Mark you calendars and get your tickets NOW to see Calexico live at Rialto Theatre on Friday, May 23rd. Proceeds of this show will benefit Pueblo High School’s Mariachi Aztlán, helping fund the band’s trip to Washington, D.C. to represent Tucson in the National Independence Day Parade.We can’t think of a better way to represent the Old Pueblo in this traditional 4th of July parade than with a high school Mariachi band. Can you just imagine? I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

America’s Independence Day Parade takes place every July 4th, right on Constitution Avenue in D.C., between dozens of national monuments, passing by a street audience of over 300,000 spectators. Not a bad gig, eh?

Joining Calexico for the benefit will be flamenco-folk baritone Salvador Duran, Mariachis Luz de Luna, the troupe Calexico has recorded and toured with through the years, and Mariachi Aztlán de Pueblo High, of course. These artists performed with Calexico a year ago this past January at Rialto Theatre, and the feeling of pride for the community in that room was overwhelming—this second time around is not to be missed. For a taste of what you may have passed up the last time around, check out the Ariel Cramer Live Review, and watch some videos the Tucson Citizen took of the event at Ariel Cramer Benefit Videos. Expect the full Mariachi treatment for this show, as well as some sneak peeks at new Calexico material being recorded as we speak.

The parade was definitely the BEST PART OF THE TRIP. I think this was set up very well not only for the students but also for the band directors. We have attended many festivals over the past few years, and I can say, without a doubt, that the National Independence Day Parade was the most well organized, stress free, friendly, safe, and enjoyable event we have had the privilege to participate in.

From the pre-planning to the initial check in to the photos to the end of the parade, there was not a single glitch. In fact, we were able to warm up in the lawn near our “element sign,” complete photos, and relax before the parade stepped off. As we moved from our staging area to the first steps and notes of the parade, everything flowed smoothly. It seemed like the parade started and we were having the time of our lives. It was an incredible experience to see all of the spectators cheering on the students as they played their hearts out.

After the parade, the band members said that it was the best they had ever performed. We were able to meet Vince Patterson who generously loaned us a Sousaphone for the parade. He was very helpful and made so many nice comments about the performance! It was lovely to meet and work with such a gentleman who had such a warm and kind spirit.

All of the staff for the parade made it their mission to serve the parade participants. This was evidenced in the set up, the lunches, the availability of water, and the manner in which they worked on the day of the event! Thank you so much for inviting us to perform and experience this incredible parade and event!

Julie Trent, Director
Willow Canyon High School

The National Independence Day Parade was the most organized event I have ever been a part of in my 14 years of teaching. From picking up the boxed lunches to unloading, from pictures to step-off, there was constant communication from Music Celebrations Staff members. Your staff was professional, friendly and complimentary. They answered all questions and provided guidance during the day. The parade experience itself was wonderful. Watching our students perform down Constitution Avenue in front of thousands of patriotic, flag waving Americans was a thrill I will remember for the rest of my life.

My personal highlight is knowing that the entire six day experience went off without a Hitch, thanks to the great planning by the staff of Music Celebrations International and our tour manager. To come back knowing there were no problems, and that the students had an amazing time, was the best we could have hoped for. The opportunity to view our band in D.C., performing for thousands, was also a nice feather in the cap for our students. They kept commenting how awesome it was to be in D.C. on that day for our National Independence Day.

Evan Rogovin, Band Director
Santaluces High School

Click here to see the official National Independence Day Parade route (starting at 7th Street, and heading west to 17th Street), along Constitution Avenue on the National Mall near the White House, the Washington Monument, the National Gallery of Art, several of the Smithsonian Museums, and more!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Band Seeks Community Help To Make Trip To Washington

By Rose Ann Pearce
The Morning News

SPRINGDALE — Rehearsals in the Springdale High School band room have a certain spirited cadence these days as the band prepares to march down Constitution Avenue in Washington on July 4.

The only obstacle to that goal right now is money.

Band director Russell Robinson said the band still needs to raise about $100,000 to make the trip. About $70,000 has been raised so far.

