Harmony Director of Bands Will Vizoso and Principal Laurel Ramsey accept gifts direct from London New Year’s Parade officials. (Photo/Ken Jackson)
Thursday was a long day for the members of Harmony High School’s “Sound of the Stampede” marching band.
They sat through the school day, then hung around into the late afternoon for a performance and a presentation – for what they didn’t know.
It was the best kept secret on campus … and well worth it.
Band members were joined by representatives from the London New Year’s Parade, who extended the entire band the opportunity to perform in the Jan. 1, 2027 edition of the parade.
Since it’s across the pond, the London parade gets overshadowed in the U.S. by the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and the Tournament of Roses parade in California. But the London parade is likely the largest of its kind in Europe, with an in-person crowd of 500,000 people and a television audience of 500 million.
And now, the Sound of Stampede underclassmen can spend the next 14 months conjuring up a winter break trip to England.
Bob Bone, a director of the London Parade and a representative of Youth Music of the World, made the announcement to the Harmony band members after they played for a team from London (not knowing where or what they were from at the time).
“I hear quite a few musical groups. And you’re one of the best I’ve heard for quite a while, so congratulations,” he told the band. “I am here this evening to invite you to come and perform in a very, very big event somewhere in the world.”
Then slowly but surely, the English secret came out – one that Harmony Bands Director Will Vizoso and HHS Principal Laurel Ramsey knew about days ago and had to keep under wraps until Thursday.
“Let me be the first one on behalf of the whole of London, to say thank you to you,” Bone said. “Because I know that amazing performances like the ones I’ve just seen today, it doesn’t just happen. It takes a lot of time, dedication, commitment and sacrifices.”
Those who haven’t had the chance to travel to England will get immersed in the trip, Bone said.
“We’re going to make you Londoners for a week. You’re not just coming to perform on one day. You’re coming for a whole week, and we are going to show you the best,” he said. “The things you do, the things you see, the experiences you have, the memories that will be formed will change your life forever.”
Ramsey – who in an ironic twist of fate said she performed in the London parade in the 1990s – was presented with a formal framed invitation, and the London committee gave Vizoso a desk diary, plate and teacup-inspired coffee mug from Buckingham Palace.
“Didn't I say I’d take you places?!” Vizoso told the band during the announcement.
And junior clarinet player Ava Ortolani also received a gift – an umbrella, which Bone said would prevent it from raining on Jan. 1, 2027 in London if she kept it with her at all times – “Not a problem,” she said.
“I’ve traveled with the band, but nothing like this. I’m so shocked. I didn’t even know London had a parade like this. This is going to be such a big thing, a real once in a lifetime opportunity, and I can’t wait.”
Vizoso said he’d been working to get the band members, at least once in their four years, a memorable trip, much like he took to New York when he was in high school.
“I hear from alumni years later who say, ‘Oh my God, that was an amazing trip,’” he said. “So I’ve been working on this for a while, a trip that would give them some memories of being in the band.”
Vizoso said he couldn’t choose if the rounds of interviews or keeping the secret from the band, parents and other teachers was harder. And while the trip is still over a year away, he said it’s not a lot of time to raise funds for it, and to pick out the right music for the London audience. But the marching band has already been in an English mode in its football halftime performances.
“We actually play ‘Under Pressure’ by Queen, and ‘Crazy Train’ by Ozzy (Osborne, who passed away last month), which all just happened to work out that way,” he said.
