A combined, all-school band will march in Fresno’s 92nd Annual Veterans Day Parade, Nov. 11. This is the largest Veterans Day Parade west of the Mississippi, and features a cavalcade of a special attraction, which this year includes the 2011 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.

The nation’s 65-foot-tall Christmas Tree will be cut down from above the Sierra Nevada near Sonora, CA, and loaded onto a semi truck. The 20-day tour to its final destination at the State Capitol in Washington D.C. includes stops in big cities, small towns and military bases so that Americans from all walks of life can see ?The People?s Tree? before it?s erected, Dec. 6.

Each year, the parade gives Fresno national and worldwide attention. It will be broadcast on the Pentagon Channel, which is available to more than 1.3 million service members who live and work on more than 368 military bases. The parade also will be televised live locally onKSEE 24, an NBC affiliate.

“I am fairly excited,” campus Music Director Michael Ogdon said. “I find that the parade forces our elementary kids to a higher musical level that gives us some momentum into Christmas. The energy of the combined groups gives us some good residual program. The whole thing is an extension of my hope to have our groups involved in our community.”

Ogdon decided that just having the high school band perform was not enough, so, to add numbers and talent, he decided to add the junior high band, elementary band, percussion ensemble, cheer squad and color guard.

“By putting together an all-school band, I think having everyone participate is a great statement to this Fresno community about what Fresno Christian is all about: ‘We Are One,'” Ogdon said.

With a step-off scheduled for 1 p.m. in front of City Hall, the combined band will play the “Spirit of America,” among others.

“The song is fairly simple for the wind players, but has an intricate percussion part that makes it sound pretty good,” Ogdon said. “The tune is recognizable for the observers and is a fairly clear Christian School theme that also supports the patriotic spirit of the day.”

After the band performs in the Veterans Day Parade, the jazz band will participate in the Central Valley Band Review the next day, being held at Antelope Valley High School in Merced. The annual event combines jazz, parade and field competitions in a one day marathon.

“The jazz band has been to this competition once before and liked being a part of such an extensive event,” Ogdon said. “We go because it is one of the earliest jazz festivals in the area, and we need events for the jazz band in the first semester as motivation to learn some challenging music.”

Drum Major Eric Cowin, ’14, is involved in both the marching and jazz band, and says that, despite the stress that comes with back-to-back events, he is excited to see other schools preform.

“I’m excited, yet I feel overwhelmed,” Cowin said. “Although each event is very entertaining to me, they also involve a lot of pressure as far as responsibility. For me, I always like to meet the drum majors that I’ve gone to camp with, and for jazz I like being able to hear the other groups and compare our school to their’s.”

For more information on the FC music department, read the Nov. 7 article, Music department benefits charity in performance (VIDEO).