Bands Conquer the Bowl
Saturday morning, 1,400 high school band members stood inside the storied shell of the Hollywood Bowl, performing their hearts out solely for the right to say, “Yea, I’ve played the bowl.”
It didn’t matter that virtually no one was in the audience, except a few camera-toting parents.
It didn’t matter that the Hollywood Bowl was shut down for the season. Even the soggy benches and murky puddles of rainwater that dirtied their uniforms didn’t seem to bother them.
What mattered most to these young musicians from as far away as Albany, N.Y., was that for one heart-pounding moment, they made music on the same stage where Luciano Pavarotti and Itzhak Perlman, the Beatles and the Beach Boys have performed.
“This is like such an adrenaline rush,” said snare drummer Gideon Porter of the Milan, Ohio, Edison High School marching band. “I feel like one of those stars that put their hands in the sidewalk.”
The Bands at the Bowl competition was part of a busy roster of activities for nine of the marching bands that will perform tonight in the 71st Hollywood Christmas Parade, sponsored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators are expected to line stretches of Hollywood and Sunset boulevards for the annual parade, which features celebrities in convertibles, bands, equestrians and the star of the event, Santa Claus.
For the marching bands, the parade culminates months of fund-raising and preparing for what, for many, is a first-time trip to Los Angeles.
“This is so nerve-racking; it’s such a big deal,” said Stefanie Czelusniak, 15, of the Amsterdam, N.Y., high school marching band. “Just think of all the famous people who have performed here -- Aerosmith, Britney Spears....I mean, that’s what I heard, Britney Spears.”
Close. Britney Spears was scheduled to perform at the bowl in July 2000, but canceled to perform at the Great Western Forum.
Parade organizers selected 20 bands from the 60 that submitted tapes of their music and performances, looking for talent as well as representatives from a cross-section of the country. Nine of the bands decided to participate in Saturday’s competition at the bowl.
From the Chamber of Commerce’s perspective, the more bands that perform, the more publicity they can generate for Hollywood Boulevard. In past years, the parade has been televised in up to 130 cities, and many towns got a chance to see their schools in a Hollywood performance. This year, however, a network television special will be taped during the parade with no promises that band performances will be shown in the Dec. 8 NBC broadcast.
But it’s not about TV, say band members and their directors. This weekend is a chance to travel to the big city, to perform in one of the biggest parades in the nation, go to Disneyland, see the “Lion King.”
“Just to be told, ‘Yes, your band is good enough to be selected’ is rewarding,” said Stephanie Ossenfort, who has directed the Amsterdam band for eight years. “It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done.”
The 180-member Center Grove High School Band from Greenwood, Ind., took first place in the competition, followed by the Comeaux High School band from Lafayette, La., and Crestview High School band from Crestview, Fla.
When 15-year-old flutist Erica Kassner of Bay Port High School in Green Bay, Wis., took the stage, she became overwhelmed.
“I got this huge head rush,” she said. “My heart is pounding because I know how many famous people have been here. And then your mind forgets the first note, but you start playing anyway.”
Inside the shell, the pounding drums reverberated through their chests, and those on wind instruments could feel the percussion through their mouthpiece. On stage they could hear the horns, the trumpets, the flutes resonating their scores.
“We are usually spread out over a field and can’t hear all the parts,” Kassner said.
Conductor and composer Bill Conti, who won an Oscar for the film score to “The Right Stuff” and has conducted the Academy Awards orchestra, took the stage to lead the bands in one big rendition of patriotic music.
But the youths gave him the loudest applause for his student achievement. He earned a scholarship to Louisiana State University, where he played the bassoon in the marching band.
Along with the bowl scene, Kassner of Green Bay said she will always remember that she wore a T-shirt over Thanksgiving weekend.
“It was so cold when we left that putting your mouth on a flute was like sticking your tongue on a frozen pipe,” she said.
