Show depicts iconic painting

Is it possible to convey one of the world’s most famous paintings in the form of music and marching?

The Jay County High School Marching Patriots’ staff wasn’t sure. But they wanted to find out.

Inspired by the school’s winter color guard show — “Vincent,” inspired by the works of Vincent Van Gogh — from two years ago, the band staff wondered if it could take the artist’s most famous work and translate it to the marching band track. The painting went up on the band room wall, and the staff pondered.

Other ideas were considered, but everyone kept coming back to “The Starry Night.”

When the Marching Patriots take to the field Saturday at the Indiana State Fair, they’ll try to make the grandstand crowd see and hear the painting that features swirls of blue around stars and a crescent moon in the sky over a small town.

“The band is doing a lot of swirls,” said senior Drew Newland, a member of the front ensemble. “They do two moons. And with the music, at the beginning it’s all kind of windy and loose. In the end it’s the city jazz.”

After meetings in December and January, the JCHS band staff turned composer Alex Yoder loose to write the music for the show. He came back with an arrangement that features all sections of the band, from the front ensemble and a flute soloist at the beginning to a variety of big brass hits to a jazz portion based loosely on Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”

The show opens with the sounds of the nighttime, including crickets chirping, until JCHS band director Kelly Smeltzer gives senior drum major Alex Huey the go-ahead to start the show. The front ensemble then leads off, with flute soloist Ali Harris stepping in to provide the melody.

Then the band members, who were previously on one knee with their backs to the crowd, turn around and execute their first big hit. The rest of the opening section features the band members scattering as if blown by the wind, and a brass feature with the woodwinds and color guard swirling around them.

The second section, meant to represent the moon and the stars, turns calm again, with the front ensemble and flute soloist again taking the lead. Six color guard members dance with crescent moons, and at the conclusion the entire band hits the shape of a crescent moon as well.

That moment is junior trombone player Olivia Gundrum’s favorite.

“I just think it’s a really gorgeous part of the show,” she said.

The third section turns to jazz and swing sounds, with front ensemble member Joey Bailey providing the bass line by playing the keyboard. The saxophones and brass are featured, with color guard members twirling rifles and big hits during which band members give up their traditional stance to dance and sway with the music.

The show closes with the band coming straight at the crowd for a big musical hit, and then the color guard first taking gold banners over the top of the group and then blue banners appearing from the back. Those banners come from behind some of the band’s props — a total of 26 panels that depict different sections of “The Starry Night.” All of them, in addition to a ramp on the right side of the track that is used to feature the percussion section, were painted by 2017 JCHS graduate and former Patriot percussionist Sydney Barber.

The visual of the painting is also depicted by a cyprus tree that staff member Devon Lykins constructed out of a two-wheel dolly, metal, foam and other materials.

All of the props, which are transported onto the field by about 25 parents and volunteers, were one of the big challenges. The jazz section was as well.

“I was a little apprehensive about playing jazz because jazz is such a hard concept, swing is such a hard concept to teach sometimes,” said Smeltzer. “You can teach it, but if you don’t feel it, it doesn’t work. We decided to stick our necks out and do that, and the kids really lit up on part three.”

It’s become his favorite part of the show.

Junior drum major Kaitlyn Dow agrees with that assessment. She enjoys the opportunity the Marching Patriots get to break from the norm.

“It’s totally different from what you normally see with marching bands,” she said. “When you think of marching band it’s usually strict and precise and regimented. But during our jazz part … we get to break the rules. We get to lay back and let loose and step out of time and just kind of dance and really get into it.”