A Rose Parade band’s time to bloom

Chris Harrington’s journey from Columbus, Ohio, to Pasadena has been nothing short of intense.

He doesn’t play for the Ohio State football team, but the 19-year-old is one of 32 members of the Ohio State School for the Blind’s marching band, the first all-blind band to participate in the Rose Parade.

Harrison, a senior from Westerville, Ohio, said he nearly gave up.

Between twice-weekly rehearsals -- sometimes in 30-degree weather and in the dark -- and learning new music, the commitment was almost too much.

But Thursday, halfway across the country in sunny Pasadena, he was happy that he persevered.

“We’re normal people living a normal life,” said Harrington, who plays the tuba. “This just happens to be something we’re good at.”

Dan Kelley, the band’s director, said that leading players who can’t see him can be difficult but that he uses verbal imagery and recordings to guide the students.

“I tell rather than show,” Kelley said.

He will sometimes tell the students they sound like a car with a flat tire. Or when their sound needs to be rounded out, he will tell them to breathe and fill up their mouths as if they were swallowing baseballs, to make the sound rich and full.

“It’s the best example of teamwork that I’ve ever been a part of,” he said.

But it is not just the directors and the players working together.

Each student is accompanied by an assistant who serves as a guide along the parade route. The assistants, clad in red sport coats, either place their hands on the musician’s shoulder or drape their right arm across his or her shoulder. Specially made straps on the lower back of the musicians’ white uniforms can be used if the assistants’ arms get tired.

Jason Cryder, a fourth-grade teacher from the Columbus area, volunteered as an assistant. In the process, he said, he learned more from the students than they have learned from him.

“The talent in this group is stunning,” Cryder said.

At first students had a hard time accepting their newfound celebrity status as blind musicians. But they have dealt with it through jokes and sarcasm.

“They don’t want to be known as the blind band,” Cryder said. “They want to be the talent band.”

To Terry Runkle, an alto saxophone player, marching in the band has taught him that he and his fellow members can overcome differences and play together as a whole.

As he describes it, the band is “a bunch of little crumbs that come together to make one big cookie.”

For cymbal player Sabrina Say, the journey to Pasadena involved her first plane ride. Learning the music and attending rehearsals wasn’t difficult for the 15-year-old. What has been more stressful is learning her way around the new areas she finds herself in, such as the hotel room.

“It’s kind of scary,” she said.

Bryan Ross stood with Noah Beckman, a tenor saxophone player, waiting impatiently to perform for the judges and float builders at the Lions Club International Float on Thursday afternoon. They had been waiting for more than an hour. Ross’ feet were moving nervously up and down.

“It’s been stressful and tiring,” said Ross, 13, who is Beckman’s marching assistant. “But the adrenaline keeps me running.”

Moments later, Ross could be seen leaning on Beckman’s shoulder while texting on his BlackBerry. Ross said he volunteered without knowing anything about the blind -- like some of the other assistants.

“It’s completely worth it,” he said. “This experience is just once in a lifetime.”

Martin Williams, a music assistant who sometimes conducts the band, said one-third of the members have perfect pitch. “They know I’m wrong before I do,” he said.

Stacy Houser, the music committee chairman for the Tournament of Roses, said the marching band is a great example of the parade’s theme, “A Cut Above the Rest.”

“They are an inspiration for all of us,” Houser said.

The band’s longest march has been four miles. But Harrington said he was prepared for the 5.5-mile parade trek today. “It’s going to be awesome,” he said.

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com