By Khalida Sarwari
The Saratoga High School marching band just won a prestigious championship, but they’re not resting on their laurels just yet. While most people will be taking to their couches to work off the tryptophan this Thanksgiving break, the band kids will be huffin’ and puffin’ it at the gym and on local sidewalks in an attempt to get in shape for the nearly six-mile route at the Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.
The highly anticipated event is fast approaching, and while music director Michael Boitz and associate music director Jonathan Pwu are working on the logistics required for an event of such magnitude, students in the music department have been putting in hours of practice during the week and even on Saturdays, rehearsing three pieces of music and building their stamina before their Dec. 28 departure.
Performing in the Rose Parade will be a first for the Saratoga High music department, although historically marching band students at Saratoga High have had the enviable opportunity of performing in some of the most prestigious concert halls across the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House and in several international festivals.
Naturally, nerves are all over the place for students and faculty alike; knowing that millions of people will be tuning in to watch the high-profile parade probably isn’t helping quell any of their fears. Percussionist Wyatt Schulman and trumpeter Peter Vandevort, both 16 and juniors, worry they’ll be the only students to accidentally step out of line during the parade, while alto saxophonist Roy Ong, a sophomore, fears he’ll hit a wrong note when he gets tired.
“We’re both terrified and absolutely in pure ecstasy to go to this,” said Peter.
Their director would beg to differ. “Nobody’s more nervous than the teachers, because we’ve never done this before so our learning curve is going to be vast,” Boitz said.
Well, maybe that’s not quite true for Boitz, whose 18-year tenure at Saratoga High includes many impressive feats, including participation in 2012 in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
With such accomplishments under Boitz’s belt, it’s no surprise that the halls of the music department are teeming with awards, commendations and medals. The most recent is from the band’s success in the preliminary and final rounds of the Bands of America Northern California Regional competition, which bills itself as “the premier high school marching band championship.”
In the contest, held Nov. 7 in American Canyon, Saratoga won first place for music, design and visual for their performance of “Quest,” a piece that was based on the phone game Monument Valley. The school was rated the top band of the nearly two dozen participating bands with the highest overall score.
It was the band’s third time participating in the contest and its first win. Ong recalls his bandmates sobbing, jumping up and down, and hugging the person nearest to them upon hearing the announcement. “When we found out we got first place, we were so overjoyed,” the 15-year-old said.
Flutist Gina Drapal, 16, was touched by the display of support from members of the Homestead High School band, a rival school band.
“It was really amazing to be there with all those bands,” said Gina. “They were cheering us on, and we would have done the same for them.”
On Nov. 18, the school received a commendation from the city for their achievement in the competition.
The band is comprised of 150 musicians, 20 pit percussion members, 37 color guard members and three drum majors.