Springdale High School has been a frequent participant in the National Independence Day Parade in the nation’s capital. The 130-member Marching Bulldog Band will be one of 25 bands — and the only one from Arkansas — to participate.

The parade route is a 10-block span on Constitution Avenue where a crowd of about 450,000 spectators is expected. The National Park Service and the National Independence Day Parade are the co-sponsors.

Robinson said the band has been invited to participate in other parades, but this one offers students a glimpse of history besides a chance to participate in parade activities.

“This trip is educational. We get to go touch history,” Robinson said, noting the eight-day trip includes sightseeing around Washington.

The band also will perform two concerts, one at the World War II Memorial and the other at another Washington landmark, probably the Navy Memorial, as part of the Festival of States, Robinson said.

Click here for the rest of the article.

Monday marks the 152nd anniversary of the birth of American musician John Philip Sousa. Each year on this day, the U.S. Marine Band performs at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., to honor its late 19th-century leader, who made the band famous for its marches.

Listen to a NPR excerpt about today’s birthday commemorations at historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C., where Music Celebrations will be organizing performances next year for all bands that work with us to mark the cemetery’s 200th anniversary and the 75th anniversary of Sousa’s passing.

The Louisburg High School Marching Wildcat Band represented Kansas in the 2006 National Independence Day Parade in our Nation’s Capital. While in DC, the band performed at the U.S. Navy Memorial, performed the National Anthem at the Washington Nationals’ baseball game, and laid a wreath and performed at the gravesite of John Philip Sousa. The great-great nephew of John Philip Sousa made a surprise visit to this tribute performance. He showed up with a plastic tube that contained one of Sousa’s batons and let band director, John Cisetti, conduct Taps with it!!

The Onalaska High School Marching Band traveled more than 1,000 miles for a 40-minute gig — a one-mile march down Constitution Avenue — but the memories will last a lifetime.

The band represented Wisconsin in the national Independence Day parade in Washington, D.C., suiting up on a hot and muggy July 4 and marching from Seventh Avenue to 17th, playing a medley of John Phillip Sousa songs along the way before a crowd estimated at 350,000.

“It was certainly the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for,” said band director Dawson Strutt, who said the band represented Wisconsin very well.

“The kids just did a great job in their performance,” Strutt said. “They looked great, sounded great and got a great reception.”

A big part of the reason the Hilltoppers enjoyed an enthusiastic crowd response, Strutt explained, is the band did some fancy footwork. Most bands marched in line the whole route, but the Hilltoppers threw in some parade maneuvers.

Roughly every fourth entry in the two-hour parade was a band, and Strutt said it was intriguing for the band members to see the wide variety of bands. One band, for example, came from Taiwan and was made up of all girls, while another 150-member band from Michigan was entirely composed of home-schooled students.

The parade also featured the giant cartoon character balloons famous from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

“It was just a huge event that was kind of awe inspiring,” Strutt said.

What made the Hilltoppers’ performance especially amazing was the band’s relative youth. The band included incoming freshman who haven’t attended a day of high school yet, and during a recent band meeting, only five members of about 80 in attendance had drivers licenses so they could drive in the car pool.

The trip to and from Washington was undertaken aboard coach buses. “That in itself was a great bonding experience,” Strutt said. “It kind of forces you to get along and learn a little more about each other.”

The parade wasn’t the only part of the trip that inspired awe. The roughly 130 people who made the trip, which included 17 adults, also got to see all the monuments in D.C., listened to the National Symphony Orchestra play with accompanying vocals by Stevie Wonder, Vanessa Williams and others and watched the fireworks explode over the Washington Monument.

Probably the most moving part of the trip came when the group traveled to Arlington National Cemetery and got a chance to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns Monument. Joining Strutt in the wreath laying ceremony were senior drum majors Don Stein and Rachel Ringhand and Craig Bartos, a band parent and former military man who wore his “dress blues.”

“Memories, that’s what these trips are all about,” Strutt said. “It was just rather amazing and some of it is still sinking in.”

This year’s freshmen and sophomores will get to add one more big marching band memory to their high school years before they’re through. In January 2009, the band will play at the Outback Bowl in Florida.

