VHHS’ Christofer Miller plays in Rose Parade

On the morning of Jan. 2, while most of the country was still asleep, Christofer Miller was loading his tuba onto a bus in Southern California.

At 3 a.m. Pacific time, Miller, a Vestavia Hills High School junior, said the members of the Bands of America Honor Band ate a quick breakfast, loaded onto buses and headed over to the parade staging parking lot to get everything together.

After unloading, the band gathered in the closed-off street to practice one more time before lining up for the 2017 Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.

Miller said that it rained throughout the morning, and the parade was a long one, at five and a half miles, but that he would participate in the parade again in a heartbeat.

“It was an honor to be selected,” he said. “It was so much fun.”

To prepare for the parade, Miller said the band members were asked to memorize the music in advance, and the band practiced in California for about six hours a day for five days to perfect it.

The Bands of America Honor Band has performed in the Rose Parade multiple times, most recently in 2013, and is made up of students from all 50 states chosen based on high levels of performance and skill.

The music the band performed at the parade was written especially for the parade by the band’s music arrangers Thom Hannum and Michael Klesch.

While he has participated in large parades before, including in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this past November, he said the Rose Parade was fun, but challenging.

“I think people don’t understand that it can be very hard,” he said. “Just watching it on TV, it doesn’t look like it would be challenging, but once it gets really long like this parade does, it is.”

But more than the challenge, Miller said, he will always remember the lessons he learned from the parade staff and directors, and also the many friends he made along the way.

Miller also said he wanted to thank his family and friends for their support and encouragement of his pursuit of music, as well as VHHS Band Director Jerell Horton.

“They’ve been a big influence on everything,” he said.