pony Song,” and a few minutes later they do a “Baby Shark” routine.
And when the crowd starts to quiet down, they turn to the grandstand and start chanting back-and-forth with a sea of yellow shirts that represents the Jay County faithful, who give the energy right back.
The public address announcer reads the final placings from No. 16 on up, and following each announcement is an eruption of cheers. The Patriots are so confident they hardly pay attention until it’s time for the top three finalists to be announced.
It could be debated as to who had the best performance between the final trio of Richmond, Jay County and the Patriots’ No. 1 rival Muncie Southside, but only one thing is certain — the top three bands at the Indiana State Fair Band Day are pretty darn good.
When Jay County’s name finally is called, in third place — a full two spots behind the only acceptable finish in their eyes — the group of 160-plus students goes dead silent. There is no explosion of cheers, no more singing and dancing.
For the first time all day, the music stopped.
Some of the kids stand dumbfounded as it is announced that Muncie South defeated Richmond by a mere 0.3 points to win back-to-back state titles. A few of the underclassmen shake their heads in disgust, the juniors start to think about next year and the seniors cry.
“I hate losing, we’ve obviously very competitive, or we wouldn’t have been doing this for so long,” JCHS band director Dave Humbert said. “We’ve sat on this very ground and watched kids cry after getting second (place), and cheer after getting 16th. So what do you do? And that’s where I feel bad, ’cause you can’t say ‘next year’ because for the seniors it’s their last year.”
The determination of the group is staggering. Performing well is simply not good enough. For this group of kids, anything short of perfection is just unacceptable. Which is difficult, as senior drum major Janna Rines admits, because the performance of “Spirit de Cour” and “Diamond Variations” that the band has been practicing at JCHS all summer and during band camp last week at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio is not an easy number to perfect.
“I think it was really a disappointment that we did so poorly,” Rines said after the afternoon performance. “(This show) has to be right on time, because it’s one of the hardest shows we’ve ever played. If we we’re going to win it, we’ve got to make sure we get just about everything right.”
“You can always do better,” sophomore Cody Grady says. “If there’s one thing Mr. Humbert tells us it’s that there’s no such thing as perfect. You can always keep going, going and going, and keep getting better. Yeah, it could have been better, but I think we did a pretty good job tonight.”
The members of the Marching Patriots are outspoken about a lot of things, but one theme was reiterated throughout the day — almost as much as they want to win it all, beating Muncie Southside is a victory unto itself. Jay County found itself in second place at nearly all the county contests that led up to the state fair this year. The Rebels beat the Patriots by a 2.1 points last year at Band Day, avenging the Patriots’ state championship of 2001.
“Our rival is Muncie Southside, and we just really want to get it done and beat them,” senior trumpet player Julie Sours said. “It’s basically all heart. Who wants it more? They have a really solid performance, but we’ve been the underdog all year, so that’s (motivation) for us.”
“It’s a positive thing for everybody,” Humbert, who was celebrating his 36th wedding anniversary Wednesday, said of the rivalry. “They respect the other people, but they still just hate to lose.”
“It’s kind of fun, because (the Rebels) are on top and our goal is to beat them,” Grady said. “So we just want to try to inch, inch and inch our way, so that maybe we can knock them down. And this is our latest chance to knock them down.”
The Rebels’ championship performance earned them a final score of 89.45, with Richmond finishing right on their heels with 89.15. Jay County’s third place finish came with a final score of 84.20 — combined from a 28.75 in music, visual score of 29.05 and a music general effect score of 26.40. But for the band kids, the girls in the guard and Humbert and all his staff, the final score only meant they were far from perfection.
“We’ve had a bunch of second (place finishes), and again, that’s just a number on a piece of paper, but still it’s like they’re after that number one,” Humbert said. “These are some good kids that have been working hard with lots of parents and the community behind it, it’s been a really neat activity.”
A summer of work and sweat, and an entire day spent in Indianapolis culminated at the JCHS football field at just after 2 a.m. Thursday morning. The bulk of the Jay County crowd — that nearly dwarfed the other groups of spectators at Band Day — made it down to the field to wish their band one final farewell. It had been hours since the disappointing third-place announcement back in the state’s capital, but finally, a few smiles started to creep back onto the faces of the group.
“Tradition has been strong here, and the chance to do well helps,” Humbert said. “The community support, the signs up around town, that’s what makes all this special. We’re kind of spoiled at Jay County, because that doesn’t happen everywhere.”[[In-content Ad]]
If the contest were judged on enthusiasm and creativity during this animated period before the results were announced, the Jay County Marching Patriots would win Band Day hands-down every year. There are some schools that stand silently at attention as they wait for results, others clap, and even more talk quietly amongst themselves.
