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Gaither's glory

The school's band will do what no county band has done since 1969: play in a presidential inaugural parade.

NORTHDALE - Brian Dell lines up his 160 musicians in classic parade formation: trumpets first, followed by trombones, then percussion, tubas, saxophones, clarinets and, finally, flutes.

"Stay directly behind the person in front of you, and next to the people to the right and the left of you," the Gaither High School band director says through a microphone. "Have you ever seen a military band march? You've got to look that good. You've got to look like the person in front of you and the person next to you. Don't tell me you can't do it."

The Marching Cowboys step back and forth across the driver's education practice range, drummers keeping the tempo with a click-click-boom. Drum major Nicole Bradford wails as the band passes crookedly by. "Ohmigod!" she says, covering her eyes with her hands. "We've never marched this way before."

Dell gives the band an F, then later a B-minus, on its technique. Though the group has not marched together in nearly two months, Dell assures them they have ample time to prepare for their biggest gig of all: the 55th presidential inaugural parade.

For a band that lost its director, its practice room and several of its instruments last year, the chance to represent Florida in the parade is nothing short of spectacular. The last Hillsborough band to play a presidential inaugural parade was Leto High, in 1969 for newly elected President Richard Nixon.

"It was unexpected," said Danielle Heintz, a member of the Starette dance team, which will carry the school banner in the Jan. 20 parade. "The most we've done is the Gasparilla."

Gaither lost its last band director, Catherine Rand, early last summer to studies at the University of Miami. After a spring windstorm knocked the ceiling off its auditorium, the band practiced out of boxes in borrowed space. Floods of water destroyed many instruments.

None of that fazed Dell, Rand's 29-year-old replacement, so youthful-looking you could mistake him for a student.

A trip to the nation's capital would mean good press for the school and a historic opportunity for the students.

"I started thinking, it's an election year," he said. "So why not?"

Competition would be tough, with the selection standard somewhat vague.

The band had until Nov. 17 to submit a performance video to the Joint Task Force Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, which would rank all the applicants and pass those ratings on to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.

"The band was extremely excited about it from the beginning," said band captain Ryan Hearn. "It wasn't hard to get them into it."

They practiced about 21/2 hours daily, in the library or wherever they could find space. They used football games to hone their skills before a crowd.

"I pushed myself harder and I tried to motivate the rest of the band members to do the same," drum major Katie Wilson said.

A spokeswoman for the inaugural committee said the panel tries to put together a parade that showcases a variety of the best talent around while also getting all 50 states represented. If a state does not have many applicants, the committee asks U.S. senators for ideas.

Politics really began to matter after the election. Seeking to show strong support, Gaither sent letters from a bipartisan group including U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, state Sen. Victor Crist and state Rep. Kevin Ambler.

More than 340 groups applied and 75 were selected. Thirty were marching bands.

Dell got the call inviting Gaither to the inauguration early in the morning of Dec. 13. The news was especially sweet, as Gaither would send the only high school band from all of Florida.

But Dell held his tongue for nearly eight hours. He said nothing in class, said trombone player Adam Sheppard. He even told clarinet player Stephanie Camacho that the band had not been chosen.

Dell said he didn't want word to leak out in dribs and drabs, preferring to give everyone the news at once.

Toward the end of the school day, the school loudspeaker summoned the band to the practice room. They came, curiosity and anticipation high. Dell stayed away for 10 minutes. He hemmed and hawed, and murmured something about bad news. "Get to the point!" somebody yelled.

So he told them. The room exploded.

"It was like, wow," said drum major Leila Yau, who had considered the feat "unattainable."

Then the reality set in.

The group had 38 days, with a two-week vacation in the middle, to raise nearly $100,000 . Collections would be difficult, because so many people had given to hurricane victims and, more recently, tsunami relief.

They would have to choose and practice new music. Players would have to learn to march steps of 28 rather than 22 inches, while remaining no longer than 50 yards in length. And they would have to steel themselves for a 1.7-mile march in the biting cold winter on the Potomac River.

"I've never seen snow before," Wilson, the drum major, said.

A fundraising effort, already under way with poinsettia sales and concerts, kicked into high gear immediately. Boosters aimed to net enough to cover travel, lodging and sightseeing excursions for 225 students and adults. Despite hundreds of letters for help, donations trickled in slowly.

"We will be collecting until the bus pulls away," said fundraising chairman Troy Osborne.

In the days leading to the 985-mile bus ride north, band members have practiced, of course. They've also spent much time bragging to their classmates who will watch them on television.

They have shopped for thermal underwear. They bought out Tampa's long john supply, one girl joked. And they have thought long and hard about what they want to do when not performing for President Bush.

Hearn, whose grandparents both marched in inauguration parades, said he wants to take some time to visit the Pentagon so he can pay his respects to those who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

Heintz looks forward to a dinner cruise in Baltimore harbor and snow tubing in Virginia.

Booster Club vice president Becky Myers has worked the phones nonstop securing hotel rooms and coordinating security clearance. She's even trying to convince Gov. Jeb Bush to pose at the parade for a picture with the band.

It's a moment that almost transcends politics. Sheppard, the trombone player, says he'd be thrilled to play for whoever won the bitterly contested election of Nov. 2.

"Either way, it's a great experience," he said.

Added Camacho: "We'll be able to say we performed for the president. I'll tell my grandchildren."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

The Inaugural Parade begins at Constitution and Pennsylvania avenues, then travels down Pennsylvania Avenue and on to the White House. It is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. The Gaither High School Marching Cowboys band, which will play a version of Florida's state song Swanee River (Old Folks at Home), is expected to pass the president's reviewing stand between 3:30 and 4 p.m.

The parade will be televised by the major networks. Check local listings.

To help raise travel funds, the band will have a jazz concert at 7 tonight in the school auditorium, 16200 N Dale Mabry Highway. Minimum donation for tickets is $5.