Members of the Windsor High School marching band didn’t need a pep talk to get stoked about performing in President-elect Barack Obama’s Inauguration Day parade.
Band director Matt Drase gave them one anyway.
Ever since conductor-composer John Philip Sousa led the Marine Corps Band in an Inauguration Day parade more than 100 years ago, the event has been the world’s most prestigious parade, Drase said.
“Out of all the parades on the planet Earth, this is the one,” he told the band Tuesday.
The Windsor Wizards, who won the 2008 Colorado Bandmasters Class 3A State Championship in October, learned this week that they’re one of 56 bands picked to march Jan. 20.
“This is like the greatest thing to ever happen,” said trumpeter Samantha Medina, 17. “Yesterday, when I heard, I was like jumping around.”
Trombonist Vince Ramirez, 16, called the chance to perform for the nation “a fantasy come true.”
The band’s 76 members will take part in the inauguration of America’s first black president. Whatever their political views, Drase said, the students have an “unbelievable” opportunity to participate in history.
Windsor is still recovering from the tornado that clawed roofs and walls into rubble in May, said Rick Porter, the high school principal.
So the band’s selection is a morale booster. “This is just one of the good things that have happened on the heels of disaster,” Porter said.
The participating bands were selected from more than 1,400 applicants. Professional musicians who play in U.S. armed forces bands made the choices, Drase said.
“These professionals have sat down and listened to maybe 1,000 bands and decided that you were in the top 35, or whatever they took,” he said. “You have shown not only yourselves and the state that you are good at what you do, but you have shown the whole nation that you are good at what you do.”
The band must raise the money for the trip, said Porter — about $1,500 per person.
The students will be accompanied by chaperones and others, bringing the number of travelers to about 90 and the total price tag to about $135,000.
The school will hold bake sales and seek contributions from community residents and businesses, Porter said. “We are very excited about getting our kids there,” he said, “and we are going to do everything we can to get them there.”
Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com
Want to help?
Contributions can be sent to:
Windsor High School Band
C/O Gail Harding
P.O. Box 609
Windsor, CO 80550
or call the school at 970-686-8100
