Smithfield Selma Senior High Marching Spartans!

Contributed by local resident Jennifer Hinton: 

The Story of SSS Band follows below this quick announcement: 

Friends and Family Night
Friday, August 15, 2008
Location: Smithfield-Selma Football Stadium
700 Booker Dairy Road
Smithfield, NC  27577
Time: Performance is at 7:45 PM
Admission: FREE – Open to the General Public

Bring the family out to the Charles Tucker Stadium to watch the SSS Marching Spartan Regiment debut their 2008-09 field show entitled “Who.”  This sneak peek will take place on Friday, August 15. 2008 around 7:45 PM.  There is no admission cost.

And now for the history of the Smithfield Selma Senior High Marching Spartans…

The story begins, as many stories do, at the beginning – precisely in 1969.  The Smithfield-Selma High School was formed by bringing 6 high schools together in the town of Smithfield, NC.  One man was asked to head-up the Band Program and he did so with Spartan Spirit until his retirement in 1986.  That man was NCA&T Alumnus, John R. “Doc” Windley.  Mr. Windley was quite the character.  I had the privilege of studying music under him until he retired my senior year in 1986.  The Bands of Smithfield-Selma, also known as SSS (Pronounced Triple S), developed quite a reputation during the 70’s and 80’s because of Mr. Windley’s ability to supercharge his marching bands into some great street performances in local and national parades.  He has taken his marching bands to places like New Orleans, SeaWorld, Preakness and the Rose Bowl Parade. 

If you were to speak with locals who visited North Carolina parades in the 70’s and 80’s, they knew John Windley by name and they admitted they came to the parade mainly to watch the Mighty SSS Band breakout into the crowds or change direction with an abrupt about-face while “stepping out.”  As the self-proclaimed historian of the SSS Class of 1986, I have acquired quite a bit of film footage of the SSS Bands from 1985 and 1986.  Some of these videos consist of field show and parade competitions.  Some consist of championship football games. (The SSS Football team went to state 4A playoffs 3 consecutive years between 1984 and 1986.) One of my most cherished videos is of the SSS Band’s performance in the Governor Martin Inaugural Parade in 1985.  The SSS Band was the largest band in the parade that day sporting 182 members.  All of these videos have been donated to the Johnston County Heritage Center.

During Mr. Windley’s tenure, his bands ranged in size from 150-225 participants.  Even though SSS was not a 4A school at the time, both the football team and the band participated in competitions with 4A schools.  The SSS Bands of the 70’s and 80’s always received Superior Ratings in Grade VI music.    

After Mr. Windley retired in 1986, there were some good band programs at Smithfield-Selma High School, but not many of the directors and staff lasted more than about 3-4 years.  The lack of consistency created obstacles difficult to overcome.  By the mid to late ‘90’s participation in the SSS Band Program had diminished to less than 60 participants.  

About 5 years ago, Brian Jones accepted the position of Band Director at Smithfield-Selma High School and to put it in a nutshell – he has done an awesome job of reviving a dormant band program.  When he came on board, the Band’s Financial Budget teetered at around $15,000.  Our budget for the past three years has been around $100,000 each year.  We are struggling to make it, but when there is a will, there’s a way and we are determined to see to the needs of these talented students

Just in the past 5 years, Band Director Brian Jones has increased participation in our high school band program from less than 60 students to more than 200 throughout a school year.  Our Fall Marching Band participation numbers have leveled off at about 125 members consistently over the past three years.  Jason Heard joined Brian Jones this past school year as co-Band Director and together they have really become a dynamic duo.  The efforts of the Band Directors, support staff and hard-working students have not gone unnoticed.  The County is building a new band room at the Smithfield-Selma High School to replace a 30 year-old band room.  In conjunction with the construction of the new band room, the band is selling personalized brick pavers to celebrate the rich history of programs at the school.  For more information, go to www.sssband.org and click on the link for Spartan Brick Yard.  Through this construction project, we hope to provide a better service to future performing arts students at the school and honor John Windley in the process.  A part of him will always live-on at that school.

The SSS Band program is branching out and offering many more opportunities for students – even those without a musical background – to participate in the performing arts.  The 2007-08 school year was the first time the school offered an Indoor Winter Guard Team.  They were undefeated and finished Regional Champions in the Atlantic Indoor Association (AIA).  That fact, in itself, isn’t enough information to paint a complete picture of what that accomplishment means to the community.  The physical high school building has changed very little in recent years, other than adding onto the cafeteria and classrooms.  Up and until recently, the school’s facility had been mostly unchanged since the 70’s.  Because this was the first time SSS had ever fielded an Indoor Winter Guard team, there was no where to rehearse on site.  The basketball teams pretty much had the gym filled with the need for a practice space.  The newly formed Indoor Percussion Ensemble also needed to practice in the gym. (They also have accomplished quite a lot.  Their story will come a little later. )

Where in Johnston County could the Winter Guard practice?  They needed lots of indoor space. Johnston County was once the nation’s top producer of tobacco.  There were once more tobacco warehouses in Johnston County than hotels.  There are still a few standing.  Jean Harris, a band mom, made arrangements for the SSS Winter Indoor Guard to use a local warehouse for the group to practice.  Without the assistance of people like Jean and others in the Smithfield-Selma and surrounding communities, this performing arts program would never have gotten off the ground, let alone produced a Regional Winner.  This group was heralded as a phenomenal support group at the band’s award banquet ceremony.  The Directors and Staff remarked about how this group always got along; was always helping each other out; and created a bond that would last for life.

If you love all kinds of music, you will enjoy watching the SSS Indoor Percussion Ensemble perform their 2007-08 award-winning show called MOTOWN METAL.  The amazing accomplishments of the SSS Indoor Percussion actually began during the 2006-07 school season. For the first time in the school’s history, the 2006-07 SSS Band Program participated in the Atlantic Indoor Association’s (AIA) Indoor Percussion Competition Circuit and finished 3^rd place – the TOP NORTH CAROLINA BAND with their show THE HAUNTING. 

During the 2007-08 school year, the SSS Indoor Percussion Ensemble roared out of the starting gates with fire in their gas tanks with their show MOTOWN METAL.  The show was written exclusively for the SSS IPE and was a montage of very familiar Motown and Heavy Metal Tunes.  They won many awards this year and were honored to be promoted TWO TIMES to land in an OPEN ENSEMBLE category.  They made another appearance at the AIA REGIONALS in March and represented their community well by making the finals again this year.  They also branched out into the WGI circuit to make finals there as well.    The results of their accomplishments in Indoor Competitions are not surprising.  For several years since Brian Jones came on board, the SSS Percussion Section has out scored Green Hope High, Cary High, and West Johnston High in marching band competitions on many occasions.  We are very proud of how hard they have worked and what they have accomplished.

They developed quite a following on www.youtube.com with their underdog story. One fan in particular posted home video of their parking lot warm-up and requested videos of future performances.  If you would like to see two of their award-winning performances from this year, you can go to YouTube and search for the following files.  (These videos were posted by an on-line fan.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5p_f3Re1Kg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo_BwvOdMp0

We hope you will share this success story with others.  We are very proud of these students, Directors and the support staff! 

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