‘A special memory’
Parkland High, East Hills M.S. to play in Philly’s Thanksgiving Day parade
When Mark Figueroa was tasked with arranging a holiday song for Parkland High School’s marching band, he knew just the musical earworm: “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”
“Though it’s not one of the jolliest-sounding holiday tunes, it’s always been one of my favorites,”
said Figueroa, a Parkland music teacher. “I’ve always thought it has very interesting melodic content that tends to get stuck in your head, which is usually the sign of a good tune.”
About 160 Parkland students are performing a re-imagined version of the Christmas song, arranged by Figueroa and titled, “Merry Gents,” at the 6abc Dunkin’ Thanksgiving Day Parade Thursday morning in Philadelphia. The parade, the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade in the country, is televised starting at 9 a.m. There is a pre-show at 8:30 a.m. It is streaming live on Hulu! and can also be watched on 6abc.com. The parade includes 12 bands from throughout the country, including 110 students from the East Hills Middle School band in Bethlehem.
“I’m actually really excited that we’re playing ‘Merry Gents,’ ” said Carly Sachse, a senior saxophonist at Parkland. “I like all Christmas songs, so it’s really great, and it’s jazzy as well, so it makes it really fun to play. It’s catchy.”
The band was originally selected to play in the Philadelphia parade in 2020, but the performance was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It doesn’t feel real. It’s all really exciting,” Sachse added. “I really wish we were able to do it the past few years, but I’m glad that we are now.”
Figueroa said the pandemic impacted band programs because many students weren’t able to have opportunities to perform in person and at full capacity.
“We’ve fallen behind a little bit,” he said. “It’s just trying to get them to play out of their comfort zone a little bit and to really open things back up after playing inside their bedroom, and sometimes playing quietly into a Chromebook while other people had class in the house, or maybe their parents were working on the computer.”
Figueroa said he kept the band’s strengths and weaknesses in mind while he was arranging.
Andrew Hill, a senior trumpet player, said he was excited by the challenge of some of the high notes he’s responsible for playing.
“It always elicits a reaction from people when you really project and ring out over top,” he said.
Figueroa began working on arranging the piece in August, and students began practicing in October. “Merry Gents” has jazz and marching band elements to it, as well as a traditional sound hearkening back to the original version of the holiday song. He also incorporated sleigh bells into the performance.
“It’s definitely more modern, a little funkier and has a groove to it,” said Allison Figueroa, Parkland band director, who is married to Mark Figueroa.
Allison Figueroa and co-director Jason Lerew said students are excited. They both tried to explain how “big of a deal this is” to students, she said.
“I think it’s just going to be such a special memory for them to look back on,” Allison Figueroa said.
“Not everyone gets a chance to do these high-profile parades.”
Lerew said there are some special skills students have been working on specifically for the parade, such as spacing, marching in unison and moving around corners.
“We’re a little nervous,” Lerew said Wednesday before the parade. “There’s no hiding from the camera.”
Students have also been preparing for cold weather in the morning and how it may impact them and their instruments throughout the parade.
“I’m a little nervous about how cold it’s going to be. Playing in the cold is a lot different,” said Mitchell Roth, a senior trumpet player. “Your horn gets really cold, and it changes the pitch of what you’re playing with. It makes everything flat. Especially with brass, the mouthpiece is really cold, so
it affects your embouchure.”
Embouchure is the way a musician sets their lips on their instrument to play.
Mark Figueroa taught students to stay warmed up for playing throughout the 1.4-mile course of the parade by doing facial exercises, like buzzing their lips together.
“That’s just one of those things that keeps and maintains blood flow in the face and keeps the muscles engaged and doing something like keeping your legs warm,” he said.
Parkland will be fifth in line to perform their holiday number, but while students are walking in the parade and have time to stop and wait, they plan to play “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. The band regularly plays the song at its football halftime shows and also performed it at the King Frost Parade in Hamburg in
October.
“The crowd just kind of lit up when we did it,” said Jerrod Harris, a junior trombone player. “That was very exciting to see.”
Bethlehem Area School District’s East Hills Middle School band are first in line to perform at this year’s event. They also performed in the parade in 2016 and 2019, said Christy Davies, the school’s band director.
Students will rotate between playing “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley and “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers.
“They love parades,” Davies said. “We love these songs because people recognize them, and they dance to them. They’re really excited to share that part.”