KAYSVILLE — It's not unusual for residents in the neighborhood around Davis High School to step out their front door in the summer months and see a live band marching down the street.
This summer, those morning parade practices for the Davis High School marching band have been a little more meaningful as the band gets ready for a performance in the 2003 Rose Parade, which precedes the Rose Bowl football game on New Year's Day.
"I will have to keep everybody tapping in front of 400 million people. Yeah, I'm nervous," drum line captain Mauro Carlini, 17, said.
The parade on Jan. 1 will not only reach a huge worldwide audience via television but a live audience of some 1 million people who will line the parade route.
The anticipation of the event is somewhat nerve-wracking to band members but also exciting.
"I think it's such a great opportunity," said Kristen Mckeen, 17.
Preparing for the high-profile parade in Pasadena, Calif., is no easy feat.
Band director Steven Hendricks applied to be in the parade three times before the band was selected. Parade organizers seek large, award-winning bands that consistently perform well.
Only a handful of Utah high schools have been invited to perform in the Rose Bowl Parade. The most recent was American Fork in 1998, but before that it had been about 40 years since Utah was represented.
The Davis marching band, which has won numerous awards, is the largest high school marching band in the history of the state this year at 290 members, Hendricks said.
The size of the marching band increased with the addition of newcomers excited about the opportunity of participating in such a large-scale event.
"Almost 50 percent of our band is rookie," he said.
Just a month and a half after learning the band would be among 16 marching bands nationwide to march in the parade, he and other staff members went to California to watch the 2002 Rose Parade in January. Then in March, the president of the Tournament of Roses and his wife came to Kaysville to see the Davis High School operation in person.
In addition to squaring away uniforms, selecting music and raising money for the trip, the marching band added two parades to its usual summer itinerary to get in more marching practice.
Band members went through summer band practices three days a week for three hours a day in the hot sun. Every time a marcher makes a mistake during their march practice on the streets of Kaysville, they go off to the sidewalk or grass and drop for push-ups.
Band member Tarah Hendricks, 17, a four-year veteran of the high school marching band, says she is looking forward to the parade and says the intense practice sessions are paying off.
"We're getting more nit-picky on the important stuff since we're going to be on national television," she said. "We sound really good, too."
The students attend band camp in Delta in August and will spend September preparing for band competitions in October. In November and December the band will attempt to march in the streets of Kaysville again, weather permitting, Hendricks said.
"We're hoping they can keep the snow off the streets and we can go out in gloves and hats and practice," Hendricks said.
The marching band is still raising money to pay for their trip to California. Some 75 requests have gone out to foundations, Hendricks said, and the band is looking for donations and sponsors within the community. The total cost of the trip will be around $250,000 to $300,000.
The band will perform "Call of the Champions" by composer John Williams. The piece was the theme of the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
"We wanted our music to be representative of Utah," he said.
The second piece the band will perform at the parade is "Children of Sanchez" by Chuck Mangione.
Although getting ready for a parade that will be watched by 400 million people takes a lot of hard work, time and money, students in the marching band seem to think it will be worth it.
"A lot of the kids are saying, 'After this, are we going to go to New York and do the Macy's parade?' " Hendricks said.
E-MAIL: ehayes@desnews.com