With the return of Mardi Gras marching bands, New Orleans' streets are full of magic

With the return of Mardi Gras marching bands, New Orleans' streets are full of magic

Transcript¹

Mardi Gras parades are back in New Orleans after a pandemic hiatus. And over the last week and a half, the city's beloved high school bands have returned to the streets.

"This is what makes Mardi Gras," says Asia Muhaimin, the band director at Warren Easton Charter High School.

Like a lot of native New Orleanians, Muhaimin lives for Mardi Gras. There's a recurring² moment during parades that she describes as pure magic.

It's when the full band isn't playing, and just the snare³ drums are keeping beat. You can hear the taps and scrapes of dancers' shoes as they walk down the street. Then, all of a sudden, the shrill⁴ cry of the drum major's whistle breaks the silence. The drummers roll off the song, and the full band starts to play. Muhaimin gets chills just thinking about it.

"It happens constantly in the parade, but every time it happens, it seems like it's the first time it happens for me," she says.

There were no moments like this last year, because there were no parades. And while that's made the return of Mardi Gras this year all the more exciting, the interruption also had consequences.

The coronavirus had just arrived in the United States when parades rolled in 2020, and Carnival⁵ that year was one of the country's first super-spreader events.

While Mardi Gras technically⁶ wasn't canceled last year, it was a pretty sorry affair. There were no parades, no live music and most people stayed home. This year, while a number of COVID-19 restrictions⁷ including mask and vaccine⁸ mandates⁹ are still in place, celebrations are largely back to normal.

While band culture is still big in New Orleans, band directors say it's been stunted¹⁰ in recent years, and the pandemic didn't make things any better.

In New Orleans, all public schools are now charter schools after Hurricane Katrina decimated the existing school system in 2005, allowing for a swift transformation¹¹. There's no standard arts program across the system, and some elementary and middle schools don't provide any music instruction at all.

Muhaimin says when she was growing up in the late '80s and early '90s, music was everywhere. Everyone learned how to play an instrument in elementary or middle school, and the bands were huge.

"A lot of places are not supporting arts the way they should, music education in particular," Muhaimin says.

While some high schools, such as Warren Easton, still have robust¹² music programs, their incoming freshmen¹³ sometimes have little to no band experience. Nowadays, the bands are smaller, especially this year.

That's because Mardi Gras parades are one of the most important recruitment opportunities bands have. Over the last two years, students have graduated and fewer new students have come to take their place.

Warren Easton's 60-piece band is 25% smaller this year than it was pre-COVID. Muhaimin says that, in addition to recruitment issues, the band lost members who dropped out during the height of the pandemic when bands weren't allowed to practice.

Smaller bands, like the ones in New Orleans this year, need to be skillful in order to produce a full sound with fewer musicians. Even a single mistake stands out, so everyone has to know their parts perfectly¹⁴.

The band at Frederick A. Douglass High School had no members when Jordan Harper took it over at the start of the school year. Since then he's recruited 50 students, many of them first time musicians.

"If everybody holds their weight, plays their part the best that they can play it, we're gonna sound good," he says. "We've actually been achieving a great beginner band sound, in my opinion."

The day before their first parade, Harper gave the band a pep talk and reminded them to wear deodorant¹⁵.

He offered other bits of advice: "Don't overblow," and "Only play the notes you know."

Mardi Gras is a strenuous¹⁶ time with over two weeks of nonstop parades. Music and choreography must be memorized, and bands typically battle one another informally for supremacy¹⁷. There are few formal competitions; instead, performances are recorded and posted on YouTube.

Jalani Smith, a senior at Douglass and the band's drum major, says his goal heading into parade season was to make sure the crowd had a good time.

"Even though it's our first parade back, it's also their first parade back, so I just want to make sure everybody is having the time of their life," Smith says.

Drew Crosby, the drum major at Warren Easton says when the crowd is feeling good, so is he. He likes when the crowd engages with the band, dancing to the music and urging them to march higher and play louder.

"[There's] a lot of negative energy in New Orleans going on right now," Crosby says. "I just feel like [band] really makes us feel safe and makes us feel like a place we really want to be."

Violent crime has been high in recent weeks, and multiple teenagers and children in New Orleans have died from gun violence. Crosby says that over the years, band has kept him focused on school and his community.

"I just tell everyone I love them because I do," he says. "Band changed all our lives, honestly."

At Warren Easton's first parade of the season, the band made themselves known by chanting, "Here comes the purple and gold." They played with precision for hours, the drummers nonstop.

The crowd enthusiastically welcomed the band back; children in the crowd along the three-and-a-half-mile route grasped invisible drumsticks and played along to the beat. And Crosby led with a silver scepter in hand, raising his knees almost to his chest, his whistle conjuring¹⁸ band director Asia Muhaimin's magic moment over and over again.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 recurring   

adj.往复的，再次发生的

参考例句：

• This kind of problem is recurring often. 这类问题经常发生。
• For our own country, it has been a time for recurring trial. 就我们国家而言，它经过了一个反复考验的时期。

3 snare   

n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑

参考例句：

• I used to snare small birds such as sparrows.我曾常用罗网捕捉麻雀等小鸟。
• Most of the people realized that their scheme was simply a snare and a delusion.大多数人都认识到他们的诡计不过是一个骗人的圈套。

4 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

5 carnival   

n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演

参考例句：

• I got some good shots of the carnival.我有几个狂欢节的精彩镜头。
• Our street puts on a carnival every year.我们街的居民每年举行一次嘉年华会。

6 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

7 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

8 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

9 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

10 stunted   

adj.矮小的；发育迟缓的

参考例句：

• the stunted lives of children deprived of education 未受教育的孩子所过的局限生活
• But the landed oligarchy had stunted the country's democratic development for generations. 但是好几代以来土地寡头的统治阻碍了这个国家民主的发展。

11 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

12 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

13 freshmen   

n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We are freshmen and they are sophomores. 我们是一年级学生，他们是二年级学生。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• University freshmen get lots of razzing, but they like the initiation. 大一新生受各种嘲弄，但是他们对这种入门经验甘之如饴。 来自辞典例句

14 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

15 deodorant   

adj.除臭的；n.除臭剂

参考例句：

• She applies deodorant to her armpits after she showers.沐浴后，她在腋下涂上除臭剂。
• Spray deodorant and keep the silk garments dry before dressing.在穿衣之前，洒涂防臭剂并保持干燥。

16 strenuous   

adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的

参考例句：

• He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
• You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。

17 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

18 conjuring   

n.魔术

参考例句：

• Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
• The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。