By BECKY STOPPA Anchorage Daily News

PALMER — Despite midday temperatures that hovered in the 90s and a humidity level of more than 90 percent, marching in the National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C., was an “incredible experience,” said Gayle Hoyt, a Colony High School sophomore and member of Colony’s marching band.

“It’s history in the making. We’re the first Alaska band to be in the national parade,” Hoyt said.

The 63-member ensemble marched in the event at the invitation of parade organizer Bill Bergeman after Bergeman read an Aug. 20, 2005, article in the Daily News online. The article touted the Colony group’s debut performance and its status at that time as Alaska’s only marching band. (Nenana City Public School has since formed a marching band of its own.)

Colony band director Jamin Burton said he opened the opportunity this spring to students in the Valley’s other high school bands as well as to middle school students who will be going into eighth or ninth grade in the fall.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I wanted to give as many people the chance to go because we’ll never be invited again,” Burton said.

Besides, he said, marching in the national parade was a great way to build excitement and should help grow his band in the coming years.

His strategy seems to have worked for Abby Jahn, an eighth-grade student at Teeland Middle School.

Jahn plays the alto saxophone in the Teeland band and marched with the Colony group in Washington. Though she’s got another year to go, Jahn says she fully intends to join marching band when she enters Colony as a freshman.

“It was a lot of fun,” she said, adding that the 1 1/4 -mile march down Constitution Avenue, which lasted nearly three hours, “went a lot faster than I thought it would.”

Not everyone agreed.

“The highlight of the parade was most likely the end,” Hoyt said. The heat, he said, got the better of several people along the parade route.

Burton said he tried to prepare the students for that by making them march outside this summer along the streets near Colony in their winter coats.

“But every time we did, it rained,” he said.

On parade day, he did the next best thing: He loaded them with water.

Each student was required to drink a liter before the parade started, Burton said. And they carried two liters of water in backpacks as they marched. Drinking tubes extended from the backpacks to their mouths so they could get a quick sip when they needed one. When the marchers reached the end, they were given more water or Gatorade.

Still, a handful of students in the Colony group were treated for heat exhaustion after the parade, Burton said.

“No one lost consciousness, but a few were close,” he said.

Laura Whitmore, a Palmer High School sophomore and a trombone player who marched with the Colony gang, says the parade and the practices were a lot of work, “but in the end it was really worth it.”

In addition to marching in the national parade, the group attended a Stevie Wonder concert and watched the national fireworks display in front of the Capitol. They also visited the Smithsonian Institution and several of the monuments in Washington, then headed to New York City, where they visited a host of landmarks, including Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and the World Trade Center site. And they took in “The Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway.

“We wanted to squeeze in as many things as we could fit in our days,” Burton said. “We were running nonstop.”

The band returned to the Valley on July 7, and Burton is planning another big adventure Outside. He says he’d like the band to march in the 2009 Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

To do that, he said, the band must have 100 members. It peaked at 63 students last year, but a handful of students graduated and a few others aren’t returning, Burton said. This fall, he says, he expects to start with around 50 students.

To boost his numbers and better his odds at getting into the Rose Bowl, he said, he’d like to partner with Nenana or any other school that might have a marching band by then and create an all-Alaska band rather than simply a Colony band.

But growing the band is only part of the challenge, Burton said. Marching in parades requires a set of skills separate from those used in halftime shows, and Alaska offers few opportunities to hone those skills.

“They don’t really get to see the big picture of what this is all about. But they got to see that whole thing (in the national parade),” he said.

He says he believes that experience served as a confidence booster — one he hopes will open doors to future opportunities.

“The biggest thing they’ve learned is they can do it if they trust each other and learn how to work and be dedicated to it,” Burton said. “If you do that, all the other skills you can learn.”

Band high steps in Washington BY SARA GREENE

The Cabot High School Band made its national debut during the Independence Day Parade in Washington Tuesday. Cabot had 168 band members in the mile-long parade playing for 90 minutes for more than 250,000 spectators.

