Marching ahead

In early June, the Mountain Brook Marching Band will take part in what Band Director Jason Smith described as one of the biggest and most significant things Mountain Brook High School, and by default Mountain Brook Schools, has ever been invited to do: perform in Normandy, France, at the 75th anniversary of D-Day.

This will mark the second time the Spartans are representing Mountain Brook in a place far from home. The first was in Hawaii, for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2016.

The group, which consisted of roughly 50 students, was one of about 25 bands from both the United States and Japan, and the band treated it as a trip that was educational in both culture and music. 

Henry Pfitzer and Kyle Schramm, both juniors at MBHS, attended the Hawaii trip. 

“I was pretty excited. It was just great,” Schramm said.

They agreed it was an enlightening experience that shared the history of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the sacrifices veterans made, all in historical and cultural context. Students visited and performed on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri while overlooking the Arizona Memorial and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Smith said one of his favorite parts was greeting and talking with World War II veterans who were in attendance and learning their stories in between performances. And the band did so well, Smith said, they were asked to perform in Normandy two and a half years later. 

“Based on our participation in Hawaii, we were invited to be a part of the 75th anniversary of D-Day, which is an even bigger production,” Smith said.

In total, 50 people will be traveling with MBHS this year, with 30 of them performing. Smith said for these types of programs, it’s not unusual for only a selection of students to attend, partly because it is so cost prohibitive and partly because not everyone is mature enough for this type of trip.

The number of groups performing in Europe will be much smaller, around eight or 10 bands. The University of Texas at Austin is the “umbrella group,” Smith said, and additional performers from Alaska, California, North Carolina, Virginia and Colorado, among others, will make the trip, too. Usually, he said, performers from several schools will combine to represent their state, but MBHS is traveling as its own entity.

Smith said on a normal year for the anniversary of D-Day, they could expect around 250,000 parade attendees. But this year, for the anniversary, they’re predicting upwards of 500,000. He also noted that this may be one of the last anniversaries of D-Day when veterans of the war can all be together to reflect and remember.

“It should be quite an event,” he said.

“There is a lot of pressure, but I think that makes it fun,” said Grayson Smith. He, along with Luke Black, are two sophomores representing MBHS on the trip.

While the exact itinerary of the trip has yet to be finalized, Jason Smith said the band will be performing at an American cemetery and in the official parade at Sainte-Mère-Église.

“That village is important because it’s one that Americans liberated during D-Day invasions. So that particular little place loves America, and that’s where they’ll do the official American part of the D-Day parade,” Jason Smith said.

The parade route will start with room for the band to march about five people abreast, but by the time the band reaches its final destination — the central town square — the path will only be wide enough for single-file marching.

The music, Jason Smith said, will feature American, English and French selections to tie into the anniversary.

Together with Grayson Smith, Black and other classmates, Pfitzer and Schramm will be representing MBHS on the international stage again.

“I’m very excited because just thinking about D-Day, we hear about it all the time in history and stuff, and it’s a major event in World War II. To be able to play there on the 75th anniversary, it’s going to be great,” Black said.

Overall, band members will be in Normandy for four days, Paris for three days and London for three days, said Jason Smith. They will visit different culturally and historically significant sites such as Notre Dame and the Louvre Museum. They’re going to get to experience new cultures in a way they aren’t able to at home, Grayson Smith said, and it’s a big opportunity. 

“It’s just going to be fun … to see everything we’ve learned about, and visit places we’ve only seen on TV,” he said.

“I think it’s going to be a really fun experience,” Pfitzer said.

Jason Smith said not only is this trip a learning experience, it’s going to be an excellent resume builder for those who want to play at the collegiate level. It can show college band programs that the students already know how to travel as a unit with their equipment and it can present leadership opportunities.

“This is just one more way to prepare them to do things on another level, on a level that’s just above and beyond anything they’ve participated in,” he said. “Sometimes, more so than college bands.”

“It’s once in a lifetime you actually get to go overseas for something school related,” Schramm said.

“It’s actually a huge deal if you think about it,” Black said.

MBHS band is currently fundraising to help pay for portions of the trip and to make the cost of travel less of a burden on the students and their families. To donate, or to learn more about the program, go to mtnbrook.k12.al.us/domain/1146.