Colony seniors to perform in Rose Bowl

MAT-SU — In a little over a week, four Colony High School musicians will be jetting off to Los Angeles to play in the Rose Bowl.

So, are they excited?

“Yeah! Like beyond excited!” said trumpeter Katarah Glashan.

The four seniors are the only CHS students going this year, though the whole band is fundraising for a trip in 2014.

The school’s band teacher, Jamin Burton, began the process of applying for his band to march in the Rose Bowl Parade last year. News that the band had been accepted came in October.

Since the four seniors wouldn’t be able to go, they applied to be a part of the All American band that marches in the parade each year. To get the opportunity, they had to audition from afar.

“They would have us practice it online and send it in,” Glashan said.

“The program can actually measure your note accuracy,” added flautist Cassidy Williams.

Clarinetist Ryan Brehmer said an actual live judge gave a separate score. A live set of ears, he said, would be able to pick up extra notes rather than just focusing on incorrect ones.

Burton said that he’ll bw with the four seniors in a sense. He’s heading to L.A. for a “preview trip” to talk to Rose Bowl staff and band directors participating this year.

“I will be with the kids part of the time while we’re down there,” he said.

He’s already started fundraising for the trip. Folks can donate to the effort with their dividends through the Pick. Click. Give. program. Or, they can buy tickets to a Feb. 2 comedy featuring Hawaiian comedy group Na Ali’i. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at the school, from a band member or in Anchorage at Hula Hands Hawaiian Restaurant or Kansha Japanese and Hawaiian Restaurant.

The Colony High band has traveled to famous celebrations before. In 2006, members marched on the Fourth of July in Washington, D.C. In 2009, they marched at the president’s inauguration and in the Sugar Bowl Parade in New Orleans in 2010.

Glashan said that in their freshman year she, Brehmer and bass clarinetist Ali Webster played at the Sugar Bowl. The Rose Bowl would be the matching bookend to that performance.

And they get to go to California. Disneyland came up in conversation.

“I love Los Angeles, so I’m just happy to get down there,” Webster said.

Glashan said she’s happy they don’t have to march uphill. But there is going to be plenty of marching and hard work.

“It’s seriously just marching practice,” she said of the first few days of the schedule.

Part of the experience, though, is getting to know and play with musicians from around the country.

“I get to be with the clarinet section. I’m so excited!” Webster said.

Another thing that’s exciting, she said, is that the band they’re playing with will have more than one bass clarinetist.

“There’s, like, eight of us,” she said.

In a Mat-Su Borough press release, Burton says the parade was a long-sought goal.

“Being accepted by the Rose Bowl is a goal that the band has been working towards for the last eight years. We are honored and excited to represent Colony, the Mat-Su Borough School district, and the state of Alaska in this honored tradition,” he says.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.