Angels among us

As the rest of the band begins marching off of the track, a lone trumpet player drops to his knees, head bowed. Overcome, he’s in need of a helping hand.
A member of the color guard swoops in behind, gently raising him to his feet. With a sigh of relief, a look of calm comes over him and together they depart the track.
The idea for the Jay County High School Marching Patriots’ show — “Angels Among Us” — captured in that brief moment at its conclusion, was born out of a desire to thank the community for its generosity that allowed the purchase of new uniforms for this summer.
More than a year ago, the Marching Patriots, who will perform at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Indiana State Fair Band Day competition, began a fundraising campaign in an effort to purchase new uniforms for the first time in 15 years. At a cost of $400 each, the price tag totaled $80,000, for the uniforms that are predominantly black with blue on the shoulders and forearms highlighted by red and white accents.
The Portland Foundation gave half of that money, and the rest came from community donations. So when the band’s staff members began thinking about a show theme for 2015, generosity was one their minds.
“It kind of developed from a show about gratitude to a show about guardian angels,” said JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer. “Part of the end of the show — ‘A Gift to be Simple’ — is giving thanks for all we have.
“We talked about how guardian angels are in our lives every day. Sometimes we don’t recognize that.
“A guardian angel doesn’t always have to come down with wings. Sometimes there’s some things you just can’t explain that work out for the better.
“There are a lot of guardian angels in our lives.”
So their composer, Alex Yoder of Carmel, and visual designer, Jon Bay of Fort Wayne, went to work putting together a show that tells a story.
It begins with upbeat music that represents the times when everything is going well in life. But it soon turns to a discordant “strife” section, with the melody of the Sarah McLachlan song “In the Arms of an Angel” fighting musically with “hard punches” from the brass and percussion sections.
“It’s like life is sometimes,” said Smeltzer. “Life can be going along really well. You feel like you’re in control, and then something happens, and then all of a sudden you’re out of control.”
The band then plays a ballad based on the song “Whispers of an Angel” by Amici Forever. The section represents the lowest points in life, when its unclear if things will work out.
But then angels — in the form of members of the color guard — appear.
“After that, things pick right up again and celebration happens at the end,” said Smeltzer, noting elements of the songs “Simple Gifts” by Yo-Yo Ma and Allison Kraus and “Angels we Have Heard on High.” “We are very thankful and show gratitude for the angels who show up in our lives.”
During the spring, Smeltzer, in an effort to help create a connection with the show, asked band members to write essays about their guardian angel.
Sophomore saxophone player Christopher McDowell wrote about when he broke his arm as a child. He was worried when it happened, but everything turned out OK and doctors even told him the incident would lead to his arm being stronger as he grew older.
Emily Farmer, a freshman flute player, remembers a difficult time in her childhood in Richmond during which she prayed that she would get to move away from that situation. Eventually she came to Jay County to live with her father, which has brought positive change to her life.
Sophomore flute player Isabel Alicea shared the story of Michael Hodge, her former basketball coach who encouraged her to stick with basketball when she was 7 years old. She did, and still plays today.
Hodge later suffered from heart failure, receiving a transplant about seven years ago. Earlier this year, Alicea visited him for the last time, just before he died because of his heart problems.
“Whenever I want to quit something, I just kind of think of Mike,” said Alicea. “And actually I wanted to quit band this year. … I could just see him telling me not to do it. And I’m so happy I didn’t. That’s my guardian angel.”
Visual representations of guardian angels are interwoven throughout the show. Members of the color guard dance with their counterparts from the woodwind section, lifting them during times of trouble. And at one point they each have two flags, representing angel wings.
Smeltzer hopes the final sequence, enacted by Nick Hayden and Julie Schubert, connects with everyone in the stands at Indiana State Fair Band Day.
“I like the ending,” said Smeltzer. “To me that’s kind of a culmination of the whole experience of the guardian angel.
“I hope they can most definitely just experience the whole story. I hope they can have a personal connection with it.”