Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City to feature people from the Coachella Valley

While the Pillsbury Doughboy, Po from “Kung Fu Panda” and Snoopy floats will be fun additions to keep an eye on at this year’s 97th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade broadcast, Coachella Valley residents will have a special reason to tune into the spectacle this year.

Joining the ranks of marching bands from across the nation, four high school band directors and a high school student will represent the desert as they march along the 2.5-mile parade route in the early morning New York chill.

The four teachers —  Daniel Granillo, Brian McDaniel, Anthony Rodriguez and Mark Wienand — are among 400 band directors selected from 8,000 applicants to perform with the Saluting America’s Band Directors project. Logan Jewett is one of 185 high school student musicians selected to perform with the Great American Marching Band.

For the teachers, this opportunity is a chance to be a student again. Or at the very least, a chance to put themselves into the mindset of their students and to show them that, one day, they, too, can accomplish this feat.

Granillo is a veteran educator who teaches at his alma mater, Coachella Valley High School. He actually took over for the band director who taught him.

“Never thought, in my life, I’d be in it,” the tenor saxophonist said. “I never thought, once I’d started teaching, I’d have the opportunity to do these parades. You think you’re done, right?”

Like Granillo, Rodriguez also teaches the very school that instilled in him a passion for music as a student. McDaniel, in fact, was his former band director at Desert Hot Springs High School.

This will be his first time marching and playing the bass drum with the Saluting America’s Band Directors, as his colleagues previously represented the Coachella Valley when they marched in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade last year.

The experience was, at first, intimidating.

Wienand had to coin a catchphrase. “I’m not driving this car,” said the veteran band director and mellophone player from Rancho Mirage High School. “That’s how I’ve had to look at it. I’ve been a teacher for so long that I was making myself crazy."

But then they played that first note and they became band students again.

"Some of the things our students complain about, now I’m like, ‘Yeah, I complained about that all last week,'" Granillo said.

He admits he sometimes takes for granted that his students don't already know how to memorize music in the way that they’ve been trained to do.

“Instead of putting my foot on the gas, it has reminded me to slow down and teach them the steps,” he said. “It’s stuff we forget because we’re directors. We don’t sit in the chair every day and play. That’s one thing I’ve done more. They’re amazed that I know how to play for some reason.”

Ever the teacher and mentor, McDaniel, who also teaches at RMHS, advised Rodriguez to own his moment on Thursday. "Let your students know that you're not in there alone," the baritone horn player said, "that you're representing them."

For Logan Jewett, the student from La Quinta High School, it will be an opportunity to meet like-minded students from across the country who also love music and marching band. The son of a band director, he’s already thinking about how he plans to share the experience with his peers.

“I want to bring back the knowledge of what it means to march in a parade,” he said. “I’d be able to bring back what a full scale parade really looks like, feels like and how we can rehearse for that kind of thing.”

It's evident that the musicians recognize the gift and the privilege of representing their community and students on a national scale, but they're also aware of the platform they have to promote the transformative experience of providing music education in public schools.

"There's a silver bullet to education and it is music education," McDaniel said, whose doctoral degree focused on the impact of music on kids. “If we are going to talk about equity and equality, every kid in America should have access to music education.”

And it's not just an activity to be checked off at school.

"It's something you can do for the rest of your life that no one can take away from you," Wienand said.

As Jewett, who is set to graduate this school year, explained, it's a form of expression and connection that has guided him into becoming a leader.

"I would love to be able to inspire somebody, to keep trying," he said. "It's not just about the talent that you have. It's all about how much you work for it. And then once you put your mind to it, you can share it."

It's why marching at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is significant: it's a way to demonstrate to students that playing music is a tangible experience and the community should invest in both students and their teachers.

"When we go and participate, it makes us relevant. A lot of people say that those who can't, teach," McDaniel said. "Well, we teach and we do. We all perform outside of the classroom and we're furthering the voice of education."

But it's not all fun and games, the teachers noted. On top of daily eight-hour rehearsals, they'll also be spending the holiday away from their families in pursuit of the unique and worthwhile professional development opportunity.

"We'll be meeting people at different stages of their career, so this helps us help each other," Wienand said.

Granillo added: "I don't even think we actually know how many people in the Coachella Valley teach music, right? So maybe we can inspire something that brings more camaraderie among us."

How to watch locals in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

The Thanksgiving Day celebration will air live at 5:30 a.m. PST on NBC. Telemundo will simulcast the parade in Spanish. A livestream will be available on Peacock. An encore airing will run at 11 a.m. PST.

Keep an eye out for the band directors, who will be donning red blazers, uniforms provided by the Saluting America’s Band Directors project.

"Normally you would wear a uniform that covers your eyes," McDaniel said, "but they want (our faces) seen so that our students at home and everyone else can see: this is what a band director looks like. We'll be putting our art forward as one band, one sound. I'm very happy I get to share the stage with my brothers here."

Jennifer Cortez covers education in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to feature Palm Springs locals