[blindkid] Fw: Blind band will be Rose Parade's first

[Thorpe, Mary Jo]

Just as another follow up to this story, I was watching the CBS evening
news last Friday, (Nov. 7) and they did a special interest story on the
Ohio School and the band going to the Rose Bowl.  It was a pretty good
piece.  
Mary Jo Thorpe

 

Mary Jo Thorpe, MEd, NOMC

Education Program Specialist 

NFB Jernigan Institute 

 


-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid-bounces+mthorpe=nfb.org at nfbnet.org
[mailto:blindkid-bounces+mthorpe=nfb.org at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
landjwest at bellsouth.net
Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 9:08 PM
To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Fw: Blind band will be Rose Parade's first

Debby,
WOW! This news brought tears to my eyes! I wish I could have been there
to hear them get the news. My daughter attends Nashville School for the
Blind and just started band. I think this is great! Check out our story
sometime at www.mymaleka.com. 
God Bless,
Laura West
-------------- Original message from Debby B <bwbddl at yahoo.com>:
-------------- 

This is really interesting! Since Winona is in marching band, we're
excited to 
> hear about this. 
> 
> Debby
> bwbddl at yahoo.com
> www.nfbflorida.org/parents
> 
> Blind band will be Rose Parade's first
> 
> Tuesday, October 21, 2008 3:12 AM
> By Jennifer Smith Richards
> 
> THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
> 
> Members of the Ohio State School for the Blind marching band react to 
> news that their band has been invited to the 2010 Tournament of Roses 
> Parade. The entire student body was in the gym when the surprise 
> announcement was heard.
> 
> The band's trip to Pasadena, Calif., will cost about $1,500 per 
> person.
> Donations can be sent to the Ohio State School for the Blind 
> Parent-Teacher-Staff Organization, 5220 N. High St., Columbus
> 43214
> The entire student body had been herded into the gym to sing The 
> Star-Spangled Banner, which was video- recorded for a school project.
> 
> That was pretty cool, in itself -- several of the roughly 120 students

> at the Ohio State School for the Blind have perfect pitch, so it 
> wasn't your average school-choir rendition.
> 
> What happened next was even cooler: Music director Carol Agler's cell 
> phone rang and the crowd went quiet. She held the microphone to the 
> phone's earpiece as a man, calling from California, invited the 
> school's marching band to join the 2010 Rose Parade.
> 
> You'd have thought Paris Hilton or the Jonas Brothers had just walked 
> in -- that's how loud the screaming was.
> 
> "Congratulations, and we look forward to seeing you all," said Gary 
> Di- Sano, the parade's president in 2010.
> 
> The Rose Parade, which features flowers-only floats and takes place in

> Pasadena, Calif., each New Year's Day, has never hosted a blind 
> marching band. In fact, Agler said she doesn't know of another one in 
> the country.
> 
> Right now, there are only 17 band members, plus about as many sighted 
> marching assistants who help them stay in formation.
> 
> "I think this will generate more kids in the band," said Agler, who 
> co-directs the band with another teacher, Dan Kelley. They've got a 
> year to whip the band into shape and to raise money for the 
> cross-country trip.
> 
> Band members likely will practice marching on the school's campus and 
> even on one of the gym's treadmills. The parade route is about 6 miles

> and will take about two hours to march, a grind the band isn't used 
> to.
> 
> "I'm nervous, but I'm excited, too. It's gonna be hard, but we're 
> gonna get through it," said Bria Goshay, a 15-year-old snare drummer 
> from Columbus.
> 
> The band was formed in 2005 and played its first full season with 
> about 20 members in 2006. Its uniforms are castoffs from another high 
> school that got new ones.
> 
> During a regular season, the band plays for an audience a handful of 
> times:
> at deaf-school football games, at a Dublin high-school pregame show, 
> at the Ohio State University Skull Session in St. John Arena. The band

> recently marched in a Circleville Pumpkin Show parade.
> 
> Twenty-one bands from across the country have been booked for the Rose

> Parade, said music committee chairwoman Stacy Houser. Two others, 
> Pickerington Central High School and Ohio University, are from Ohio.
> 
> "A blind marching band is such an incredibly unique thing," she said. 
> "We're hoping it'll be an inspiration throughout the country."
> 
> Bands are chosen using several criteria, including marching and 
> musical ability, uniqueness and overall talent.
> 
> Macy McClain, who plays the flute and piccolo in the band, likened the

> honor to being on American Idol.
> 
> "Except you don't have to stand in line," she said. 
> 
> 
> 
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