But not the Jay County kids.
They’re singing, dancing, laughing and carrying on like nobody’s watching. They do a dance called “The Banana,” then they sing “The Pony Song,” and a few minutes later they do a “Baby Shark” routine.
And when the crowd starts to quiet down, they turn to the grandstand and start chanting back-and-forth with a sea of yellow shirts that represents the Jay County faithful, who give the energy right back.
The public address announcer reads the final placings from No. 16 on up, and following each announcement is an eruption of cheers. The Patriots are so confident they hardly pay attention until it’s time for the top three finalists to be announced.
It could be debated as to who had the best performance between the final trio of Richmond, Jay County and the Patriots’ No. 1 rival Muncie Southside, but only one thing is certain — the top three bands at the Indiana State Fair Band Day are pretty darn good.
When Jay County’s name finally is called, in third place — a full two spots behind the only acceptable finish in their eyes — the group of 160-plus students goes dead silent. There is no explosion of cheers, no more singing and dancing.
For the first time all day, the music stopped.
Some of the kids stand dumbfounded as it is announced that Muncie South defeated Richmond by a mere 0.3 points to win back-to-back state titles. A few of the underclassmen shake their heads in disgust, the juniors start to think about next year and the seniors cry.
“I hate losing, we’ve obviously very competitive, or we wouldn’t have been doing this for so long,” JCHS band director Dave Humbert said. “We’ve sat on this very ground and watched kids cry after getting second (place), and cheer after getting 16th. So what do you do? And that’s where I feel bad, ’cause you can’t say ‘next year’ because for the seniors it’s their last year.”
The determination of the group is staggering. Performing well is simply not good enough. For this group of kids, anything short of perfection is just unacceptable. Which is difficult, as senior drum major Janna Rines admits, because the performance of “Spirit de Cour” and “Diamond Variations” that the band has been practicing at JCHS all summer and during band camp last week at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio is not an easy number to perfect.
“I think it was really a disappointment that we did so poorly,” Rines said after the afternoon performance. “(This show) has to be right on time, because it’s one of the hardest shows we’ve ever played. If we we’re going to win it, we’ve got to make sure we get just about everything right.”
“You can always do better,” sophomore Cody Grady says. “If there’s one thing Mr. Humbert tells us it’s that there’s no such thing as perfect. You can always keep going, going and going, and keep getting better. Yeah, it could have been better, but I think we did a pretty good job tonight.”
The members of the Marching Patriots are outspoken about a lot of things, but one theme was reiterated throughout the day — almost as much as they want to win it all, beating Muncie Southside is a victory unto itself. Jay County found itself in second place at nearly all the county contests that led up to the state fair this year. The Rebels beat the Patriots by a 2.1 points last year at Band Day, avenging the Patriots’ state championship of 2001.
“Our rival is Muncie Southside, and we just really want to get it done and beat them,” senior trumpet player Julie Sours said. “It’s basically all heart. Who wants it more? They have a really solid performance, but we’ve been the underdog all year, so that’s (motivation) for us.”
“It’s a positive thing for everybody,” Humbert, who was celebrating his 36th wedding anniversary Wednesday, said of the rivalry. “They respect the other people, but they still just hate to lose.”
“It’s kind of fun, because (the Rebels) are on top and our goal is to beat them,” Grady said. “So we just want to try to inch, inch and inch our way, so that maybe we can knock them down. And this is our latest chance to knock them down.”
The Rebels’ championship performance earned them a final score of 89.45, with Richmond finishing right on their heels with 89.15. Jay County’s third place finish came with a final score of 84.20 — combined from a 28.75 in music, visual score of 29.05 and a music general effect score of 26.40. But for the band kids, the girls in the guard and Humbert and all his staff, the final score only meant they were far from perfection.
“We’ve had a bunch of second (place finishes), and again, that’s just a number on a piece of paper, but still it’s like they’re after that number one,” Humbert said. “These are some good kids that have been working hard with lots of parents and the community behind it, it’s been a really neat activity.”
A summer of work and sweat, and an entire day spent in Indianapolis culminated at the JCHS football field at just after 2 a.m. Thursday morning. The bulk of the Jay County crowd — that nearly dwarfed the other groups of spectators at Band Day — made it down to the field to wish their band one final farewell. It had been hours since the disappointing third-place announcement back in the state’s capital, but finally, a few smiles started to creep back onto the faces of the group.
“Tradition has been strong here, and the chance to do well helps,” Humbert said. “The community support, the signs up around town, that’s what makes all this special. We’re kind of spoiled at Jay County, because that doesn’t happen everywhere.”[[In-content Ad]]
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