Marching Band Parents - Rose Bowl Parade

[momoftwins]

I know there are quite a few of us here. DS will have the honor of marching in the Rose Bowl Parade this year. He will be in 9th grade, so this is his first year in marching band. What a great memory for these kids.

Does anyone have any hints, memories to share with your own experience?

Oh, also, his band is also playing at Disneyland and the Pasadena City College Band Fest. We are adding a few days at the end of the trip to go back to DL.

We are all so excited.

Thanks for any info and have a great day.

 

[curious3069]

I was in the Rose Bowl parade at his exact same age, only in 1984! The route might have changed, but back then it was 5+ miles long, which was a really long way to tote a baritone. He (and the whole band) need to get used to marching that far with instruments-that is one mistake we made. We did a lot of walking, but not carrying anything. I just remember being really tired, sweaty and unable to play by the end because I had no spit left. He should be prepared for a lot of stops and starts too, that seemed to stretch the whole parade out even longer!!!

It was a lot of fun, he'll love it!!!

 

[marcyinPA]

I also marched in the Rose Parade, 1983, and I was a H.S. Freshman! The route is long, and the morning started out cool, but ended warm. My only advice (for the entire trip, assuming they are doing other things too) is to take a lot of pictures. And not just of friends! Take pictures of EVERYTHING. Technology is so great now, you can easily take a few hundred of them. When I went, I had a Kodak Disc camera and only had a few pages of pics in my photo album, mostly of people and hardly any of the places we went to see!

My DS14 is a freshman this year, and also in band. His H.S. band marched in the Rose Parade in 09. He was pretty bummed out that he wasn't a year older! Next year is a trip year for our band, and the rumors floating around are Hawaii, London, or Florida. The band has been to all three before! Although I'd love London, CHA CHING!! Florida is more do-able for us right now!

 

[marcyinPA]

I just re-read your post...my DS's HS band also did the bandfest and marched in Disneyland.

Where in PA are you located, just out of curiosity?!

 

[momoftwins]

We are all so excited. Their Band Director told the kids to get prepared for marching, marching, marching. My DS plays the oboe. At least he picked a light instruments

They are doing tours of Hollywood, Graumann's Theater, Kodak Theater (think American Idol), Universal Studio's, a beach day and a few other fun things.

Marcy, wouldn't London be fabulous? He also made chorus and they travel to some International Choir Festival in Europe, but he said no way to flying over water???? Who knows how a 13 year old thinks!


His twins sister could also do marching band next year, but she wants to do field hockey. She took the lazy way out and said why should I do all that marching since I get to go and see my brother anyway!

 

[marcyinPA]

We are all so excited. Their Band Director told the kids to get prepared for marching, marching, marching. My DS plays the oboe. At least he picked a light instruments

They are doing tours of Hollywood, Graumann's Theater, Kodak Theater (think American Idol), Universal Studio's, a beach day and a few other fun things.

Marcy, wouldn't London be fabulous? He also made chorus and they travel to some International Choir Festival in Europe, but he said no way to flying over water???? Who knows how a 13 year old thinks!


His twins sister could also do marching band next year, but she wants to do field hockey. She took the lazy way out and said why should I do all that marching since I get to go and see my brother anyway!

Wonderful! Their itinerary sounds nearly identical to what our HS band did last year. I know a lot of kids who went on the trip and had a fantastic time!!

Will you be going along? I highly recommend pricing the trip out yourself and see if you can buy event tickets from the band parents association, rather than buying the trip through your band. My neighbors went to CA and instead of going as tag-alongs, planned their own trip and saved a BUNDLE of money. They were able to buy event tickets so they had seating with the other band parents at the parade. They rented a car and basically did their own thing, but were able to see the band at Disneyland and at the bandfest.

My advice for you is to SAVE and SELL! I know that the price per kid for last years trip was $2200. That is A LOT of hoagies! We've been selling all kinds of stuff this year to help bulk up my DS's fair share for next year. If they DO go to London, I can only imagine how much that is going to cost!

 

[golfgal]

Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. That is what going to the Rose Bowl REALLY means .

 

[curious3069]

Fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. That is what going to the Rose Bowl REALLY means .

100% correct!!!!! I'm sure my mother still has nightmares about fundraising!

 

[eduk8r26]

My niece got to march in the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland a couple of years ago.

 

[NotUrsula]

I've never been to the Rose Parade, but being in marching band in Louisiana we often did parade routes that were longer than that for Mardi Gras. Our standard training regimen was running a simulated route daily; wearing sweats and our parade shoes, and carrying our instruments to simulate the load we would normally carry on parade day, and we played in motion (at a walk) at least every mile. We put in two hours every day for a month doing that to prep for parade season, and it was effective. (On Mardi Gras weekend it is not unusual for a band to do three such parades in one day; it can be truly grueling if you're not up for it.)

 

[momoftwins]

As far as the fundraising...I think once you put your name on the list it is just as bad as getting your name on the list for credit card applications ... you get tons of invites and your name never comes off the list

Already been to the fundraising kick-off meeting. It really is nice to see how dedicated these parents are to this band. In a way, I am looking forward to all of the excitement of the next 4 years. BUT, boy am I going to be a crying baby at graduation. I will have my only two go at the same time.

I guess I will have to go to my DVC resort and recover