Milwaukie High School's Starlight Preparation

The Starlight Parade is well known in Portland Oregon, full of floats, dancers, and marching bands. I was in the Milwaukie High School band that has been invited to partake in the parade for the last seven years in a row, winning awards in their division each of those years. One second place trophy, five first places, and one sweepstakes trophy meaning we were the best high school band in the whole parade. Those awards did not come easy. Preparation for this parade is a year round process.

My junior year, we just got new uniforms.



We start in the summer at band camp where we as a band get to know each other, learn more about our instruments, and learn/freshen up on our marching. Learning to march is not an easy process, always having to be clean and military in the movements being made. Throughout the fall and winter most of our time is spent on classical music we take to competitions and maybe even state, but the preparation for Starlight is still happening, getting stronger on our instruments and our ability to listen to the band as a whole occurs during this time. If we went to the state competition we would loose a week of actual marching rehearsals.

My freshman year with some of the dancers.



The actual Starlight Parade marching rehearsals normally start the second week of May, three times a week after school for two and a half hours. During this time the basic marching was/is taught, how to properly stand, extend your leg and place your foot, holding your instrument, and then playing while marching properly. I myself picked it up really quickly as a freshman but some struggle. Amy Carriera a freshman in the Milwaukie marching band this year had this to say about marching, “It has proven to be harder then I thought. The first practice just today was painful with the fact that I can’t stay in step while playing the song. I have a lot of work to do.” Joe Orr, a senior who just this year transferred from Putnam to Milwaukie wishes he would have had this type of learning and structure when Putnam was invited to the Starlight parade in 2008. “We had only a few rehearsals that lasted only an hour and we had no previous knowledge on marching… I learned more in one marching rehearsal at Milwaukie than I learned at all the marching rehearsals at Putnam.” explained Orr as he got out of marching rehearsal.

There is one more step to the parade process and that step is the dreadful uniforms. My freshman year one of the lead seniors asked me to help her with the uniform fitting process; little did I know I was getting trained to take it on. It is not an easy process but after doing it for a while you do not even need the measuring tape anymore. Ryah Dennis the person that took on the uniforms after I left had this to say about the process, “It can be really overwhelming, so starting a month in advance is the best way to do it. I am only being able to fit people during the class period that is an hour and a half every other day allowing me to fit an average of eight people per class. There is an average of about 80 people total in the marching band.” I can testify for that and say it is true seeing as I did it myself.

          My band director Greg VanWinkle.                The seniors of my senior year Starlight Parade.

                                   My percussion section warming up for Starlight my senior year.

Once you get the marching, playing, and uniforms fitted complete it is time for the big parade. Along with the marching band comes the dance team. This makes the band look larger and gives a little more “flavor” to the ambiance of the band. Captain Mandy Baird has done four parades and told me the preparation process is pretty much the same as the band. They learn how to march throughout their dance team season and then learn how to put the dance into the marching. There are all flags that some of the dancers twirl, flip, and spin around. They have special uniforms just for parade that they hand out after fitting each dancer.

                                         Two of the dancers from the dance team at the parade.
Put all these elements together and you get the winning marching band of Milwaukie High School. Marching is pristine, music crisp, dancing flows, and uniforms are sharp. This is what prep for a parade is like at Milwaukie High School.