Wait, That's Our Band!

Producers and commentators, it seems, don't have kids in marching bands. Coverage of the inaugural parade by the major networks skipped nearly all commentary on the units in the parade, most of which were bands. They either continued analyzing the inauguration or the historic nature of the election, broadcasting the parade only as it appeared in the background over a reporter's shoulder, or reduced the parade to half a screen, again so they could show the reporter making observations of matters unrelated to the parade or the reaction of the new President and First Lady. If they did show the parade full screen, it was usually without any disclosure on the part of the journalists as to who was marching by at the moment. They didn't even bother displaying a graphic on the bottom of the screen so we could read it for ourselves while the unrelated commentary continued.

A bunch of us neighbors congregated over food and drink to enjoy the ceremony and parade, and we flipped through NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, BBC, MSNBC, and FOX, trying to find someone who would tell us who the bands were and where they were from. We finally settled on NewsChannel 8, our local all-news station ("More Local. More Often."). The hosts seemed fresh out of broadcast school, but at least they were talking about the parade they were covering.

I was eager to see the ceremony. But I was excited to see the parade. Having marched through both high school and college, I still thrill at the sound of drum cadences coming from a nearby high school on a crisp fall night. If a football game is on (at someone else's house), the sound I key in on is not the ref's whistle or the quarterback making a call, but the pep band. And I still love watching bands in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and the Rose Bowl Parade.

I know what it's like selling M&M's, chocolate bars, raffle tickets, Entertainment coupon books, and fertilizer (yes, fertilizer) door-to-door to raise money for band trips. I know what it's like putting in hours and hours of practice, memorizing music and marching up and down streets for days on end in heat, cold, and rain, to prepare for the spotlight. And I know the excitement of travelling across the country or around the globe to compete or to march in a parade broadcast on national television.

I also know that my parents and the parents of all the other kids were just as excited about our trips as we in the band were. And if they were not chaperones on the buses, the only way they could share in our experience, after months of sharing in our practices and fundraising, was to stay glued to the TV if we were marching in a major parade, so as not to miss the twenty seconds we'd be in front of the camera.

So I am particularly frustrated with the bush league parade coverage because I identify with those parents, as well as the siblings and alumni of the band being ignored as background to the parade hosts' blather. When they say, "More on that when we return after this short break" just as a band is marching by, I want to scream in solidarity with all those moms and dads going, "Wait! That's our band!" as the screen fades to black for a message about leaky pipes or ED. We've been hearing perspectives, retro-analyses, and commentary of all things political for the past several months, and it will continue for at least the next four years. Can't we put it aside for two hours and just enjoy the parade?

I put up with all the usual cringe-worthy jokes of parade hosts because they also follow the script in describing the bands, where they came from, and some interesting anecdote about their parade preparation. I realize that there's no other focus for the Macy's parade (other than food preparation), but at the Rose Bowl parade they don't talk ad infinitum about the football game or the players or the history of the matchups, while the flower-covered floats pass by silently, out of focus behind some reporter wearing headphones. So why rob the inaugural parade units of the short-lived, hard-won honor and glory they deserve?

Sure, they'll still have fun and won't even know until later if they didn't make the broadcast or were shown but ignored. But I still want to know. I didn't buy all those M&M's for nothing.

Photo credit: www.ramband.com