Top: Zariah Dumas and the woodwinds. Bottom: Drummers Nehemiah Dalton-Norfleet and Sebastian Gonzalez. Lucy Gellman Photos.
Joshua Smith can already hear the James Hillhouse High School Marching Band tearing it up on Constitution Avenue. In his vision, the drums hammer out a steady, danceable beat, their sound traveling up from the pavement. The trumpets glint in the sunlight, weaving brass into the mix. When he cues them in, the woodwinds have it on lock.
Of course they do: this is Hillhouse High School. He just needs some help from the community—to the tune of $45,000—to get them there.
Smith is the director of the James Hillhouse High School Marching Band, which he's worked to rebuild several times over since the fall of 2021. This spring, he is trying to raise $45,000 to send the band to Washington, D.C., where they've been selected to represent Connecticut in the National Memorial Day Parade. The parade takes place annually on Memorial Day, which this year falls on May 26.
Those funds would cover a full four days and three nights, with an educational tour to several national museums and monuments folded in. Donate to a GoFundMe here.
The parade, which travels 10 blocks of Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Avenue, is an initiative of the American Veterans Center. Every Memorial Day weekend, it honors soldiers who have died in U.S. military conflicts abroad. For Smith, himself a Hillhouse alum who had the chance to travel during high school, it's an opportunity too exciting to pass up.
Band director Joshua Smith: "I want them to have a chance to tell their own story."
"I said to myself, 'This could be a great opportunity for our school and our program,' and we're just gonna do whatever we have to do to present us," he said Thursday, as band members prepared to play "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" for the fifth time that afternoon. "I had my moment [at Hillhouse]. So I want them to have a chance to tell their own story."
The offer first came last month, when Smith got a call from the Arizona-based travel agency Music Celebrations International (MCI). Each year, MCI helps contact and choose marching bands from across the country that will represent their respective states in the parade.
While he had "no idea" how they discovered Hillhouse, it felt like an easy and immediate yes. The band, which has for the past years marched in both the Elm City Freddy Fixer Parade and the New Haven St. Patrick's Day Parade, has been working to build itself back from the Covid-19 pandemic for years. Students sounded ready to him. And then there was the chance to show people what the best of Connecticut could look like.
"Not only are we representing the school, the city, and the state through the performing arts—we're representing academics as well," Smith said. "I have honors students. I have 4.0 students. I'm hoping that it will help recruit band members too."
Top: Luis Baez. Bottom: Senior Brandon Fullerton, who joined his freshman year.
For Smith, who at 36 still has a baby face and infectious laugh, there's also a sense of paying it forward. When he was in high school at Hillhouse, the marching band traveled much more than it does now (at the time, the school also had a drill team that performed alongside them). When he was a freshman at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), he joined the Hillhouse band to play at Walt Disney World as an alum.
Two decades later, that love for the band has come full-circle: he’s both a beloved mentor and a rigorous educator, with students who get excited to walk through the door of his classroom after school.
“I feel it’s special because Smith took the band from nothing to this,” said sophomore Sebastian Gonzalez, who is part of the drumline. While he started playing the drums at Barnard Environmental Science & Technology School (B.E.S.T), Smith has helped him grow as a student in the past two years. “It feels very exciting but nerve wracking at the same time.”
Currently, the band has around 20 members, who range from longtime musicians to underclassmen who just started playing last year. The $45,000 will cover travel, transportation, lodging, food, and costs associated with the parade. Smith plans to have at least five pieces of music ready to go for the mile-long route, as well as works and cadences that specifically show off the drumline.
At band practice Thursday, several students said they are excited by the opportunity and hope to see it come to fruition. Between feedback (“y’all got it?” Smith asked of “Let’s Dance” at one point, and the room burst into a resounding “yes!”), many of them described an experience in marching band that has been transformative for them.
Brenda Zecua: All about the smiles.
Sophomore Luis Baez, who plays the trumpet, burst into a smile when asked what a chance to play in D.C. would mean for him. For years, music—first the flute, and now horn—has helped him navigate academics and relieve stress. At Hillhouse, he said, that's largely credit to Smith's dedication as a teacher.
"It's a really big opportunity and I'm so happy to be going!" he said before scurrying back to his seat. "If we don't go, it's gonna crush my dreams. I want everyone to know the Hillhouse Band."
"When I play, all my stress goes away because I'm doing something that I love,” he added just a moment later.
As she struck up an arrangement of David Bowie's "Let's Dance," junior Brenda Zecua perked up in the front row, her flute suddenly light and nimble between her fingers. Born and raised in New Haven, Zecua doesn't get many chances to travel beyond New Haven, she said. Visiting the nation's capital would be huge.
"I feel excited," she said, adding that she’s only been playing the flute for a year, and soaking up information like a sponge. "I really enjoy seeing the smiles on everyone's faces when they hear the music."
Donate to a GoFundMe here.