Research has shown that learning music facilitates the ability of students to learn other subjects and enhances skills that they inevitably use in other areas. It is also an avenue for students to be able to further their education by being awarded scholarships.
After the recent National High School Marching Band Competition, Yonell Justillien, director of bands at Government High School, says people should realize that music is a talent, and once a child is gifted in the arena, he or she should be encouraged to pursue that talent in hopes of obtaining a music scholarship.
Justillien said student participation in marching band is a positive way to keep children off the streets and to foster an interest in music. Today, a number of students have much to be proud of after their school bands won various divisions at the recent high school competition.
In the senior schools division, Central Eleuthera High School took the parade band title; Government High School walked away with the sound sport competition win as well as the drumline battle.
The battles for the various titles up for grabs in the junior school division were won by C.H. Reeves Junior School in the drumline competition; L.W. Young in the parade band; with A.F. Adderley taking the sound sport competition.
Through participation in marching bands, Justillien said, the children can also receive the attention they crave. The more they get that attention, the harder they will work.
"We just have to steer their energies into the right direction," said Justillien.
He believes that the competition, that is the first of its kind, will mushroom into something bigger in the years to come, which he said would be great.
"I was very proud and the kids worked hard, and to see them rejoicing that brought a lot of joy too."
During the first competition, Justillien was in for a surprise, as he had to battle three of his former students who coached bands in the competition in which 16 schools participated. When the final note had sounded he said his former students still had a lot to learn from their teacher, but that they did a great job.
Music in the education system has come a long way according to Dr. Jewel Dean, senior education officer for performing arts in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. She said that the earliest presence of music in the public school sector was in the 1940s. The focus at that time was on choirs, and the few instruments that were available to students were the piano, guitar and recorders.
"In the 1970s, bands were added to the curriculum and developed through the contributions of persons who had expertise. Persons such as the late Kermit Ford and the recently retired Elizabeth Thornton are credited with being the foundation of band education in schools," she said.
Dr. Dean, whose career spans 43 years in the public school system, said she was proud to see the staging of the first high school marching band competition and opportunities for students.
Thornton, who was a fixture in music education retired in 2011. Her career spanned 39 years. She came to The Bahamas from the United Kingdom after responding to an ad for jobs. She left the United Kingdom on August 16,1972 and "never looked back". During her career she worked in two schools, C.C. Sweeting and C.V. Bethel Senior Schools.
Looking back, she said one of her earliest challenges as a music teacher in The Bahamas was outfitting her newly formed band with instruments. She took a proactive approach by flying to Miami for a day, where she searched pawn shops, to purchase second-hand instruments for the band. Thornton said she also spent many nights baking cakes to sell at school to raise funds to purchase instruments. By the early 1980s she had gotten a school band started and they were well on their way.
In the 1970s, the government started to invest in band programs by purchasing equipment for schools, and more trained teachers became available to teach students in instrumentation.
Many members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band trace their musical routes back to the likes of Ford and Thornton. In recent times the Ministry of Education has developed a partnership with the leadership of the band and allows its members to go into the various high schools in the Family Islands to teach students in band performance.
The marching band competition is the newest platform that the education ministry has introduced to open doors for musically talented students.
Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said the marching band competition is a means of getting more students on the road to college through scholarships. He said the competition's objectives are to showcase the music programs of schools and the talents of students; expose students to international music competition, one which can take them outside Bahamian borders; and secure scholarship.
Central Eleuthera High School was one of four family island schools that participated in the competition and enjoyed the sweet taste of success, capturing a gold medal in the parade band category and silver medals in sound sport and drumline, which school band director and music teacher, Andrew Lewis was elated about.
"We were confident that we would do well. Our band practiced and were focused," Lewis said. "When I look at it, Government High only beat us by an eighth of a point in one of the categories."

National High School Marching Band Competition Results
Junior School results
Drumline battle
School

Score

Medal

Rank
C.H. Reeves School

79

Silver

1st
S.C. McPherson School

74 Silver 2nd
L. W. Young School 67.7 Bronze 3rd
A.F. Adderley School 55 Bronze 4th
Parade Band
L. W. Young 67.3 Bronze
Sound Sport competition
A. F. Adderley School 86 Gold 1st
S. C. McPherson School 81 Silver 2nd
H.O. Nash School 72 Silver 3rd

Senior Schools
Drumline battle
School

Score

Medal

Rank
Government High School 95.3 Gold 1st
Central Eleuthera High School 87.8 Gold 2nd
C. R. Walker Senior High School 79.3 Silver 3rd
Parade Band
Central Eleuthera High School 91.6 Gold 1st
C. R. Walker Senior High School 75.6 Silver 2nd
Doris Johnson Senior High School 66.2 Bronze 3rd
R.M. Bailey Senior High School 62.3 Bronze 4th
Sound Sport competition
Government High School 96.3 Gold 1st
Central Eleuthera High School 95.7 Gold 2nd
Anatol Rodgers High School 93.3 Gold 3rd
C.R. Walker Senior High School 87.3 Gold 4th
Mangrove Cay High School 86 Gold 5th
North Eleuthera High School 75.7 Silver 6th
Doris Johnson Senior High School 75.3 Silver 7th
C.V. Bethel Senior High School 72.3 Silver 8th
Preston Albury High School 71.7 Silver 9th
C.I. Gibson Senior High School 63 Bronze 10th

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