‘Band geeks’ to march in New York City parade

BOZEMAN – “Band geek” might sound like an insult to some, but it’s music to the ears of eight students in the Bozeman High School Marching Band.

The gang of eight loves marching band.

So much, in fact, that they’ve volunteered to travel to New York City next week to march and play in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

They’ll be representing Montana in an All-American High School Marching Band, which is expected to lead off the entire parade, Bozeman High band director Kelly Berdahl said Friday.

“It’s the ultimate band geek thing to do,” Katy Hendricks, 15, who plays euphonium, said during a group interview.

Are you really band geeks?

“Oh, yeah!” they chorused.

“We all love the term here,” said trumpeter Hannah Sharber, 15.

“I’ve been doing marching band all four years,” said Taylor Johnson, 18, who plays tenor trombone. “This is an opportunity to take it to a new level.”

They do have some trepidations.

It’s a long, three-mile parade. The euphonium players, Hendricks and Steven Costle, 16, have to play a slightly different instrument than they’re used to, a marching baritone, which is held up like a trumpet, instead of close to the body. They’ll be using muscles they haven’t used before.

But this group laughs at hardships. Sharber said their best practice this fall was held in the rain, when everyone wore slickers.

“It was the most crazy practice,” she said. “People were doing belly slides in the mud.”

Color guards Sara Boom, 16, and Sarah Bummer, 17, are a bit nervous because they don’t have their choreography yet. They don’t want to drop their flags before a TV audience estimated at 53 million people.

Grant McWilliams, 16, said he’s excited about the chance to be with students “from all over the country.”

“Who love band as much as we do,” added fellow trumpeter Kristin Lambers, 18.

After leaving Bozeman today at 2:30 a.m., the group will be in New York for five days. After Thursday’s parade, the entire band will enjoy a river cruise around Manhattan with a turkey dinner.

The trip is costing the students about $1,400 each.

Costle said they’re hoping some businesses will help sponsor the trip. And the students are using money they’ve earned – Boom at the Family Christian Bookstore, Lambers from teaching swimming, Bummer from her day care job.

The band’s organizers, Music Festivals, didn’t notify Berdahl they had openings – for brass players and color guard – until October. The firm offered Bozeman High students the chance to participate based on the school’s reputation, he said.

The student musicians said they like to spice up their marching with a “get funky” cadence. They chug their instruments up twice, then down twice. Some dance around in a circle.

When they play at football games, they said, the entire student body loves it and joins in.

And that’s why they sometimes just shout out, “We love marching band!”