“It’s quite a feeling to be standing on Constitution Avenue, playing patriotic music on the Fourth of July,” said Cabot High School Band director Joe Trusty. The band performed “Tribute to America,” a medley of “God Bless America” and “This Is My Country.”

Forty adults accompanied the students to Washington, including Mark Tenney, assistant band director at Cabot High School, and the junior high band directors John Prater, Kara Reynolds, Erica Hahn and Janet Granderson.

“It was a good experience,” said trumpet player Daniel Gates, 18.

“I definitely want to go back because we only saw half the things up there,” Gates said.

The students have been preparing for the trip since December to raise the $130,000 needed for the trip, as well as practicing twice a week since school got out.

Even with the most rigorous training, marching with instruments, in full uniform in the 94-degree temperature proved too much for a handful of students who had to step out of the parade to rest.

“I think every band there had people stepping out. I could not have been more proud of our students,” Trusty said.
There was plenty of fun and sightseeing once the group arrived in the nation’s capital.

On Monday, the band placed a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery.
“That was the most moving experience in my life. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” said Doug Gates, Daniel’s father and chaperone.

“The kids were great. They were well behaved, patient and flexible whenever we had a rain delay here or a traffic jam there,” Gates said.

After the parade, the group rested before another round of sightseeing and watching the fireworks display over the National Mall.

“I’ve been to Disney World on the Fourth of July, and that fireworks display was nothing compared to what we saw in Washington,” said Tom Lieblong, one of the parents on the trip. His son Joshua also plays trumpet.

“It was the first time to travel for a lot of those kids and it was a great trip,” Lieblong said.

The Hortonville High School Polar Bear Marching Band marching in the 2006 National Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. See more images from their tour to DC on their website.

We’ve just returned from a very successful National Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C.

It was a hot day, but that didn’t stop many people from enjoying one of the best parades ever. The Washington Times reports, “Hundreds of thousands of people, undeterred by grueling heat, humidity and strong thunderstorms, converged on the Mall yesterday to show their patriotism and celebrate the country’s 230th birthday. ”

Music Celebrations International is honored to have worked with the following Bands who all represented their states with distinction in the parade (with special recognition to Alaska who participated in the parade for the first time and Wisconsin who was doubly represented):

ALASKA Colony High School
ARKANSAS Cabot High School
KANSAS Louisburg High Shool
LOUISIANA Hahnville High School
MICHIGAN Northern Lights Marching Band
MINNESOTA Pipestone Area Marching Arrows
MISSOURI Maryville High School
NEW JERSEY Cinnaminson High School
NEW YORK Oppenheim-Ephratah Central School
NORTH CAROLINA White Oak High School
TENNESSEE Tennessee High School
WISCONSIN Hortonville High School & Onalaska High School

Thank you to all of the very outstanding bands, their directors, boosters, parents and communities who made this special event possible

Cinnaminson High School Marching Band director Deb Knisely chats with drummer Eric DeStasio before practice.

One piccolo, three flutes, six clarinets . . . the number of instruments is not what makes the Cinnaminson High School Marching Band special….

What counts is the talent, and the community support, that will enable Cinnaminson to strut its musical stuff during America’s Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

Cinnaminson is one of 15 high school bands from across the nation — and the only one from New Jersey — that will march down Constitution Avenue beginning at noon July 4. Some network TV coverage is expected.

“Once you give these kids something to shoot for, they go for it,” band director Deb Knisely says. “Every time I ask them to step up, they do.”

So has the community.

About $13,000 of the $25,000 fundraising goal for the band trip has been raised so far, according to Joy Korn, president of the Cinnaminson High School Music Boosters Association.

The money will defray the expense of the trip for the individual band members and their families.

A spaghetti dinner on a Saturday in May netted a tidy $3,500.

Other contributions large and small have come from local businesses and individuals, including some outside Cinnaminson.

Anthony’s Jewelers in Palmyra donated $500, and Riverton physician Dr. Anthony Cherico donated $200. Teachers and local veterans organizations also are pitching in.

“This level of support shows how proud our community is of the marching band,” Korn says.

Credit for this goes to the students, of course. But some also belongs to Knisely, a 42-year-old Riverton resident who knows what a difference generosity can make in the life of a young musician.

