I am so grateful that our students can have this experience — especially in the School of Music’s centennial year – and I’m grateful for the hard work of our administrative team to cover all the details to make sure our students will have a trip of a lifetime. 

— Jay Jacobs, director of The Carolina Band.

Those details include chartering buses, securing accommodations and planning meals for 400 travelers (375 band students plus faculty and staff) over a major holiday weekend. In addition, equipment trucks, practice times and rehearsal spaces had to be booked. And one last challenge: After the parade performance on Nov. 28, the travel itinerary has to get the band back to South Carolina to perform at the Clemson football game on Nov. 30.

Since 1924, the Macy’s^® Thanksgiving Day Parade — famous for giant character balloons, ornate floats, marching bands and other performances — has marked the official start of the holiday season. One of only four collegiate bands selected to perform in the 2024 parade, the University of South Carolina’s band earned a spot in the lineup for the first time in its more than 100-year history.

New York, New York …

To prepare for the Macy’s performance, the band has been working in parade rehearsals around its practices for the football halftime shows. 

“We do a new halftime show every home game, so we're re-starting over every week or two weeks,” says Jay Jacobs, director of The Carolina Band. “We’ve been finding moments throughout the fall when we feel pretty good about the halftime show to allocate time for parade rehearsal.”

Marching in the parade is the easy part, Jacobs says. The band will perform from its USC playlist, the fight song and pregame music, alternating with a drum cadence. The finale performance in Herald Square requires more rehearsal and logistics to get in position and complete their performance in the 75 seconds they’re allotted. Jacobs says the performance will be holiday-themed, but he isn’t allowed to reveal details.

“Herald Square is a very tight space,” he says. “It takes some practice to get 375 students comfortable with maneuvering in close quarters on a street surface with no yard lines for reference while playing instruments, spinning flags, dancing and twirling batons.”

Student leadership is essential to the parade preparation. 

“We have been working very hard to help condition our members for the parade. We've been working with their technique from day one as well as working musically to make this performance the best that it can be,” says section leader Jeniya Brown from Summerville, South Carolina.

After rehearsals in different locations to get a sense of the parade experience, including a mock parade on Oct. 26, Brown, a junior music education major with a certificate in saxophone performance, says the band knows what to expect logistically.

“The only thing we might not be ready for is the energy of the crowd and how excited the band is going to be to perform,” she adds.

Brown is also a member of Tau Beta Sigma, the national honorary band sorority, which — along with the band fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi — has worked with the administrative team to help with travel logistics, such as organizing uniforms, guiding the band during loading and unloading in New York, and even making snack bags for the trip.

If I can make it there …

The willingness to step up and contribute to help the band meet its goals contributes to the family atmosphere within a group of 375 diverse members. Jacobs says students benefit from interaction with band members with disparate backgrounds, viewpoints and majors.

Seventy-five percent of Carolina Band members are not music majors; more than 60 majors from all undergraduate colleges are represented.

Tuba player Michael Gaither, a senior sports media major from Blythewood, South Carolina, enriches his love of music by participating in several USC music ensembles, including The Carolina Band, Volleyball Band, Basketball Band, Symphonic Winds and Carolina Sound. The trip to march in the Macy’s Parade has become a family event for him. He says his uncle marched in the parade at Sumter High School, and he’s excited that his family plans to travel to New York to watch him perform.

“I have made many friends and connections while in the band and have played great pieces of music. The Macy’s trip is a tremendous opportunity and student experience,” he says. “How many people do you know that marched in the Macy's parade? It's one of the biggest holiday traditions in the United States.”

Brown says the teaching and learning experience of traveling to New York and participating in the Macy’s Parade will help her meet her future goal of working with marching bands.

“This is going to be an experience I'll think about for the rest of my life. I was told as a kid, ‘You can't take people somewhere you have never been,’ so this opportunity adds to what I can accomplish in the future,” Brown says. “It's been incredible to experience the community that has been built for a century and to be able to carry on that legacy and pay tribute to those who came before us.” 

According to Tayloe Harding, Dean of the School of Music, the budget to fund the trip is $645,000. Funds necessary to facilitate it are in place, and the trip is assured—still, the School of Music is using its Crowdfunding page to give folks who want to be a part of supporting the trip to make contributions to manifest their feelings about the band and the parade, especially in these final weeks before the Carolina Band leaves for NYC.  Already the School’s development staff has raised more in philanthropy for this Band trip than virtually any other school that has ever sent a band to the Macy’s Parade.  He says he is proud of this. 

Support has come from individual donors, sponsors and other sources, including donations from other colleges on campus to support their students who participate in the band.

