Great Bend High School Director of Bands Grant Mathews was selected to join a marching band in the Pasadena Rose Parade on Jan. 1. The band will accompany a colorful, animated float from the Saluting America’s Band Directors project along the 5.5-mile parade route.
This is the first known Rose Parade marching band in which all 270 members are band directors from the U.S. and Mexico. They will perform Meredith Wilson’s “Seventy-Six Trombones,” using an original arrangement by Ohio music composer Lisa Galvin.
Mathews, who will play the tenor drums, said he submitted a resume and was selected to be in the 2021 parade before it was canceled. This year’s parade will operate under coronavirus-related guidelines where all ticket holders will be required to provide proof of full vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of the event.
“We’ve had the music since last summer, so I’ve been working on it and practicing it on my own,” Mathews said.
The band directors will get together to rehearse for a couple of days in Pasadena.
“It’s been 20 years since I’ve marched tenor drums professionally, so this should be fun and interesting,” he said. “I hope I can make it five and a half miles! We will be hitting the TV in the second hour of the parade on Saturday morning, so check it out if you get a chance.
“This is a great opportunity for band directors to do what we love, and what inspired us to be directors, perform with a band,” he added. “I have friends that are attending as well, and hope to make new musical relationships.”
The band will be directed by nationally known music educator and innovative band director Jon Waters, who will also direct rehearsals and a Bandfest performance in Pasadena.
The theme for the project is, “America’s band directors. We teach music. We teach life.” The project was created “to recognize the extraordinary dedication and accomplishments of band directors and music educators everywhere.”
Band members range from recent music education graduates through retired veteran directors, from across the United States and Mexico. Collectively, the band members have mentored hundreds of thousands of students and have taught a total of 4,539 years, according to the organizers.
Among the group are 76 teachers of the year along with winners of other distinguished state and national awards.
The sponsoring organization behind the Saluting America’s Band Directors project is the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation, based in Pickerington, Ohio. The foundation was created to recognize and carry on the work of the late Mike Sewell, who dedicated his life to the school and community music programs in Pickerington and the Central Ohio area for almost 40 years.
