JAMES CLEMENS HIGH SCHOOL: Marching band crossing the pond for London parade

Published 6:00 am Tuesday, December 27, 2016

More than 100 students and 58 parents are traveling to the United Kingdom today for what could be described as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The story begins at the start of the 2015-16 school year when James Clemens High School band director Keith Anderson received a phone call from the organizers of the London New Year’s Day Parade.

The caller wanted to know if James Clemens’ band would be interested in marching in the 2017 parade. Anderson spoke with his assistant director, Stuart Tankesley, about the offer.

“We decided it’d be a great opportunity for us to accept,” Anderson said, adding they then brought the matter up to the band parents and students, who gave a “resounding yes.”

Preparations

After accepting, officials from the parade committee and Westminster Lord Mayor Catherine Longworth visited Madison to officially invite the group to Britain’s capitol city. Since the visit, Anderson said he and the kids have been hard at work raising money and practicing their technique. Aside from that, a lot of work has gone on in the background to figure out how 103 marchers, their directors and 58 parents would get to England, where they would stay and, most importantly, how they would get all their equipment to their destination.

Though stressful, Anderson said he’s confident the footwork will be worth it for his kids.

The theme of the 2017 parade is “Lights, Camera, Action,” which gave Anderson and Tankesley an idea about what to perform as they marched.

But when a promotions crew came to Huntsville this summer to film the band at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center for commercials and other promotional materials, the directors decided to compose a medley of science fiction film scores for the teens to play.

Anderson is most happy for the seniors, many of whom started as freshmen at James Clemens when it opened in 2012. Though they will have band performances in the spring, this is likely to be a highlight of their high school career, he explained.

“It really is a nice way to cap off their senior year.”

Showtime

In one way, Jan. 1, 2017, seemed like a long way off at that point in the fall of 2015, but in another way the time has flown, Anderson told The News Courier on Friday. They’ve kept a countdown calendar in the band room that has slowly been ticking away the days to Dec. 27.

On Dec. 14, the band had a final practice before a shipping company packed up their uniforms and instruments and shipped them overseas.

“Everything is pretty much said and done at this point,” he said. “All that’s left is to get on the bus.”

After a bus trip to Atlanta today, the group will board their overseas flight to London. They’ll spend a short time sightseeing, before the big parade on New Year’s Day.

The parade is scheduled to begin at noon Greenwich Mean Time, meaning the group doesn’t have to start their long day too early, but (at the time this article was written) Anderson was waiting to hear if James Clemens would appear on a national morning show hosted by the BBC.

To watch the parade, don’t forget to tune it at 6 a.m. local time since London is six hours ahead of North Alabama. No local television stations are scheduled to carry the parade, but it can be watched live online at lnydp.com.