ORLANDO, Florida - Is it possible to tell a story without words?
- Jones has performed all around the country, including in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
- Football team holds band to high standard
- Currently running program based around Broadway tunes
“It’s part of the human experience, music is," Jones marching band director Jamaal Nicholas said. :So when we see it done this way by this young group of people, people are really excited about it.”
Jones, a band that has proudly marched for six decades, aims to tell stories through its sounds every single night it's out on the field. Whether it's on the gridiron, at the legendary Carnegie Hall, or even in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, they aim to steal the show through their energy and charisma, coupled with their instrumental precision.
“You have to play with emotion, because what you put into your instrument is what you get out of it," senior trumpet player Datron Bradhom. "So I just put my all into it.”
Catch them at any performance, and you will see the crowd engaging in their performance. They captivate with their movements and wiht their sound, which brings out the best in all of them.
“It makes me feel good. It makes me want to play better," Bradhom said. "Because seeing the way you feel, I feel the same way playing my instrument.”
They're also the fuel for the football team, which Nicholas said holds the band to as high of a standard as the team holds itself to.
“We have to be a band that the football team is proud of playing for. And likewise, they are striving to be a football team that we care to support. And I think that raises everybody’s level of play,” he said.
And while he works them hard to be their best, he believes it's the high character and mental toughness of those who march that makes them so special.
“These are a very special group of young people because they don’t always come from situations where there’s two parents at home, or there’s enough money at the end of the month," Nicholas said. "But somehow they find the strength and the courage to come out here and give their all on the marching field.”