Tuning up for their 2 1/2 hours of fame

It won’t be long before members of the Prospect High School marching band will be up before dawn preparing for the performance of their young lives.

Forget homecoming, the Fourth of July or the local parade. This time, millions of people will line the streets and turn on their TV sets to watch them march by, instruments blaring.

On Jan. 2, more than 200 teenagers from the school will perform in the 117th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, considered the Super Bowl for marching bands.

“This is big, real big,” band director Dave Morrison said last week during one of the final practice sessions before the band’s departure. “For a parade band it’s an unbelievable experience.”

Stressing the scope of the Rose Parade’s live attendance, Morrison tells his musicians it’s like playing for an at-capacity school gymnasium -- about 2,000 seats -- each week for years.

The Prospect High School Knights are no strangers to big parades. Last year, they marched in the Hollywood Christmas Parade. A year earlier, they strode through New York in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The Rose Parade lasts 2 1/2 hours, and its route stretches more than 5 1/2 miles. The Knights will perform “Strike Up the Band” by George Gershwin and the medley “Salute to America.” They will be nattily dressed in black-plumed hats and royal blue, black and white uniforms.

Joining the band will be a rifle-twirling color guard and 33 flag-wavers.

The group -- about 200 students, 28 chaperons and four staff members -- is scheduled to fly to Los Angeles on Tuesday. During the trip, they will visit Disneyland and Universal Studios, help decorate Rose Parade floats and perform with other bands at Pasadena City College. They will return Jan. 3.

The total cost for the trip after fundraisers and donations is about $280,000, Morrison said. That left each student to pay about $1,400 out of pocket. Many took part-time jobs and worked extra hours to earn the money, Morrison said.

“To be invited is such an honor, such a huge opportunity,” said drummer Sean Enter, 18. “It’s something you look back on and remember forever.”

Morrison sent a tape of the band to Rose Parade organizers about a year and a half ago. Since the band members learned of their selection in November 2004, there have been long days of practice.

During a four-week summer camp, the band practiced seven hours a day. Three-hour sessions are held at least twice a week during the school year.

Marching, playing and smiling at the same time is not easy, band members said. The weather can be a factor. Throats get sore, heavy instruments weigh down weary arms and an occasional rifle or drumstick hits the ground.

Katie Styzek has to walk the whole route backward. Styzek, 17, is the drum major and de facto leader of the 200 musicians.

“I can yell if I have to,” she said. “But I mostly lead by example.”

Styzek is responsible for walking in time to the beat, waving her arms in a breezy orchestra-conductor-type manner, and, most important, smiling.

“Band is like a sport to us,” she said. “You’re not made fun of for being in band here. We’re the ones going to the Rose Bowl. The football team isn’t.”