Knisely was in elementary school in western Pennsylvania when she had an opportunity to learn to play an instrument. But her family couldn’t afford it, so she shared a flute owned by a friend.

And later, her paternal grandmother came up with the $110 needed for a flute of Knisely’s own.

“I took to it like a duck takes to water,” says Knisely, who went on to play piccolo and tuba in the marching band of Mohawk Junior-Senior High School in Bessemer, Pa.

It was there that she learned how important it is for a high school marching band to please the audience. That, more than dominance over other marching outfits, was what the band strove for.

“We were competitive, but in a different way,” recalls Knisely, who describes the high school marching band world in South Jersey as especially competitive.

Speaking of which, in 2004, her first year in charge, Cinnaminson won the Cavalcade of Bands Independence conference championship in Hershey, Pa.

It was that victory that led to the Washington, D.C., engagement. Music Celebrations International Inc., which runs the parade under a contract with the National Park Service, contacted Cavalcade for recommendations.

Among other materials, Knisely sent Music Celebrations a video of the band’s crowd-pleasing performance of a suite of Pink Floyd songs.

No surprise that “Money” will be among the two selections Cinnaminson plays in D.C. as the band marches along Constitution from 7th to 17th streets.

“It’s a wonderful thing to be marching down that marble canyon,” says Music Celebrations spokesman Ned Elliott.

“It’s a real widening of the horizons for the bands. A life-changing experience.”

Amy Miller, an 18-year-old senior in the color guard, and Mark Ferraro, an 18-year-old senior who plays trumpet, are the band’s student leaders.

“It’s an honor for all of us, and we all know it,” Ferraro says.

Although the prospect of national exposure is a bit daunting, “we have to remember we’ve done many parades,” he adds.

“We can’t think about the cameras. I think we’ll be fine.

“We’ve got a pretty tough band.”

Says Miller, “We’re all excited . . . We know the whole nation’s going to be watching us, and it’s a little scary. But the reason we’re going means a lot to us.”

The Gym Dandies” Children’s Circus of Scarborough, Maine came into existence when Jon Cahill, the director of this group, began incorporating circus arts skills into the physical education program. Music Celebrations International has had the privilege of working with John and the Gym Dandies when they traveled to the 2000 and 2004 National Independence Day Parades and the 2005 Macy’s Day Parade. We are also looking forward to seeing them back in our Nation’s Capital for the 2006 National Independence Day Parade. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary. Here is an excerpt from a report on the anniversary…
A lot has changed for the Gym Dandies during the past 25 years. During that quarter-century, the program has slowly evolved into the world’s largest continuously operating children’s circus. But while the program has grown, its focus of keeping kids active and healthy has not changed.

Gym Dandies Director John Cahill, who founded the program in 1981, will oversee the group’s 25th anniversary performance this week. The performance will feature sixty six-foot high, giraffe unicycles, over one hundred smaller unicycles, seventeen globe walkers, hundreds of jugglers, yo-yo artists, Chinese stilts, and specialized stunt unicycle demonstrations.

The Gym Dandies started with “10 kids and a box full of tennis balls,” said Cahill. The program began as an extension of the physical education class Cahill taught in Scarborough schools and slowly evolved from there.

“It’s a real milestone for me and for the program,” said Cahill. “When I started, I had no idea it would be my life’s work.”

Today, approximately 220 members participate in the program each year. The group features routines involving unicycles, various juggling props, Chinese stilts, rolling globes, bolo boards, and more.

“It’s unbelievable over the last 10 years how much it has expanded,” said Bob Mitchell, a member of the booster club.

The Gym Dandies’ reputation has grown right along with the number of children who perform and the complexity of their performances.

Last year they marched, or rather unicycled, in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. They also have performed in the National Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. in 2000, 2004 and will again perform in this special event in 2006. In total, the group has performed at more than 100 regional venues since its inception.

While the acknowledgement the group has received and invitations to perform in such large and prestigious events is a nice bonus, Cahill said the main purpose of the Gym Dandies has not changed since it began – helping kids remain interested in physical activity and building their self-confidence.