I want to be a part of it …

When the marching band was formed in 1920, it had fewer than 20 members. Over the decades, the band grew from that student-led group steeped in military tradition to admit its first female members and perform large, choreographed pregame and halftime shows at football games. Seventeen directors have led the Carolina Band in its 104-year history. In 1991, when USC joined the Southeastern Conference, Brian Murrell, an alumnus and the band's information director at the time, suggested the marching band needed a nickname like other SEC schools. He came up with the Mighty Sound of the Southeast.

While the Carolina Band and other athletic bands might be more familiar to USC fans, the School of Music’s band program offers multiple ensemble opportunities. Both music and non-music majors participate in the USC Wind Ensemble, USC Symphonic Winds, University Band and Palmetto Concert Band.

“Through our visibility at large athletic events, we hope to draw people to the School of Music through our performances,” Jacobs says. “As much as we're there for the game environment, the teams and the fans, we're also there waving the flag for the school and the amazing things happening.” 

Over his decades of service, Andy Gowan, distinguished professor emeritus, said it is gratifying to watch the growth of the band and music programs from essentially service units to the vibrant and growing School of Music today.

The (USC) band and brass, woodwind and percussion programs are bigger and better with more ensembles available to meet student needs. It is impressive to see the quality of the students and faculty and how beautifully they perform.

— Andy Gowan, distinguished professor emeritus

“The band and brass, woodwind and percussion programs are bigger and better with more ensembles available to meet student needs,” Gowan says. “The students, who are attracted by our fine faculty, are well prepared for the musical challenges at the university level. It is impressive to see the quality of the students and faculty and how beautifully they perform.”

Start spreading the news …

The school’s growing reputation is reflected through invitations for ensembles to perform at events such as regional and national conferences, the Macy’s Parade, jazz festivals and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention.

High-quality ensembles that are competitive with other top music schools allow the School of Music to recruit talented students nationally and internationally, and it is the woodwind, brass, and percussion instrumentalists that constitute these recruits.

“In a lot of ways, we match and exceed our competition,” says saxophone professor Cliff Leaman, longest-serving member of the School’s woodwind area faculty. “We have really benefitted from the foundation that was laid in the generation before I got here, and we’ve been able to fuel the school’s growth with the recruitment and hiring of outstanding faculty.”

Tuba-Euphonium professor Ron Davis who has taught at USC for 40 years and is the School’s Brass Area faculty senior member points out that in the School of Music’s early years, most instructors were part-time and many taught in other disciplines. As the school evolved and grew, the hiring of full-time talented faculty and studio specialists in woodwinds and brass ensured that students learn to play their instruments at the highest level.

“Our graduates compete successfully in the job market whether they are performance majors who become professional players or educators teaching the future generation of musicians. Many of our graduates hold prestigious positions nationally,” Davis says.

Opportunities for success draw students like Ed Senn to the USC School of Music. Senn, from Massachusetts, is a second-year doctoral candidate in bassoon performance.

“The faculty here is top-notch. Regardless of degree level, the woodwind professors here push you to be your best self,” he says. “Dr. Mike Harley pushes me every time I step into his office for a lesson. I’ve grown so much in just a year.”

Participating in ensembles, such as the FUSE graduate quintet, not only provides valuable performance experiences but also connection on a personal level.

“Our quintet members aren’t just my coworkers; they’re my friends, too,” Senn says. “I’m thankful to have colleagues who work together to reach new heights every time we sit down to rehearse.

100 Years of Music at Carolina

• Alumni Dinner Concert, Nov. 27: The USC Chamber Players will present a dinner concert on Nov. 27 to celebrate the Carolina Band’s participation in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as well as the university’s musicians who will be in New York. Click here for more information.
• Brass Area Holiday Sing-along, Dec. 4: An informal Holiday Sing-along at 1:10 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Koger Center will feature a 10-minute presentation by all four brass studios – trumpets, horns, trombones and tubas/euphoniums – and an arrangement all four groups will perform together. Music faculty JD Shaw, David Cutler, Rex Richardson, Mike Wilkinson and Scott Herring will perform with the Boston Brass & the Brass All-Stars Big Band in Christmas Bells are Swingin’ at 4 p.m. following the sing-along.
• School of Music Centennial: To commemorate its centennial year, the School of Music is showcasing its programs, alumni, students and faculty in a special series of stories and performances throughout the coming year. To read more about the yearlong celebration, click here. The theme for the historic milestone, “Sing Thy High Praise: 100 Years of Music at Carolina,” is pulled from the first line of USC’s alma mater.