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School band takes note of parade route Photo by Bob Pennell The North Medford High School marching band tuned up Thursday for its appearance in Saturday's Pear Blossom parade. As many as 100 student musicians will play in the parade that begins at 11 a.m. North Medford students prepare for Pear Blossom marching orders By BILL VARBLE A house finch sings its little lungs out as the North Medford High School Marching Band, 100 strong, lines up in the high school parking lot Thursday morning for marching practice. This is fitting, since the song the band is working on is "Birdland." It's the tune the band will play, over and over, marching the streets of Medford in Saturday's Pear Blossom parade. That's because band members don't want to march with cumbersome music lyres on their instruments to hold their sheet music. And there isn't time to memorize more than one number, drum major Victor Lee explains. The parade starts at 11 a.m. Saturday at Edwards Court and Clark Street in downtown Medford. It heads north on Central Avenue to Main Street, then west to Oakdale Avenue, where the parade ends. Lee keeps the band's beat with a military baton as he marches up front. An 18-year-old senior, he's planning to major in music in college in September. "We're one of the biggest bands around," he says. But the marching band doesn't get all the emphasis in the school's band program. The musical groups included in the school's larger aggregation are a concert band, two jazz bands and a wind ensemble. Earlier in the band room, band director Steve Thickett was running through housekeeping details for the band's hectic schedule over the coming week: The Pear Blossom parade. An event coming up at the Rogue Valley Manor. A trip to Disneyland looming on Wednesday. Complicating matters further, many band members will be taking SATs Saturday and won't be available to march in the parade. Maybe 80 to 100 will march instead of as many as 170. Out in the parking lot, Thickett says describing the goal of today's practice is easy: to play and march at the same time. Easier said than done. "I need my best people in the center and on the outside," he says over the hum of lawnmowers and the roar of leaf blowers in the high school's neighborhood. "Act accordingly." "Keep your shoulder even with the person beside you." The sun is already high above Roxy Ann Peak and the smell of lawn fertilizer hangs in the air as Lee blows a whistle and the drums set a beat. As a unit, the phalanx of jeans- and T-shirt-clad musicians moves its marching rehearsal out of the parking lot and heads north on Keene Way Drive. Woodwinds first, then the brass instruments, the percussion, finally the flags. Band members say the band has improved markedly the last couple of years and is now one of the best around. "We scored higher than ever this year," said junior Crystelle Weaver, who's been playing the flute since fifth grade. "We have some talented musicians, and an awesome band teacher. "Even if he yells he doesn't stay mad." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA