The Bands of America Honor Band is a prominent group only permitting the most elite performers from high school bands across the United States. A BYU-Idaho student, Jack Halverstadt, was selected last year to be a part of the Honor Band performing in this year’s Rose Parade.
“I got a recommendation from my band director, and she sent it to Music For All. … There were about five kids from my school,” Halverstadt said. “Three of us had already graduated, but we had just hit the cutoff of how old you can be to go.”
The Rose Parade is held annually in Pasadena, California. The parade route is five miles long with the Honor Band marching on the route.
“It’s a very long parade,” Halverstadt said. “Takes a lot of stamina and hard work. You’ve got to build up physically. You can't just go in, never marching before. Like I would run and I would work up to it before I flew to California for the parade.”
Halverstadt spoke fondly of those he was able to perform with in the Honor Band, and the instructors he was privileged to learn from.
The experience of marching in the parade is not something Halverstadt will soon forget.
“Marching down the street and just seeing all these people lined up. and they're all just here to see you,” he said. “And you know, you're not just there to make music. You're there to lighten their days. Like some people travel like hours just to see you march and like just seeing the smiles on their faces and the joy that you bring them. It's just something that sticks with you forever.”
Halverstadt has played the trumpet for 10 years, beginning in 5th grade. Although his interest in music came earlier in his life from his father. He is attending BYU-Idaho and is currently majoring in Music Education.
Another BYU-Idaho student also marched in the parade, Lilly Atwood, who plays the saxophone.