Many parents said the chance for all children to participate with the group is one of the best aspects of the Gym Dandies.

“It’s not competitive,” said Cindy Quinn, the secretary for the Gym Dandies Booster Club, adding the group gives students a chance to develop their social and motor skills. “It’s a way for kids who aren’t involved in sports to challenge themselves.”…

What better place to experience Independence Day than in our nation’s capital? Shermans Travel agrees and has named Washington D.C. as one of its Top 10 places to celebrate July 4th. Here’s the write-up:

Of course the nation’s capital is going to rank as a top ten place to celebrate the nation’s birthday! Several exciting events lead up to the culmination of the July 4th festivities, one of which is the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, where everything American, from food, crafts, concerts, and more is showcased along the National Mall. Discover all things American at this free festival, which typically lasts for about a week from late June through July 4, and strives to capture the varying customs and cultures found within all fifty United States. Next up is Constitution Avenue, where the massive National Independence Day Parade (11.45 a.m., July 4) incorporating a stream of lavish floats, bands, giant balloons, and military groups, makes for an impressive spectacle against the backdrop of various DC monuments. Finally, as night falls on July 4, the free A Capitol Fourth concert kicks off on the West Lawn of the Capitol Building, with special guest performances accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra. As a grand finale, the concert is followed by one of the nation’s largest and most visually-impressive fireworks displays, illuminating the night sky above the Washington Monument. See www.washington.org for more information on the capital’s July 4th events.

Music Celebrations International can help your musical group be a part of the 4th of July activities in Washington D.C. through the National Independence Day Parade or the National Festival of the States. Contact us for more information.

Fodors recently published this article about the national museums along the Mall in Washington D.C.

The Mall is the heart of almost every visitor’s trip to Washington. With nearly a dozen museums ringing the green, it’s the closest thing the capital has to a theme park. The best part—almost everything worth going to here is free. … Here are highlights of things going on this spring at a few of our favorite Mall museums:

National Air & Space Museum
Museum celebrities: Spirit of St. Louis and Wright 1903 Flyer
What’s new: Kites rule this March. On March 18, Family Day, kids and adults can build the perfect kite for the museum’s Smithsonian Kite Festival held on March 25. The museum is also currently developing a large new exhibition titled America by Air, which will be completed in Summer 2007.

National Gallery of Art, East Building
Museum celebrity: Picasso’s The Lovers and Family of Saltimbanques
What’s new: Through May 14, Dada, an exhibition devoted to the passionate avant-garde art movement, fills the Upper Level and Mezzanine.

National Gallery of Art, West Building
Museum celebrity: Fra Angelico and Filippo Lippi’s The Adoration of the Magi
What’s new: In honor of the centenary of Paul Cézanne, Cézanne in Provence will feature the artist’s landscapes of Aix-en-Provence through May 7.

National Museum of Natural History
Museum celebrity: The museum’s Dinosaur Hall
What’s new: Through April 23, the photographs of Ivar Utsi Klemetsen will be on display in the museum’s newest exhibit Frost: Life and Culture of the Sámi- Reindeer People of Norway.

National Museum of African Art
Museum celebrity: Hands-on workshops
What’s new: The 525-piece Walt Disney-Tishman African Art Collection, which represents almost every major form of African art, was recently given to the museum by the Walt Disney World Co.

National Archives
Museum celebrities: Important papers—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights
What’s new: Yesteryear’s laborers take center stage in “The Way We Worked,” a photography exhibit running through May 29.

National Museum of American History
Museum celebrities: Dorothy’s ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz, a section of Woolworth’s lunch counter from a famous 1960s sit-in.
What’s new: Fans of the movie Ray will want to swing by before next September to catch the museum’s tribute to the musician, Ray Charles: The Genius.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Museum favorite: Daniel’s Story, an exhibit that aims to educate children about the Holocaust
What’s new: Holocaust Remembrance Day will be observed on April 25. The museum’s commemoration, Legacies of Justice, will honor those who testified during the trials of Nazi war criminals.

