Can a Marching Band Be Revived or Will Malaise Win?

Ask travelers to the Pennsylvania Dutch country about one landmark that stands out for them. Chances are good they would respond, “The Gap (Pa.) town clock.” That white tower has been telling time for years. Without it, drivers would probably zip onto Route 30 and not realize where they were.
There is a similarly odd attraction in Margate, up in Atlantic County, which has brought smiles to generations of curiosity seekers. Do you know what it is? Hint: The Republican Party could adopt it as its mascot. Right! It’s Lucy the Elephant, a six-story tall pachyderm that has been drawing crowds since 1882.
The next one may catch you off guard a bit, but no doubt, sand bass fishermen will know the answer immediately. Where, in this favored land of the free and home of the brave, is there a National Sand Bass Festival held annually the first full week of June? The answer: Madill, Okla.
Enough challenging questions, here’s an easy one: For what is Middle Township High School widely known? A legion of orange-and-black wearers would eagerly respond, “The Panther Marching Band.”
A disclaimer straightaway, my daughter Lisa spent four years in that revered group of marching musicians playing flute and piccolo. During that time, my wife and I joined the locals who found competition sites we never otherwise would have visited.
We experienced cold I had not known since the winter at Great Lakes Naval Training Center on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Best of all, we witnessed what teenagers could do when dedication and training was applied in nearly superhuman doses from just after July 4 until shortly before Thanksgiving.
The high school musicians, like clockwork, it seemed, would annually return home from competitions with first-place banners and trophies, all to the screaming sirens of fire engines and police cars. It happened so often, we became accustomed to the processions. Perhaps we will no longer hear or see them.
Now, due to budgetary considerations, that landmark heritage is endangered at Middle Township High School.
I say endangered, because many “feeder” music programs in the district have fallen victim to budget cuts. The instrumental program at Elementary No. 2, for instance, is gone. The stage band at the middle and high schools is history.
Parents and passionate students, concerned about the possible demise of the marching band, confronted the Board of Education on June 17.
A mother and former Dennis Township liaison to the board, Anna Ireland-Haig, told the board she understood their dilemma. Still, she reminded them that the Panther Marching Band was widely known around the state that stood out from Cape May County. The other two, not surprisingly, were the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and County Park and Zoo.
Would the Navy ditch the Blue Angels flying team if money was tight? Would Budweiser beer put the amazing Clydesdales out to pasture if funds fizzled?
Yes, these are trying times. No, easy answers are not coming to the surface. No, the board doesn’t want to cut any programs or jobs, but numbers are cold and hard.
Regardless of the pitiful state of the economy and the school district budget, there is money. How it will be prioritized and spent is the point of contention.
One student, who advocated for retention of the marching band, wondered why it would be cut; yet “unimportant sports…like tennis,” are retained. Talk to a tennis advocate, and they would likely say the same thing about the band.
Along the same debate line are those who say school funds ought to be spent 100 percent on academics. If sports is desired, let it be funded by boosters and coached by volunteers.
Others contend sports are a way to keep some pupils interested in schoolwork. They say it gives the system a “carrot” to dangle over the athlete to encourage sticking to schoolwork. They also cite many students who have gone to college on sports scholarships that never would have been possible without those extra-curricular activities.
This subject will never be easily solved, nor contained within one column.
Could the Panther Marching Band exist outside school, similar to the all-volunteer John Walter Community Band, which combines musical talents of many who simply love playing music?
Would Middle Township rally behind the band, and support it apart from a school endeavor? Is there enough community pride to back the marching band like the Navy Blue Angels or Budweiser Clydesdales?
They are we. We are they. Can we allow our own to disappear?
Ah, but Ireland-Haig voiced another thing more troubling than the demise of the band, should that happen. Focusing on Dennis Township, she said there w
Should we be surprised of such a “malaise” of things cultural when it is easier to play an electronic game than practice scales on a trumpet or oboe? Is it strange that fewer students want to enter the drama club, because they fear being thought “geeks,” or whatever the modern term is for those who have a greater interest in “the finer things of life?”
Should Middle Township let its cherished “town clock” band disappear? Isn’t it time for a rebirth of that once-proud entity that knit our communities together with a marching beat and the glorious sound of a tuba and piccolo? Once the beat goes silent, it may never again be heard.