By Julia Yu
Graduating Illustrator
Coming back from quarantine my eighth-grade year, being part of Band 3 was a solace as I adjusted to physical school. It was a truth universally known that I wasn’t the best flautist, especially being the last chair among 12 others, but that didn’t stop me from trying out for drum major and finally finding passion for something new.
Unfortunately, this didn’t last when I entered high school.
These past two years, I’ve genuinely hated high school. After not getting drum major in the marching band in junior year due to unconventional circumstances, my motivation plummeted. The loss of this role actually opened my eyes on a lot of other things too.
Four-hour band rehearsals every Wednesday from 5 to 8 pm, with a three-page chemistry test looming over my head the next day? I really needed that!
Our director making us march on a street with active traffic, off-campus on Halloween? Just a normal zero-period session for us.
And at long last, despite all the rehearsals that season, our highest projected score was 83.075 when we reached 83.975 my freshman year? Sounds about right.
Band really seemed like a waste of time for something that didn’t even pay itself forward, and a band director who simply didn’t care.
But sometimes, you really just need another shift in perspective.
One mid-October morning during the fall semester of my senior year, I walked into the parking lot 10 minutes late to zero period marching band—an albeit unhealthy routine that became increasingly common, but who could realistically spend two hours doing calculus homework the previous night and wake up in time for a zero period? I saw Mr. Taylor, one of the music directors at Oak and the assistant director of the PCC Tournament of Roses Honor Band, the host band for the annual Rose Parade.
That day I saw him, I had tried out for the honor band three times already, only to find crushing disappointment each time I checked the roster. I didn’t plan on trying out my senior year.
But in that one conversation, Mr. Taylor again brought up the honor band. He persisted I try out one last time three weeks before the audition.
And throughout the rest of the day, Mr. Taylor’s words replayed through my head.
I ended up emailing him after I had gotten home, asking for his help in trying out. He invited me to go back to Oak campus, back to the music room that I had once had great joy in rehearsing in with my friends, to attend lessons specifically adapted to my skill level and the audition.
With his private coaching and advice, I had finally gotten into the band I’d always imagined myself in. And for the first time since freshman year, I actually enjoyed being part of a music program again.
Besides ToFR, he has also become a good friend to me. He invited me and some of my friends to attend and play at his annual party at his house, which I can definitely recommend.
Jan 1 2026, the day of the parade, I went down the six miles not only with friends from here, but also with friends from Eleanor Roosevelt High School, all the way from Eastvale and La Serna High School in Whittier. Though it was an incredibly wet march, I still thought it was a beautiful experience that I wouldn’t soon forget. Especially the post-parade In-N-Out and the free Disneyland hopper ticket.
Cliché as it is, the six miles on Colorado were really just the friends I’d made trying something new.
Now, as I approach my first year of college, I also plan on enrolling in PCC’s Lancer Marching Band as well to continue pursuing music in college and also have the chance to march with ToFR once again.