READY FOR THE ROSES SANTA CLARITA STUDENTS TUNE UP FOR BIG PARADE.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

PASADENA - For the past two months, 11 Santa Clarita students have been hunkering down with their music, going over marching commands and learning a new discipline.

They've given up surfing the waves and the Web, hanging out with their friends, sleeping late and doing whatever teenagers do on school break. In exchange, they've made a whole new group of friends and have stories to tell their grandchildren about their glorious day in a parade broadcast all over the world.

And at 4:30 a.m. Saturday, they will don their red-coated uniforms with pristine roses on the shoulder as part of the Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band and march down Colorado Boulevard in the annual parade.

With the theme ``Celebrate Family with Music,'' the honor band brought together high school and college students as a tight-knit family. More than 750 students auditioned for the honors, but only 250 made the cut.

``We started rehearsing Thanksgiving weekend,'' said Sam Kaplan, 18, a senior at Saugus High playing percussion/mallets and the only repeat performer from the area in the honor band. ``Being in this band is a musical and physical challenge, but I really enjoy it.''

Jacob Trautman, 15, a sophomore at Saugus who plays the cymbals, moved from studying piano to percussion in the last two years.

``This is really hard work, but it's exciting to be in front of such a big audience,'' he said.

As the only representative of Canyon High School, flute player and junior Stephanie Lillibridge, 16, reveled in being the only female from Santa Clarita in the band as well. Lillibridge isn't the only Santa Clarita girl in the group, however. Saugus sophomore Shannon Petera is marching in the band's color guard, but was unavailable for interview.

``Girl power!'' Lillibridge shouted, sharing that she was overwhelmed when she found out she had made the cut. ``At first, I thought 'whoa', but now it's fun. Once you start performing, it feels cool.''

As a tuba player, Michael Galetti does the heaviest lifting. A junior at Hart High, he's also played alto saxophone for four years. He got into the honor band on his second try, making the attempt in 2003, but doing better in 2004. Changing his audition selection put him over the top.

James Willeford, 16, a junior at Saugus, gave up surfing on winter break to do quick turns on the field with his trombone.

``It just kills me when my friends call me and tell me about good breakers,'' he said. ``But this is very physically demanding and keeps you on your toes. I'm glad I did it.''

``We've been meeting a lot of great musicians from all around Southern California,'' said clarinetist Steven Wright, 16, a junior at Saugus. ``The worst part was marching around Dodger Stadium. It was so long, at first we weren't used to it, but now it doesn't seem too bad.''

Hart junior Nikkil Sudharsahan, 16, said that being in the big band was a lot of work but worth it for the honor.

``Music gives me a different way to express myself, a way to be in my own world and not worry about anything else,'' said Chris Elchico, 15, a sophomore at Valencia. He studied piano before picking up the alto sax five years ago and looks forward to the day that his music gives him a relaxing break from the rigors of being a doctor.

Valencia junior Robert Todd, 16, almost didn't make it into the band, but a quick study helped him at audition time.

``I couldn't find the first piece I prepared, so I picked up another and did some quick sight-reading before the audition,'' he said. ``I was so happy, almost overjoyed when I made it. Then we started marching and it seemed really hard, but now that I'm almost done, I'm going to miss the people. I made a lot of new friends this last couple of months.''

The students will march the 5 1/2-mile route through Pasadena playing Souza's ``Stars and Stripes Forever,'' ``We Are Family,'' a television family-show medley that includes theme songs from ``The Munsters,'' ``The Addams Family,'' and ``Married With Children,'' with ``Everything's Coming Up Roses'' from the Broadway show ``Gypsy'' rounding out their repertoire.

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) These Santa Clarita students are among those who will play in the Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer