A local high school marching band is set for the honor of a lifetime as they gear up to perform in the 136th Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day today.
Homestead High School’s marching band was one of 22 bands invited from across the U.S. and countries including Japan and Mexico to perform in the long-time Jan. 1 Pasadena tradition.
According to the parade’s website, the theme is “Best Day Ever!”, celebrating themes of simple pleasures, once-in-a-lifetime experiences and unexpected times of joy. The last time Homestead’s band participated in the event was in 2018.
John H. Burn, the program director of Homestead’s marching band for the last 34 years, said that he is retiring this school year and has much to be proud in his current 196-student music program.
The students recently concluded their fall field show competitions and placed fourth at the statewide championships against 50 teams.
Burn said they always practice throughout the year, from band camp and football games to the many hours games a the students spend practicing among their instrument sections. Burn said there are over 28 color guards, 30-40 drummers, 70 woodwinds and 60 brass players.
To make an appearance at the Rose Parade, Burn said he had to fill out an application over a year ago. A few weeks later he found out his band got accepted and took the last few months to prepare for the performance by picking out the songs and keeping endurance through five miles of walking.
The band will play “Best Day Ever” from “The SpongeBob Musical” and “It’s a Beautiful Day” by U2 interchangeably as they march down the streets of Cupertino.
“The biggest difference is in our band competitions, we’re practicing an eight-minute show on the football field and then this is keeping straight lines going down the street,” Burn said. “If you talk to any band director who’s done the parade, they’ll tell you about the TV corner. When we turn right on Colorado Boulevard towards the beginning of the parade, every major network is watching you, NBC and CBS. So, we’ve been practicing, and it’s not quite a 90-degree turn, it’s a 110-degree turn. So, we map out and cone off a 110-degree turn on the football field and make sure the band looks good. That’s been a big part of our practices.”
Weeks before the performance, Burn said he set up a busy itinerary for the band in the days leading up to their performance.
He plans for the band to start off the trip with volunteer float building and getting a behind-the-scenes look at the floats. The next day he plans for them to attend Band Fest, an event where the band performs and watch other performances. On the third day, Burn plans for the band to perform at Disneyland on Main Street and then enjoy the rest of the day at the park. Burn also plans to rehearse one last time at Santa Monica High School and to have a little party before the performance.
“The whole event is awesome,” Burn said. “When you turn right on Colorado Boulevard, it’s a big, wide street, and it’s a slight decline going downhill. You can just see for miles nothing but people on both sides of the street enthusiastically cheering you and you see a float and band in front and behind you– it’s just an amazing sight.”
Seniors Mansi Patwardhan, a clarinetist and a woodwind captain, and Bhavya Krishnan, a flautist, said they had a very intensive year practicing for the event. They said the band from Japan is world famous and it was important for them to hold the same level as them. They also watched videos and saw pictures of Homestead’s 2018 band performance to get a sense of the mindset. Through their other competitions, they have been able to travel with the band all over the state and they even had the opportunity to play in New York last year.
“Our concert band last year, even though it wasn’t a marching band event, had the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York,” Krishnan said. “That was kind of a big culmination event in our wind symphonies the year prior. So, this is like the next step of what we’re doing as a marching band this time. It’s super exciting and super fun to kind of have a chance to explore the the Los Angeles area as well.”
The Rose Parade will be broadcast live in the U.S. beginning at 8 a.m. PST, on Wnesday, Jan. 1. You can then catch the Rose Bowl Game on ESPN at 1 p.m. PST.
