Tag Archives: Band

Rose Parade Auditions

Posted on by

JGHS working to join the 605 All-Star Band

By Giselle Ortiz and Leslie Cardenas

The John Glenn High School marching band and color guard decided to take a break from their usual competitive season this year and focused on their marching skills as they auditioned for the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade.

For the past 3 months, the band and color guard have been rehearsing to participate in the 605 All-Star Band. The 605 Band includes John Glenn, Norwalk, La Mirada, Bellflower, Cerritos, Artesia, Gahr, and Mayfair. These eight schools have banded together to record an audition tape to be admitted into the parade. The recording of the audition took place on December 4, 2022 at Bellflower High School.

While the band had much time on their hands to practice their marching, the color guard was awaiting a video of their routine to “Life is a Highway,” one of the songs the band auditioned with. Weeks passed by but the color guard still had nothing. It wasn’t until Thanksgiving where the color guard finally received their video. So when we got back from break, the color guard got to work learning their routine as a team. They had 4 days to learn the complete routine. 

Recording day was split into two parts. The first part was marching in a parade block and the second part was the field show.

Mr. Hinojoz (JGHS band director) conducting the 605 All-Star Band.

The morning of recording day, the band, color guard, and battery got divided into different sections. Band was on the football field, the color guard was on the practice field, and the battery was in the parking lot. The band began by warming up on the track. We did warm-ups for about 20 minutes before we began to run our first song, “Life is a Highway.” The sound of the band was amazing, we sounded full and strong. Eventually, the video photographers recorded our audio and after recording, we got a 10-minute break.

After our 10-minute break, we got back to the track to record us marching. This time, the color guard and battery joined us. We all got put into our ranks, which took a while since all the band directors were moving students around to make the block work better. Once we were set we began to march in a block while pretending to play. Towards the end of part one, we were given a break. When we came back, the pit for the field portion had been set up. We played with the field battery and pit a couple times and then we broke off for lunch.

During lunch, it began to sprinkle. The band directors decided to put us into the MPR. This delayed the recording of the field portion by about an hour.

The 605 band forming a “605” freeway sign.

Once it began to calm down we all headed back to the stadium. We finally began to work on the field portion. The field portion was the part most people did not enjoy. The JGHS marching band is specifically a parade band, not field. So we did not know anything about the drill nor were we used to the amount of time we would have to reset. We stood in one spot for a very long time. Though they let us have our jackets on while setting up, the minute we had to record they had us take our jackets off. It was very cold and many people were concerned about getting sick. The whole time we were told to airplay. It wasn’t until the very last run through where we were allowed to play.

Our overall experience during recording day wasn’t the best. But sure, the beginning was fun since it was something we are used to. 

Here are some more pics from that day:

Start of the day; members of the band line up by section.
The parade block; sign held up by color guard.
Drum majors from different schools representing the 605 Band. (JGHS drum major in the far left back: Lisette Rivas)
Field show for “Johnny B. Goode.”
JGHS trumpets during the field show. 
(Starting 3rd trumpet from the left: Andres Esparza, Franklin Zelada, Jacob Salcido)
Final drill of the day, the guitar.

Behind the Scenes at the Rose Parade

Posted on by

By: April Zavala

THE AUDITION: My name is April Zavala and I auditioned successfully as a trumpet player for the Tournament of Roses Honor Band of 2022 which is the official band of the Rose Parade. Being a part of this band has been a dream of mine since freshman year, and finally being able to be a part of the rose parade was a once in a lifetime experience. 

REHEARSALS: Our first rehearsal was on November 7, 2021, and we continued having five hour music rehearsals every Sunday for a month. Once winter break began, we began marching rehearsals at Pasadena City College, Dodger Stadium, and Santa Anita Park to begin conditioning for the 6 mile long parade. The first few marching rehearsals were tough. The honor band as a whole was not conditioned to march (Play Instruments at an attention position while marching) for hours. But as the days went by it got easier and it proved to be worth it because it made the Rose Parade feel easy.

PERFORMANCES: We had a total of 4 performances before the big day. Our Disneyland performance was on the verge of not happening due to the high probability of rain. Thankfully, Disney agreed to having us perform in our “Rain-Day” uniform. When we arrived at Disney we still weren’t sure if our performance was going to be canceled due to rain, and unfortunately we would not be able to know until the very last minute. Finally, at 1:30pm, our performance began, and the rain did not start until half way through our performance. 

BandFest is a performance put on by all the bands that will be performing in the Rose Parade. Our bandfest performances were to be performed rain or shine, and unfortunately we had rain for all three shows. Since we are the host band, we performed at all three BandFest shows. 

 THE BIG DAY: Finally, it was the night of the “Big Day”, New Years Eve. We had a call time of 3am which meant that we all had to be in bed by 9pm to get a good night’s rest before the parade. I left my house at around 1:30am to ensure I got to Pasadena on time. One thing I wish I was more prepared for was the cold. I wore a white long sleeve shirt and double gloves and it was still not enough to bear the freezing temperatures that morning. (If you’re ever going to perform in the rose parade, make sure you have HotHands!) Finally, we arrived at the step off for the Parade and it was the greatest rush we all felt. Nothing anyone said could have prepared me for “TV Corner”. There were thousands of people, cameras, flashing lights, all eyes on us. There was a moment we turned and played facing the audience and it was the most magical moment of my life.

Marching Eagles Defy the Odds

Posted on by

By Edmund Shryock

As the 2021 school year started, the JGHS Marching Eagles found themselves smaller than previous years. They were facing the decision whether or not to have a marching season.

However, the determination of both the students and their band director, Mr. Hinojoz, allowed them to push through their concerns and compete. This commitment came with hardwork and dedication. Every day during first period, the band slowly developed their skills in marching and playing. As the weeks progressed, the Marching Eagles had found their groove. 

The first competition took place on Saturday, November 13 at Martin Luther King High School, where the Eagles took second place in their division. Other bands had scored lower than they usually do on average at that competition, however the Eagles kept their same score of 91.25.

The second place win gave the Eagles a confidence boost before heading into the big Arcadia Band Review. This review is the band’s equivalent to championships and one of the biggest band reviews in California. 

On Saturday, November 20 the Marching Eagles placed second in their division, earning one of the highest scoring years for the Eagles at Arcadia with a 89.75. That was not it for this band as they also got the second place Seaver Award for the best music score on a John Philip Sousa march. Finally, the Eagles also placed 18 out of the top 20 bands for marching and maneuvering, which means that next year the band will move into Division A. 

This success and dedication is a huge honor for the band and John Glenn High School! I would like to give a special thanks from the senior band members to Mr. Hinojoz for all his hard work and support throughout their high school career.