The senior members of the Murray High School Tiger Band pose with two trophies Saturday night, the trophies that go to the Class 1A state champion of the Kentucky Music Educators Association Marching Band Championships. The Tiger Band edged Washington County at Kroger Field on the University of Kentucky campus in Lexington
Photos by David Eaton
LEXINGTON By JOHN WRIGHT
"All season, it had seemed to many of the so-called experts that the Class A state marching title was a formality for defending champion Murray.
So when Murray found itself second to eternal nemesis Beechwood after a rocky semifinals performance Saturday, the pundits were wondering if the favorite’s cloak was too heavy; last year’s title was Murray’s first in the Kentucky Music Educators Association Marching Band Championships. So in the few hours between the semis and that evening’s finals, the Tiger Band decided to commit itself to one thing — making its last run of 2018 one to remember.
The reaction of the students and director Tim Zeiss told the story. Tears, smiles and overall euphoria filled the tunnel of the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field as the group celebrated what it had just done.
It was enough to defend the title.
“That’s just the icing on the cake,” Zeiss said after his players returned to their camp site for a celebration that carried well into the night. “These kids have tremendous enthusiasm and they enjoy performing and, if they enjoy what they’re doing as much as they did tonight, that’s enough right there.
“It’s really an emotional thing. These kids mean the world to me. You see them struggle, and we had some of that late in the season, but to see it all come together like this, it’s just fantastic.”
As he had in the tunnel of the stadium, Zeiss told not only his players but a large group of supporters after the awards ceremony, that it would not have mattered what place Murray received. No one typified this attitude more than the band’s drum major, senior Natasha Purcell.
As she looked at a table where the two trophies that go to the Class A champion were displayed after she had led the traditional “Tiger Pride” dismissal, she was very reserved.
“Those things over there? They really don’t matter to me. And I really don’t think I wouldn’t feel any different had we finished lower,” said Purcell, recalling what she had witnessed from her perch on a podium high above the Kroger Field playing surface. “They put everything they had into this tonight. As I was watching it (from the podium), I could sense something amazing was happening. It was almost magical.
“I could tell we were making something great happen. I can’t really say what the difference was (from earlier in the day at Frederick Douglass High School, also in Lexington), but you could tell we were much better.”
Perhaps surprisingly, Murray’s lackluster semifinal show scored much better than the one that defended the title. At Douglass, Murray ended with an 85, just 0.4 points behind Beechwood.
A few hours later, Murray won the title with only an 80.95, but that was enough to register the only distinguished rating of the evening. Washington County, a state powerhouse who dropped from 2A to compete in 1A this year, was second with a 79.85. Beechwood was third with a 78.85 with Williamstown, like Beechwood, a perennial thorn in Murray’s side, fourth with a 77.55.
Murray’s show this year was unusual in several regards. Titled “Omega,” it included a wide range of musical genres, including “Wicked Game,” a huge hit for pop singer Chris Isaak in the 1990s, and “46 and 2” by the heavy metal group Tool, the closing number.
Involving everything from illuminated orbs to an explorer who suddenly realizes she has become like the subjects she has documented on another planet, the show included one other feature never-before seen for a Tiger Band. The musicians wore multi-color uniform tops, not the traditional predominantly black outfits of the past several years, which came after years of donning only the school’s colors of black and gold.
One thing that did stay the same was the celebration at the school Sunday afternoon, with band parent Phillip Carter, A Tiger Band alumnus, leading a daytime fireworks display as the band’s buses returned with a large escort of local emergency agencies.
“I had bought these on July 4, and I’ve had a few tucked away safely for just this occasion. We had so much fun with it last year, I wanted to be ready,” Carter said. “I also happened to have a few left over from last year too. This is for all of us, though, the kids, the staff, our director, the parents, everybody.”
Parent Chris Drew also tried to do his part. After the semifinals Saturday, he decided it was time to utilize something he had saved since last year’s show titled “The Bridesmaid.” That had featured a bouquet of blue flowers, to represent the blue ribbons of KMEA winners, and one of those flowers had fallen to the ground.
Drew picked it up and saved it. Saturday night, that flower was attached to his black sock toboggan.
“Just call it a dad’s superstition,” Drew said. “That wasn’t what did it for us, though. It was these kids and everyone with the band that made it happen.” "
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