USC Band Marches Back to Boot Camp

There weren’t 76 trombones on the field when the USC Marching Band visited Oxnard Thursday for a preseason workout.

Instead, the 275 members of the famed unit who began practice Thursday played 26 trombones, 50 trumpets, 44 saxophones, 20 tubas, 16 French horns, along with dozens of flutes, clarinets and drums.

Holding its band camp in Oxnard for the second consecutive year, the USC Marching Band practiced at Oxnard High School’s football field Thursday afternoon. The band will practice at the Los Angeles Raiders’ field in Oxnard today and Saturday.

For many of the band members, the camp is a tuneup for the football season, said Steve Ortiz, the band’s general manager. For nearly 100 freshmen, though, the camp serves as an indoctrination to the band’s “flashy, powerful” marching style, Ortiz said.