The Oppenheim-Ephratah Marching Hawks band has been selected to march in the Independence Day Parade in Washington this summer.

The marching band will be one of 25 chosen nationwide to march down Constitution Avenue, alongside government officials, national military units and floats to represent New York state in the 2006 National Independence Day Parade July 4, according to a news release from Daniel Schwartz, a spokesman for the National Independence Day Parade….

“It was overwhelming to think that someone on that level noticed us here in Oppenheim-Ephratah,” said DiAnne Mott, music coordinator and band director for Oppenheim-Ephratah.

Mott said she is proud of the band and is confident it will do great in the parade.

“Sometimes people forget what is in their own back yard,” Mott said. “I always thought Oppenheim-Ephratah was one the best-kept secrets.”

In addition to playing in the parade, three students will be chosen to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony while the school band plays.

“None of this would have been possible without the team work of other music teachers in the department, or the AMPs group [Association of Musical Parents],” she said.

The group is responsible for handling fundraisers like the spaghetti and chicken dinners that have been used to raise money for the band.

The band has already raised half of the $20,000 it needs to attend the parade, Mott said. The school has also put up an additional $10,000 to support the band due to the late notification given to the band that it had been selected to participate in the parade.

“The whole school community has stepped up and been supportive,” Mott said.

According to the release, the band will be in Washington from July 2 to 5, and will participate in sightseeing and cultural activities in addition to performing in the parade. …

The Oppenheim-Ephratah Central School was also recently named one of the “Best 100 Communities for Music Education in America” by a partnership of leading music and educational organizations in the country, according to the release.

On this day, Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away.

The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19 as the secretary of the navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. As the Marines made their way onto the island, seven Japanese battalions opened fire on them. By evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. The capture of Mount Suribachi, the highest point of the island and bastion of the Japanese defense, took four more days and many more casualties. When the American flag was finally raised on Iwo Jima, the memorable image was captured in a famous photograph that later won the Pulitzer Prize.

Musical groups visiting Washington D.C. either as part of the National Festival of the States or while participating in the National Memorial Day or National Independence Day Parades can visit the Marine Corps War Memorial which in 1954 was patterned after the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima and even see a Marine Drum and Bugle Corps performance there on Tuesdays. Contact Music Celebrations International to find out more.

Colony’s marching band lands a national gig

Group needs funds for trip to join 20 other schools in July 4 celebration.

By BECKY STOPPA Anchorage Daily News

The Colony High School marching band is headed to the nation’s capital, and it has asked the Legislature for a little help in getting there.

The band was invited to play in the National Independence Day Parade in Washington, D.C., after Bill Bergeman, the regional promotional director for Music Celebrations International, the organization that coordinates the event, stumbled across an Aug. 20 article in the Daily News online. The article touted the Colony group’s debut performance and its status as Alaska’s only marching band.

In October, Bergeman called Colony band director Jamin Burton and invited the band to audition. Burton sent a DVD of the band’s performances and a recording of its music and included a picture and a biography that explained how the group got started.

What began as an eight-member drum line during the 2004-2005 school year grew to a 31-member marching band, complete with a drum line and one flagger, by the start of the football season in August. Today Burton’s band boasts 65 members, including three flaggers.

By the end of the football season, the group had mastered a handful of formations and a growing ensemble of music.

“We thought they were pretty good for a first-year marching band from Alaska,” Bergeman said Jan. 17 via telephone from his office in Phoenix.

Just before Christmas break, Burton learned that the band had been accepted. Bergeman said the group will join 18 to 20 other high school marching bands from across the country in the Fourth of July parade down Constitution Avenue. Later that evening, they’ll join more than 700,000 spectators outside the Capitol for a fireworks display.

Four of the Colony students will also represent Alaska in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Va., Burton said.

April Mudge, who with her husband, Darren, started a marching band at Nenana City Public School one week after Burton’s group began in August, said she’s excited for the Colony band.

“We’d like to see them get Alaska on the map,” Mudge said.

But first, they’ve got to raise some cash.

