On a recent Sunday morning, the 605 All-Star Band, turned the streets of Norwalk into a trial run for the Rose Parade.
Norwalk Boulevard stood in for Pasadena’s Orange Grove Boulevard and Norwalk’s intersection with Excelsior Drive served as the proxy for the “T.V. corner” turn onto Colorado Boulevard facing all marching bands on Jan. 1.
The added challenge for the 605 Band is that it will be the largest marching band in the 2025 edition of the parade and one of the largest the parade has ever seen.
It is made up of more than 500 members representing three school districts, seven cities and the following eight high schools: Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, John Glenn, Gahr, La Mirada, Mayfair and Norwalk.
Mayfair High School band director Tom Phillips will be retiring in 2025 and came up with the idea of combining the bands after the individual school bands shrunk post-pandemic.
“It’s all worth it,” Phillips said of the work to get to New Year’s Day. “I can’t wait to get our kids out there to play on the world stage.”
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The band auditioned back in late 2022, meaning some of those who helped secure the band’s spot in the parade won’t be marching. However, the bands offered juniors and seniors from the audition a spot in the 2025 parade band.
“I came back specifically because I wanted to help Tom Phillips, Mayfair’s band director, fulfill his dream and he’s retiring this year so I just wanted to make it as good as it could be for him,” said Joshua Bowline, a trombone player and former Mayfair student.
Law enforcement closed down surrounding streets all day for the Sunday practice. Band members wore black shirts with a 605 All-Star Band logo on the back.
Band members talked with their fellow row mates as directors found spots for those who hadn’t been placed at previous practices. A swell of warm-up tunes of all sorts filled the street as the band prepared to begin.
After about half an hour of lining up on the street the band set off from Holifield Park around 11:45 a.m.
It made the approximately half-mile trip down to Norwalk and Excelsior playing “Life is a Highway.” At the intersection the band directors halted the group and prepped for the first take of the turn.
“That’s light work, huh,” Artesia band director Juan Perez said to the front section of the band.
Step 1: All about steps
For the 605 band to complete the turn the person on the outer edge of each row has to take the longest strides. Each band member to that outside person’s right takes smaller and smaller steps until the person on the inside appears to be almost shuffling their feet in place.
Phillips said the band is 13 members wide, and Sunday’s practice was the first rehearsing the turn on a street.
“They just need to get used to being a block band of the size that we have,” Phillips said sitting on a golf cart with a “Tomsled” license plate. “That’s starting to come around.”
Part one of turn practice was five right turns. Two with the entire band flowing through followed by two done line by line and finally section by section.
Allyson Morales, a snare drummer and returning Mayfair student, was one of the people on the outside edge of the band as it practiced turning. She said being tasked with taking the biggest steps at 5-foot 3- inches tall was the biggest challenge.
“There’s so many people, I feel like it’s hard for people to look to their left and actually be able to see the left person,” Morales said. “It’s definitely a hard process but I feel like it’s been getting better and it’s a really good feeling when it all lines up.”
EllisJames Pride, bass trombonist and returning Mayfair band member, said its challenging to stay in line with the person on the far left of a line.
“If they’re taking the biggest step we just match them and go smaller down so that’s kind of hard because it’s not really clicking yet.” Pride said.
Step 2: ‘Move together’
Band directors shouted instructions through each repetition. The first five turns were done without playing and band members clicking their instruments. The only sounds were directors’ shouts and a drum beat to keep everyone on time.
Band directors set up orange cones on either side of the street and marked in chalk where each person in the row should be when marching through the turn.
“It’s like the Army, do not let your buddy down, do not leave them there,” Phillips said through a megaphone prior to a practice turn. “You must move together.”
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Directors focused on the size of each band member’s strides and constantly reminded band members about staying in sync by keeping an eye on their fellow row mates.
After a lunch break the band held a mini parade for residents of the Norwalk neighborhood, where they completed six more turns, three left turns and three right turns.
Parents and residents dotted the streets where the band marched back and forth throughout the day. In the afternoon, some had gathered at the intersection in camping chairs. When the band made the final march back to Holifield Park they were greeted by cheering parents.
Step 3: ‘A community thing’
Frank Hinojoz, John Glenn High School band director, himself marched in the Rose Parade in 1989 as part of the Tournament honor band. An alumnus of John Glenn, he said that the honor band is typically the only way students from his school and the others along the 605 Freeway could get in because of the size of each band on its own.
The John Glenn contingent is the smallest of the eight schools, Hinojoz said, with 35 band members.
“The idea that we all get to have our entire band, but as a group do this, that’s just exciting. That’s the thing that we’ve all wanted to do is our entire band,” Hinojoz said. “Even though we’re small we’re doing it as a group in a collective group, it’s a community thing now.”
Phillips ended the more than four hour practice with words of encouragement and a reminder of the challenge of the turn come parade day without the help of the band directors.
“There is nobody to help you turn that corner,” Phillips said to the band. “You have 528 kids autonomous to turn the corner. You got to figure out and know what to do and keep your eyes open.”
To close the day, the band cheered in unison “605!” and “Best day ever!”