By CJ on Feb. 1st, 2024
Last year in November, I was lucky enough to be accepted and play in the Macy’s Great American Marching Band that plays in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade up in New York City. In the middle of January, I sent an audition to join it and a couple of weeks later I got an email saying I was accepted to be in their marching band. I was filled with so much joy I couldn't believe what I was reading when I got that email. A few months later I received my music so I could practice for the parade. I practiced for hours and hours to memorize the music and before I knew it I was waking up at 3 AM to catch my two flights to NYC to join the parade. And after several long hours on the plane, I arrived in New York City and already made a few good friends.
For the next 4 days, we had earlier and earlier practices but despite the hard work we had to do, it was really fun playing with new friends and learning new techniques from the directors and veteran marchers. After the practices they would take us somewhere to have free time and hang out with our new friends, for example, we went to Dave and Busters, the American Dream mall, and we even got to explore Times Square in Manhattan!!!
Finally, on the day of the parade, we had to go to Herald’s Square early in the morning for our final rehearsal of the trip. When it was time for the parade, all of us were really excited because not only were we going to play a fun song and cadence, but we were going to be performing in front of millions on live TV!!! While I was marching in the parade, all I saw around me was so many happy faces on the sides of the streets cheering us on as we marched down the street, waiting to get to Herald’s Square. After a long 2 hours, we finally made it to the square, and we were about to do one of the biggest performances in our lives, we only had one chance to play the song. We played the song really well, you could hear our happiness through the music we played and can tell that we had a lot of fun playing our music during the parade. But afterward the next day we all had to say our goodbyes to our new friends and exchange contacts while we still could, because we had to return to our own states, where we could forever tell the story of our Macy’s Parade experience.