Burton said the trip would run about $1,560 per student. But a first-year marching band has a lot of expenses. Many instruments are marching-band specific, such as drums for the drum line, marching French horns and marching baritones. In addition, marching bands require flags, field podiums and special software to write drills. A sousaphone alone costs $7,500, Burton said.

So far, the group has raised about $8,000 for instruments and technology and another $2,750 for travel. Burton said he’d also like to replace the blue jeans and green polo shirts with traditional marching band attire.

But, at just more than $330 each, uniforms are a secondary concern at the moment, he said, “because we need to have instruments and the ability to play first.”

Besides, he said, the parade committee determined that the heavy synthetic wool uniforms an Alaska band might wear would prove too hot for Washington, D.C., in July. The Colony students will march in khakis and green polo shirts instead.

In January, Burton asked the Mat-Su delegation to support a funding request he’s made to the Legislature. He’s hoping for $25,000 for uniforms — enough for 75 marchers — and some level of sponsorship for the trip.

The group peaked at 71 members this winter, but some students dropped out when they learned how much the trip would cost. Some of the remaining 65 might back out depending on the success of the fundraising.

Burton said he’s also written to Gov. Frank Murkowski’s office requesting a proclamation to honor his marching band students.

“This is all about the kids and the amazing work they’ve done,” he said. “They’ve done a great job. They’re great kids.”

Congratulations to the Gym Dandies who recently performed in the 2005 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade! The Gym Dandies have added this impressive parade to their already long list of accomplishments which include representing the state of Maine in the National Independence Day Parade in 2000 (and will again in 2006!).

The following is from a report in the KeepMECurrent.com by Ken Tatro :

Some New York City police officers who have worked at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for 20 years had never seen anything like the 56 Scarborough kids who unicycled down Broadway last week.

They said that to Gym Dandies Children’s Circus Director Jon Cahill as the parade, including the unicyclists, wound its way past 2.5 million people watching from the streets, in buildings and from rooftops. Millions more got a brief glimpse of the group on national television, right before a commercial break.

The six-foot-tall unicycles provided the students with an excellent vantage point to see the throngs of people lining the street and they could see the crowd’s reaction to the routines they performed.

“People loved to see us ride the unicycles and were so amazed,” said Elizabeth Beliveau, a sixth-grade student who has been performing with the Gym Dandies for about four years. “They were all screaming. I was so proud.”

“It was fabulous,” Cahill said. “The crowd just loved the kids,” who rode the parade’s two-mile route in about an hour.

About the only problem they faced during the parade was running into the occasional pothole, which often led to a student falling off a unicycle.

“I fell one time,” Bennett said. “I just hit something and I was down before I knew it.”

The months of training and in some cases years of experience paid off and they were able to ride down Broadway without any major problems.

“They did real well,” Cahill said. “They held up real well.”

To read the full article, click here.

The Forsan Marching Buffaloes

MCI produced the 2005 National Independence Day Parade in Washington D.C. The Forsan High School Buffalo Marching Band from Forsan, Texas was one of the bands participating in the parade.

The population of Forsan is less than 300. That number becomes even more amazing when you realize that 237 people traveled with MCI to the parade. To say that the whole town went is not an exaggeration.

The very best thing about Forsan, in my opinion, is that they have been very excited about the honor of traveling to our nation’s capital as the representtive of the state of Texas for about a year and a half now. I bet Director Rhode’s upbeat attitude was a big part of that.

The school already has a webpage up detailing their trip with notes and photo’s, their itinerary and an article from the Big Spring Herald (the newspaper at the crossroads of West Texas).

Way to go Forsan!

Barbara and Richard Lambrecht, Co-Band Directors at Oñate High School in Las Cruses, New Mexico, had a big task of raising $90,000 dollars to take their highly acclaimed, but economically challenged marching band to DC to represent the State of New Mexico at the 2003 National Independence Day Parade. They had great success working with the local Chrysler Dealership, having them donate a P.T. Cruiser for a raffle that they held, selling thousands of tickets for $50 each.

Along with several other fundraisers, seeking out corporate sponsorship, and coordination with local government officials and publicity they raised the full amount of their trip. Click here for the full article in the El Paso Times.