Three local band directors to represent the Coachella Valley in the Rose Parade

Three local band directors will represent the Coachella Valley in the 2022 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.

Brian McDaniel from Rancho Mirage High School, Mark Wienand from Desert Springs Middle School in Desert Hot Springs and Daniel Granillo from Coachella Valley High School will march on New Year's Day in a 280-member band comprised of band directors from around the world. According to the band's organizing group, Saluting America's Band Directors, Saturday's band will be the first-known Rose Parade marching band in which all members are band directors.

Not only that, but they will be part of another historic first as their band of band directors maneuvers in formation around an animated float. The group says theirs is the first Rose Parade entry ever to consist of both a float and a marching band. Naturally, the float itself depicts a larger-than-life marching band.

"To be a part of something like this — it's pretty amazing," McDaniel said.

The Band Directors Marching Band, created to memorialize an Ohio band director of more than 38 years, will be led by former Ohio State University band leader John Waters and will play three parade tunes: "76 Trombones" from "The Music Man," "Strike Up the Band" from the 1940 eponymous film and John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever."

The float's theme is "We teach music. We teach life."

For the band directors: music is life, and they expect the Rose Parade to be a wonderful highlight.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially growing up in the valley," Granillo said.

Granillo, a Coachella Valley High School graduate, added that as a kid, he used to watch the parade every year at his grandparents' house. Recently, his oldest son marched in the Rose Parade with Riverside City College.

"Now I get to do it," Granillo said. "It's something I never thought would ever happen."

The band directors had to fundraise thousands of dollars to pay for travel, room and board, uniforms, parade entrance fees and other costs. They say the experience is priceless.

"My wife and I sat down and talked about (the cost)," McDaniel said. "I mean, this is a bucket list item."

"There's going to be a million people on the street that they expect, and I'm going to glance up for a moment and just try to take it in. And I honestly believe that's going to be one of the happiest moments of my entire life — that when I'm in my 80s or 90s, I'm going to look back to that moment as a defining moment."

Jonathan Horwitz covers education for The Desert Sun. Reach him at jonathan.horwitz@desertsun.com or @Writes_Jonathan.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Three local band directors to represent the Coachella Valley in the Rose Parade