Missouri State University students returned to class Monday after winter break, and those in the Pride Marching Band had to hit the ground running to prepare to take part in the Presidential Inauguration Parade on January 20.
Brad Snow, MSU director of bands, said they’ll have only three rehearsals total before heading for Washington, D.C., but band members have had their music for several days.
"Hopefully, they're already, you know, practicing on their own and starting to memorize and things like that," said Snow last week, "and we have really good students, so I know they'll rise to the occasion."
The 338 band members expected to take part in the parade will alternate playing the Missouri State fight song "The Scotsman" and an arrangement of "Ode to Joy."
Snow said they had to submit their application to participate by December 2, and the band didn't find out until three weeks later that they had been chosen to be part of the inauguration festivities.
"I was driving to my in-laws house in Louisiana, and an email popped up on December 23," he said, "and so then we got all of our band staff together on a Zoom. Dean (Shawn) Wahl, the dean of the (MSU) Reynolds College was on that Zoom as well, and then we came up with a plan to notify our students. We told them on the 26th."
They had to submit background information for each band member and each staff member going on the trip to the Secret Service by December 30, he said. While it was a quick turnaround, they got it done.
He said they are honored to have been chosen to be part of the event.
"We understand that, not only are we representing Missouri State, but we've also been chosen to represent the entire state of Missouri," he said, "and so we take it pretty seriously."
With the current political climate, he said, there’s some anxiety over not knowing what to expect. But he said most students have chosen to participate, "and as far as, you know, any kind of response, it's been overwhelmingly positive, so I think everybody understands that, regardless of how they may lean politically, you know, we're not trying to politicize this performance opportunity. We're looking at it as a chance to, you know, showcase Missouri, and that's how we're approaching it."
The band will take seven chartered buses to D.C. at a cost of $280,000 (paid for by the university), he said, and will arrive a few days ahead of the inauguration. That will give members time to do some sightseeing and visit Arlington National Cemetery where Snow hopes to be able to take part in a wreath-laying ceremony.
