MARCHING TO STRAINS OF PAIN; ROSE PARADE'S PREPARATION GRUELING.Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer They started with an hourlong practice in the morning and a 90-minute rehearsal at the end of the school day. Then the musicians took to the streets, marching on the hard pavement of Avenida de las Flores Las Flores can refer to:
This week, the Thousand Oaks High School Thousand Oaks High School is a high school established in 1962 and located in Thousand Oaks, California. It is a California Distinguished School, and offers curriculum at all levels for Thousand Oaks students. The mascot is the lancer. Marching Band Noun 1. marching band - a band that marches (as in a parade) and plays music at the same time band - instrumentalists not including string players faces daylong rehearsals as it works to perfect its performance for the 110th annual Tournament of Roses Parade The Tournament of Roses Parade was established, and first held, on January 1,1890, in Pasadena, California, eight miles (13 km) northeast of Downtown Los Angeles. Rooted in tradition, this parade is broadcast on multiple television networks, watched by upwards of one and the worldwide television audience of 400 million expected to watch. ``My intent is to really, really work them out,'' band director Bill Hoehne said. ``They're going to march and play until they drop.'' The Lancers lanc·er n. 1. A cavalryman armed with a lance. 2. A member of a regiment originally armed with lances. 3. lancers (used with a sing. verb) a. A kind of quadrille. b. had applied seven times previously for the privilege of marching down Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street) is a major east-west street in Southern California, United States. It runs from Griffith Park in Los Angeles east through Glendale, the Eagle Rock section of Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Arcadia, ending in Monrovia. and finally learned last spring that they would be Southern California's representative in this year's parade. The musicians and color guard have been practicing since the start of school, but their rehearsals have taken on a sense of urgency as parade day approaches. ``I didn't realize how much more work it would be,'' said senior Erica Donnelly, co-captain of the color guard. ``Your arms get so tired. Your legs never stop moving.'' Endurance is a real concern - especially since some band members complained of fatigue after marching just 1.2 miles in the recent Camarillo Christmas Parade, Hoehne said. The Rose Parade route runs for more than seven miles. ``I'm telling them quite often of the rigors of it,'' Hoehne said. ``I'm just running them up and down the street now.'' Last week, the 250 band and color guard members closed off a section of Avenida de las Flores so they could get experience marching on a paved surface instead of their usual grassy fields. And this week, they plan to practice on the north end of Rancho Conejo Boulevard, where they can get a feel of the hard turn from Orange Grove Boulevard onto Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. The students balance their fatigue with the excitement of donning their black, green and white uniforms and marching in the granddaddy of all parades. Expenses from the Rose Parade, a band tournament and an April trip to Washington, D.C., have more than doubled the band's annual expenses of $100,000, said Rhonda Grider, who with her husband, David, heads the band's booster club. ``We want our community to be very proud of us walking down Colorado Boulevard,'' said Grider, whose daughter Emily plays trombone trombone [Ital.,=large trumpet], brass wind musical instrument of cylindrical bore, twice bent on itself, having a sliding section that lengthens or shortens it and thus regulates the pitch. The descendant of the sackbut, it was developed in the 15th cent. . About $60,000 went to buy 11 new sousaphones, the wraparound Wraparound A financing device that permits an existing loan to be refinanced and new money to be advanced at an interest rate between the rate charged on the old loan and the current market interest rate. , tubalike instruments that provide a silver gleam for the television cameras. ``It's such a visible element of a marching band,'' Grider said. The city chipped in $10,000, and various fund-raisers have brought in $40,000 more, she said, which means the band still has another $50,000 to go. Although many individuals and small businesses have contributed to the band's fund-raising efforts, band boosters were disappointed that no area businesses provided financial assistance, ensuring that their corporate logo would be visible to millions of viewers. ``That's something that's been perplexing per·plex tr.v. per·plexed, per·plex·ing, per·plex·es 1. To confuse or trouble with uncertainty or doubt. See Synonyms at puzzle. 2. To make confusedly intricate; complicate. to me,'' Grider said. ``We're willing to wear a patch on our uniform.'' CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) Xia Quiros, left, and other saxophonists practice for the Thousand Oaks High School marching band's appearance on Jan. 1. Evan Yee/Daily News |
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