The Whitehall High School Marching Zephyr Band participated in the Cavalcade of Bands competition Nov. 11 at J. Birney Crum Stadium, Allentown, where it was named first-place champions for the second year in a row. MZB competed with bands across Pennsylvania, in addition to New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.

This year’s MZB show theme was titled “Nature’s Tapestry.”

“The theme is designed to explore different aspects of nature through music and movement. It featured butterflies, flowers upon a grassy field, a mountain range at sunset and river rapids. Each song had a different feel and represented a different natural scene,” Matthew Tanzos, band director, said.

MZB had the distinction of competing in the American Open class category of the Cavalcade of Bands. All competing bands were split into five conferences based on size. Bands competing in this class were divided into two groups, A and Open. The bands with the highest scores qualified to compete in the Open class.

“Essentially, by winning the Open class, we were named grand champions of the American Conference, having come out on top of all 24 American class bands in the circuit,” Tanzos said.

This year, there are a total of 48 students in the band, including 39 musicians, eight color guard members and the drum major. This is on the smaller size for marching bands, but that did not stop them from outscoring the bigger bands. MZB’s competition record was 89-3, giving them an overall winning percentage of 97 percent against all competing bands.

“Those results would be record breaking in the sports’ world and are truly staggering! Not an on-the-field advantage or disadvantage, but being a smaller band means that everyone knows everybody, which really lends itself to create a tight-knit group that understands a sense of ‘team,’” Tanzos said.

This year, 20 new members joined the band, including middle-schoolers, making the average grade level of musicians 9.5. Tanzos compared the band to a freshman or JV football team winning state championships against those at a varsity level and was proud at the level of professionalism members were able to achieve in such a short time.

“The amount and quality of training and instruction needed to catch those students up and bring them to a championship level is almost beyond belief, but the staff was able to put in the work, make the connections with the students,” Tanzos said. “And at the end of the day, none of it happens without the students taking that instruction and doing something with it - and they did!”

Tanzos emphasized the importance of marching band in teaching students hard work, dedication, discipline, teamwork and life lessons, all qualities displayed by the band on the field.

“These kids represent our district everywhere we go so well. We get so many compliments for not just what we do on the field, but their behavior on the field, from other groups, from other volunteers at shows, saying, ‘Hey, those Whitehall kids really are classy. They represent discipline,’” Tanzos said.

Whitehall-Coplay School District Superintendent Dr. Lori Hackett congratulated the band on its win at the Nov. 12 school board meeting.

“It’s often overlooked what the band does, and I never, ever want to do that. You guys are so dedicated, and I just support you 100 percent,” she said.

“Last year was special in that it was the first Open class championship in school history,” Tanzos said. “This one felt special in a different way because it was so unexpected, and we worked so hard to get to that point.”

Tanzos and the band are already looking forward to next year’s competition season.

“We’ve got a tremendous synergy going on within our band program right now, and given how young this group is, there’s no reason to believe we can’t keep going on this current trajectory,” Tanzos said.