In the ‘90s, years before teacher Jonathan Jow presided over the Redwood Middle music department, he was marching down Santa Cruz Avenue while playing saxophone in the SHS marching bands.
Having marched in the Los Gatos Holiday Parade for years as a student at Redwood and SHS, Jow said that the Holiday Parade has been a “highlight ending to the marching season” for him as well as past and current band students.
This year, the entire SHS band combined with Redwood’s in the tradition of marching at the Holiday Parade together on Dec. 2. While Redwood attends the parade every December, the high school joins Redwood every other year as an opportunity for the middle schoolers to build relationships and look up to the high schoolers.
Although the Holiday Parade is actually a competition, only all-middle and all-high school bands can compete. Jow decided to combine the Redwood and SHS bands to march noncompetitively a few years ago, and even when Redwood marches alone Redwood does not compete.
Even though the combined band cannot receive a trophy or prize money, Jow thinks combining the bands is worth it because it builds community and is so much fun.
Following the Redwood-Saratoga tradition, both bands played Redwood’s annual holiday music medley of “Deck the Halls,” “Come All Ye Faithful” and “Angels We Have Heard on High.” The percussion also played a cadence in between each run, said junior trumpet Matthew Graham, who has now marched in the parade four times.
Freshman flutist Wilson Fung said that he remembered marching with the high schoolers his seventh grade year. Although he doesn’t consider himself to be particularly looked up to since he is a freshman, Fung said he helped out the middle schoolers when they were lost during the combined practice at SHS.
Many band members, including Graham, said that a highlight of the combined marching was that they were able to see Jow again.
“Jow is an incredible teacher who really sparked a love for music in a lot of people’s lives, including mine,” Graham said.
Jow said that seeing past students is one of his favorite parts of being a teacher.
“Seeing how they have grown and improved as musicians, but also seeing them doing a common activity with friends and doing something they enjoy that reaches beyond the traditional academics of high school, make me particularly proud,” Jow said.
Although the event was much smaller when he was a student, Jow said that he likes how the Holiday Parade has always been a good performance opportunity for the local community.
“When we get to join with the high school, I get incredibly excited and nostalgic seeing seven years worth of students of ours all performing together and representing the best that the community has to offer our youth,” he said. “As a teacher, you can’t be more proud in moments like those.”