Saturday 30 December 2017

Day 4 - Band Fest 2018

by Mallory Jagger and Sophie Vigneux

This morning, after waking up at 8 and having breakfast, we made our way to the Rose Bowl for the official tour photo. The process was very efficient and you could tell that they had everything planned down to the minute. It was also fun seeing who was the tallest and shortest in band when being put in place for the photo. Afterwards, we encountered a surprise photo shoot where every band members got their own portrait taken. Then, we walked all the way over to the center where the floats for the parade were being built with fresh flowers. We then walked back to the buses and made our way to Pasadena City College for our Bandfest performance. For our lunch, we got to experience the famous american In-and-Out burger. After our very rushed meal, the loading crew unloaded in record time, we put on our tunics, and headed out to the field without a warm-up. As we watched the Los Angeles Unified School District Band our hearts started to race with anticipation for our first performance in California, especially because we had been working on this field show for over a year now and had only put the final touches on the show two days ago. When we moved into our starting positions, we knew we were ready! As the first note rang around the stadium, everything seamlessly fell into place. As I (Mallory) turned around into my solo position for the song I Have a Love, my breath was taken away, and I was trying not to break out into a smile. I knew my whole family was watching me and as I hit the first and last notes I couldn’t have been happier with our performance. One of the highlights of our show was when we played our fourth song Tonight, and turned towards the other half of the stadium. The crowd went wild! We were the only band to play a song facing that side, and you could tell it was appreciated. When we finished the show, and we marched out to Big Noise, we knew we had made a lasting impression. Back at the buses, we were able to socialize and trade pins with the other bands which was really cool. Tomorrow will be our last day to relax as we prepare for the big parade on January 1st, 2018!

Friday 29 December 2017

Day 3 - Universal Studios

By Sam Cardona, Maddy Van Clieaf and Kyle Schweitzer

     Sadly, today was very hot, much more than yesterday lol. We started off with an early morning, today’s breakfast had sausage, not bacon and the potatoes were a little unique. We headed off to the buses for our last practice before the Rose Parade, we worked a lot on cleaning up little things and the drums got some snazzy, good looking, fresh, colourful drum heads, decorated with the Tournament of Roses logo. After we finished up rehearsal, the chaperones prepared us a really nice lunch. We had a make-your-own sandwich line-up with all different kinds of lunch meats, vegetables, tied together with some chips and water (water is key). When all of the stomachs were full, the band headed down to Universal studios.

Maddy and Sam began the trip with a magical adventure to Harry Potter land, they happily waited in line for the most spectacular ride which immersed them in the magic world of Harry Potter. Afterwards, they grabbed some Butterbeer, which is a butterscotch drink that Harry and his friends drink in the fictional world. Sam really wanted a wand, so everyone piled into the Olivanders and chose out their own wand, which could interact in the park and cast fun spells. It was getting late so the gang rapped up their night with a trip to the sweets shop and then to go get some dinner in a small sandwich shop right next to Who-Ville.
While Sam and Maddy were waiting to write the blog, they were able to talk to some other Harry Potter fans who were in band. Matt Wicks, told us about his day and told us all about his love for Harry Potter and his Ravenclaw nature.

     Whilst Samantha and Madeleine were doing the works of nerds, Kyle, a great bass drummer, was strolling along the park with his good chums. His “quad” included; the incredible Jules Q and Jenna Walker. They began their special journey with a lovely glass of butterbeer. This was quite the delicacy and made the experience of Universal Studios even better. After the butter beer had been drunk, the gang headed for the world-famous studio tour of Universal. There they were subjected to a wait time of 95 minutes. After the long wait, they finally approached the beginning of the tour. The tour was a great time with a lot of special effects and fun stuff. The members then ate some food and went home to the hotel.

For today it is Goodbye from California and the world of magic.

Thursday 28 December 2017

Day 2 - Rehearsal & Santa Monica

By Charné du Plooy and Rebecca Fisher

It was another beautiful, sunny day in California (haha, you’re in the cold) and we were off to an early breakfast at 7:30am. When breakfast was finished, we loaded the buses to go on an hour long bus ride to a luxuriously hot field for field show practice. After marching around in the sun for a while and a well needed water break, we were off to our next destination, Santa Monica Pier. We were blown away by the sight of the ocean and the massive beach next to it. The next 2 and a half hours were spent searching for lunch and sightseeing around the pier. We both went off with our friends and took plenty of pictures to remember this one-of-a-kind experience. To wrap up the day, we hopped back on the buses and headed back to the hotel where we could relax and hang out with friends until the band meeting and curfew. Overall, it has been an incredible day, and one that we will never forget.

Wednesday 27 December 2017

Day 1

By Mackenzie Parent, Emma Walton

Day one in California was a great start to the tour!Breakfast started at 8am in the crystal ballroom and ate breakfast together. For breakfast we had eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and fruit.  Then we loaded the buses and were on our way after a short delay. Once we got to the stadium we had a brief field show practice in the heat. After we finished practice we set off to Hollywood! Due to heavy traffic, we were late by an hour and a half. However, once we got off the bus, we found out free time had been extended by an hour to accommodate for the delay. We ate fish and chips, pizza and burgers at Pigs n’ Whistles. Then we went window shopping at souvenir shops and were excited to find many patches to add to our band jackets. We were able to walk around and look at all the stars on the walk, and catch some views of the infamous Hollywood sign. Once our free time came to an end, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and free time. We headed to Target to pick up snacks for the week before heading back to our rooms. All in all, today was a great day filled with fun and new experiences. We are excited to see what the rest of the tour had to hold.

Tournament of Roses - Travel Day

By Amy Longley & Sarah DiMatteo

With months of preparation, excitement, and hard work has led up to this exciting journey. The excitement definitely peaked yesterday as band members gathered at the music center. Upon saying goodbye to our parents we were honoured to have former band director Don Allan, who brought the band to the Rose Parade twice before, to speak with us about his experiences and wisdom. We loaded onto 6 school buses, and were finally off to the airport. The airline was kind enough to give us a private section to check our luggage and receive our boarding passes, after a quick and easy check in we were able to go get food and continue to build even more excitement. For flight 1, we discovered that our flight was delayed due to the cargo hold were frozen and therefore unable to load our luggage. This caused us about an hour delay which was only a minor setback. While on the flight, there was a buzz about an NHL hockey player and famous social media celebrity on our flight, this was the first of many (hopefully) celebrity sightings during our trip. By the time we landed and collected our luggage, we were even more eager to get to our hotel. At this time, we were told that flight 2, which was previously on time, was delayed at LAX because there was no gate for them. After a long day of travel, we were all ready to go to bed and prepare for the amazing tour we have ahead.