School bands place 1st and 2nd on Columbus Day

Photos courtesy the East Meadow School District The East Meadow High School marching band earned its 13th first-place victory in its two-plus decades of competing in the Columbus Day Parade.

Courtesy the East Meadow School District

The W.T. Clarke marching band, shown taking a selfie on parade day earlier this month, earned its highest placement ever — second — in just six years of competing in the New York City holiday event.

Courtesy the East Meadow School District

Madison Sanders and Ashley Sanders were part of East Meadow High School’s color guard.

Courtesy the East Meadow School District

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Another Columbus Day has brought more accolades for the East Meadow School District’s music program. For the first time, the East Meadow and W.T. Clarke high school marching bands took the top two spots in the annual parade in New York City marking the holiday. East Meadow took first, and Clarke second.

It’s East Meadow’s 13th first-place finish since it began participating in the parade in the early ‘90s. And for Clarke, which made its first appearance in the parade just six years ago, it was their highest finish ever.

It was also a bounce-back performance for both schools from a year ago, when East Meadow placed third, and Clarke sixth.

“It’s a tremendous amount of growth,” said Clarke’s band director Steve Engle. He lauded the leadership roles taken by his older students, who served as role models to the younger musicians. [They] pulled them out during lunchtime,” he said, “worked with them after school on their music, worked on their marching, their footwork, on their horn carriage. The kids are really the ones who did all of the work.”

For East Meadow High, band director Christopher Hale said the school’s decorated history in the parade is a big motivator for the kids. “It’s a source of pride,” said Hale. “The history goes back to where it’s almost like kids’ parents were in the band when we started doing it.”

The schools learned their results a few days after the Oct. 12 performances. Engle said he told his students by writing down the top six finishers on a board, starting from the bottom-up. “When they realized by the third spot, their name still wasn’t up, boy they were pretty excited,” he said. “There was a lot of jumping and cheering.”

The students in both bands assembled on Fifth Avenue and 46th Street, and marched to 75th Street, said Engle, over the course of about 90 minutes. They are judged on three factors: music, marching and general effect. East Meadow scored a 93, and Clarke a 91.

Both directors said the significance of performing in such an illustrious event in the nation’s most populated city is not lost on the students. Often, they said, they are told by former students that marching in the parade is their fondest high school memory.

“The sound is bouncing off the skyscrapers, and you’re marching past St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and there’s thousands of people,” said Engle. “There’s nothing like it. It’s one of those life events you will remember forever.”

“As soon as the kids step off that bus,” added Hale, “they know they’re involved in something special.”

Participating bands choose their own music to play. East Meadow performed “In the Stone” by Earth, Wind and Fire, and “The Stars and Stripes Forever” by composer John Philip Sousa.

Clarke played a medley of John Philip Sousa songs, and classics from “West Side Story” composed by Leonard Bernstein.

It’s the support of the district’s administration, Board of Education, and the East Meadow and Salisbury communities that has allowed the two schools’ music programs to succeed, both band directors said. Indeed, Engle said Clarke’s marching band will soon be acquiring new hats for its musicians. “Clarke has never had marching band hats. The kids are super excited about that,” he said, adding that the students will don their new attire when they march in the National Cherry Blossoms Festival Parade in Washington, D.C. next April.

Finishing first and second in this year’s parade will only enhance the district’s musical reputation, noted Hale. “It’s one thing to always push yourself to do better,” he said, “but when you have a school that’s across town from you, upping their game, it just makes it that much more special.” 

Engle, meanwhile, said that while students in both schools are fully supportive of one another, he admitted that there is a slight rivalry. “As band directors, it’s our job to keep the kids focused on what’s truly important,” he said. “But I’d be lying if I told you there wasn’t a little piece of us that really wants to come in first next year and East Meadow come in second.”