West Deptford Marching Band Striding Toward Season

They carry sheafs of charts that look like Braille rewritten for a strange, eighty-fingered alien species.

They mime instruments as their movements mesh with the world of fours and eights, 12s and 16s.

Their existence is ruled by a digital pulse echoing back from the treeline.

This is the way marching band begins: not with a crash of cymbals, but a shuffle of steps between yard lines and hash marks.

The first football game is more than a month away, and competition season ever farther beyond that, but West Deptford High School's championship marching band is already days into its season, bolting together the framework of this year's halftime and competition show a few steps at a time.

On day three of day camp Wednesday, band director Thomas Kershaw watched his students swirl through sets as the rest of the band's staff made adjustments, fine-tuning the show's drill as they went along through the afternoon at a practice field next to Oakview School.

This year's show, which is driven by the concept of the struggle of light against dark, features Elton John's “Funeral for a Friend,” Mozart's Requiem and “The Flower Duet” from the opera Lakme. While shifting gears from Elton John over to Mozart might seem a stretch, Kershaw only smiled when asked how the band can pull it off.

“It's awesome–it works out great,” he said.

The show, which is developed completely in-house–Kershaw arranges the music, while Albert Dirkes designs the drill–allows West Deptford a certain amount of flexibility that other high school bands might not have.

“It nice, because we can tailor it–we know our kids,” Kershaw said.

It doesn't hurt that Kershaw and his staff are all close friends. While some groups of friends might be on the golf course or strategizing their fantasy football draft, Kershaw and the rest of the staff sit together and find ways for everyone in the band–from the least-experienced freshmen to veteran, four-year seniors–to contribute in some meaningful way to the show.

Having stood watch over the first few days of rehearsal, drum major Michelle Cullen, a senior, said the talent and enthusiasm, two things that go a long way to those meaningful contributions, are already evident. Even though the band's practicing well ahead of the start of the school year, through the August heat and humidity, the musicians were still sprinting between sets, as the rehearsal crept toward 6:30 in the evening.

“They just like being here, so it's encouraging,” Cullen said.

She can empathize with the plight of that inexperienced freshman, too, as she's taking on the mantle of drum major for the first time, with all its assorted challenges of leadership.

“It's still all new to me–I feel like a freshman at times, because I'm figuring out things for the first time, along with them,” Cullen said.

There are plenty of days and weeks before the season to learn everything, though. The first football game isn't until Sept. 16, with the first Tournament of Bands competition the week after that. West Deptford's home competition, typically an early-season affair, has been pushed back to Oct. 15 this year.

And while those competitions are important, the goal isn't necessarily and all-or-nothing, repeat Atlantic Coast Championships title run.

“If we can get lightning to strike twice, that'd be great,” Kershaw said.

His drum major was a little more direct, though. With a broad grin and zero hesitation, Cullen had just two words to say: a “yeah” that lasted about three seconds, and “definitely.”

ACCs aside, Cullen said she's looking for something a little less tangible than a championship trophy–one of her goals is to get the band to bond.

“I want to make us a family,” she said. “We can depend on each other and not have to worry about, 'Oh, you're a freshman, you're a senior'–everybody's just one.”