Pride 4our Patriots

Thousands of notes and steps.
Hundreds of performances.
Forty years.
4our.
The Marching Patriots’ 2016 show — 4our — is about more than just the 131 current members, the staff that leads them, the fans who support them. It seeks to honor everything that has encompassed 4our decades of marching band at Jay County High School.
“We were excited to do a show that hints toward our history of performing at the Indiana State Fair and all the kids and students who have been involved throughout all the years,” said JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer, who, with the exception of a couple of years in the mid-1990s, has been a part of the organization since 1986. “Obviously it’s been a positive experience for 40 years for our band program. We just wanted to celebrate all the kids who have put in the incredible amount of hours, hard work, dedication toward building this program to what its storied history is about.”
That celebration culminates Saturday, when the Marching Patriots compete at the Indiana State Fair for the 40th time. They will take to the track for their preliminary performance at 5:12 p.m. — last out of the 49 bands in competition. The top 16 advance to the finals later in the evening.
Jay County’s show is built around the number four, leading off with four notes — A flat, E flat, B flat and D — played on the vibraphones and chimes, with four color guard members revealing the shows colors — blue, red, green and yellow — in unison. The original composition by Alex Yoder then builds to its first strong hit 20 measures in, when the band members spell out the word “four” in Arabic on the field.
“Visually, you’ll see the symbolism of ‘four’ used a lot,” said Smeltzer, also mentioning the use of four concentric circles, four blocks and a variety of sets that are made up of four moves.
The middle section of the show is the ballad, with the clarinets again introducing the four-note melody. It’s the nostalgic part of the show and includes the reveal of four middle school band members — Mitchell Brown, Lilly Hedges, Mitchell Rockwell and Ashlyn Dow, all of whom have siblings who are in the high school band — wearing each of the four uniforms the Marching Patriots have donned throughout their history.
Most parts of those uniforms were available in storage, but the pants and the overlay for the original 1976 outfit was nowhere to be found. Using photos, band parent Dana Brown recreated those pieces to complete the ensemble.
The Marching Patriots break out of the calmest section of the piece by featuring the percussion section, which is coming off of a 2015 summer band season in which it won the caption award at the state fair. The rock ’n roll section follows, leading into the powerful ending to the show that includes the color guard pulling four massive flags — blue, red, green and yellow — over the heads of the entire band.
Smeltzer and both of his drum majors — junior Alex Huey and sophomore Kaitlyn Dow — agree that the ballad is their favorite part of the show.
“It’s the most emotional. It has the big uniform turn. It just sinks to your heart,” said Huey. “It’s like, this is what we’re here to represent. The people up in the stands.”
He’s referring to former band members, from those who started building the tradition when they first stepped onto the grandstand track at Indiana State Fairgrounds in 1976 to those who marched there last year.
The Marching Patriots’ history includes two state fair titles — 1992 and 2001 — and 10 second-place finishes. Their greatest run was from 1989 to 1994, when they placed in the top two six times in a row. Their most recent runner-up effort came in 2006.
It was those former Marching Patriots up in the stands who illustrated to Dow what this summer has been all about.
“It really is an honor,” she said. “At the ice cream social (Tuesday) night, just to see everybody, all the alumni stand up, and cheer for us, it was so great.”
“It honestly means everything to me,” added percussionist Ian James. “It’s a great feeling to know that I’m part of an organization that’s been able to do something like this.”
In two days, it will be this group of Marching Patriots’ turn to write their chapter in JCHS history, but they talk little about what place they hope to finish in.
Of course, they always want to do the best they can, with that elusive third state fair band day title as the ultimate target. But mostly, they want to put together a performance that will elicit pride, in themselves, in their predecessors and in all of the Marching Patriots community.
“It’s honestly jaw-dropping to me,” said Huey. “We’re here to represent everyone who has put all their hard work and time in and taken out of their summer and their free time to come and do this amazing thing that makes so many bonds and friendships. It’s honestly just mind-blowing to me that we are able to do this …”
… for every former Marching Patriot.
… for every staff member.
… for every friend.
4our.