The school’s first 60 years: Band and Guard march in 2012 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Seven years ago, on Nov. 22, the marching band and Color Guard performed in the 86th annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York City. The band was one out of 11 selected nationwide over a year before and the only one from California to take part in the event that year.

The highlight of the parade was the final segment at Herald Square, consisting of a performance of Vince Oliver’s “American Overture,” an arrangement commissioned by the school. It was performed in front of the Macy’s store for a televised audience of about 50 million viewers. Leading up the performance, the band practiced their drill and sequences on a tarp with the Macy’s star in order to imitate the conditions of the actual parade successfully.

An entourage of over 400 Saratoga students, led by directors Michael Boitz and Jonathan Pwu, traveled to New York City for a six-day trip that included seeing sights, attending Broadway shows and going on a dinner cruise to wrap up the trip.

Preparations for the performance began on Nov. 3 after the end of field show season, two weeks before the band had to leave for New York.

This account is a summary of two stories that appeared in the June 9, 2011, and Nov. 30, 2012, print editions of the Falcon, respectively. The 2011 story was written by Ashley Tang and the 2012 one was written by McKenna Galvin and Michelle Shu. The original stories can be found at saratogafalcon.org.