The Miracle on 34th Street

Do you believe in miracles? I do—and I also believe that nothing happens by coincidence.

18 months after the announcement, the Davis High School Marching Band finally made the 2.5 mile march to Herald Square, where they gave the performance of a lifetime for over 60 million viewers who tuned in to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. For 18 months we prepared with the largest high school band in Utah history. We held fundraisers. We taught the kids how to march, dance, spin, and in some cases play an instrument for the first time. We worked with our travel agent to arrange flights at the best possible price. We arranged for our equipment to travel across the country, and after hours of searching finally found a place to keep the semi parked for the week. We attended meetings with the district finance people regularly to make sure we would emerge from the experience completely clean if we had to go through a state audit. We painted a star in the parking lot, wrote drill and choreography, and rehearsed several hours to make sure we had our routine as close to perfect as possible. On Thanksgiving morning we got up early for 10 minutes of rehearsal at 4:30 AM in Herald Square, where we learned things and tweaked things to make sure everything would be great later that morning. As we prepared to step off on the parade we adjusted tuning slides for cold and worked to get pitch as close as possible in 35 degree weather. We thought we were prepared for ANYTHING, but we later found out that we were not!

In the meeting I attended in New York in October we were warned that things could be loud in Herald Square, and a visual cue to step off was recommended. I took that to mean that I would simply stand by the NBC director and give a hand signal cue to get the drum line going. We had a two measure percussion intro that I figured HAD to be loud enough for the band to hear--but I was wrong. The once-famous boy band 98 Degrees was performing a new Christmas song on the Hallmark float in front of the band, and I was told to cue the band as they were departing the square. Unfortunately their song was still winding down as I gave the cue, so the shield kids in front couldn't hear back to the drum line. Everything went as planned until they didn't step off. Those who COULD hear the battery stepped off, but then stopped when the front group didn't move. Chaos ensued--I stood there on the street watching a frenzy of kids moving into the performance, out of step and with no discernible music playing. Terrified, I could only say "Why aren't they playing?" I looked to the NBC director, who had already moved away, and realized that this time there was no do-over. Could this REALLY be happening? Could all our preparation go for naught because I failed the kids and didn't prepare them for the noise in Herald Square? That's when The Miracle happened.

In the chaos, one tuba player came in with the note that saved us. In the music, the tubas come in first, followed by a pyramid through the rest of the brass that sets up the first statement of "Ode to Joy." When he played that note he re-established where we were in the music. The drum line immediately found the pulse. The students found pulse from the drum line, and recognizing where they were in the music joined in. Within a couple of seconds the band was established in the square, locked in, and went on to give an amazing performance.

I'm certain most of you have seen the movie "Miracle on 34th Street" (I prefer the older version). On Thanksgiving 2017 members of the Davis High Marching Band experienced their own miracle on that same street. Amidst chaos and confusion they found one voice that put them back on track. There are several questions I can’t answer. For example, I don’t know what inspired the tuba player to come in playing that note, but I DO have my own theory on the matter. I don’t know how that one note managed to get the drum line to all come in playing at the same place in the music together. I don’t know how the rest of the band recovered so quickly that people watching on television didn’t even know that something was wrong. I DO know one thing, however—none of those things happened by coincidence or dumb luck. You see, in our months of preparation for the Macy’s performance the kids learned to trust each other. They knew the drill and music so well that when they heard the drum line playing they knew exactly where they needed to be and what they needed to play. In their crisis moment they listened for and followed the voices that they knew would get them back on track. They remembered the two words we drill into their heads throughout the marching band season—GO ON! You can’t change what has already happened, so instead of dwelling on it just GO ON and do the best you can with what is left.

I watch “The Miracle on 34th Street” just about every year at Christmas time. Every time I watch that movie from now on I will think about the Davis High Band’s Miracle on 34th Street—the day when one solitary voice spoke, others trusted that voice and followed, and in the end all was well in the world.