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Local grad in Macy's parade
Played cymbals with Towson band
Friday, Dec. 11, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo
Brandon Bryant of St. Leonard played in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City as part of the Towson University marching band.
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On Thanksgiving morning when many people were probably still in their pajamas watching TV, Brandon Bryant of St. Leonard was part of what some of them were watching.
The Towson University junior, who graduated from Calvert High School in 2007, was part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.
Bryant, 20, said that as a cymbals player in the Towson University marching band, he has known the band would play in this year's parade ever since his freshman year.
"You have to apply way in advance … I was like ‘wow, this is awesome,'" Bryant said was his initial reaction when he learned he would be a part of the historic parade.
Bryant said he was not initially a cymbals player; he actually played the snare drum in about three bands at Calvert High School, including the marching band, wind ensemble and symphonic band, but switched to the cymbals upon learning that Towson's marching band already had several returning snare drum players.
"It did not take long at all [to adjust to a new instrument]; maybe a couple of days," he said, adding that despite this easy transition, "We actually do techniques with the cymbals, not just crashing them together."
He said that having been a marching band member since sixth grade, joining Towson's was a no-brainer for him.
"I love the camaraderie with all my friends … and I love just being on the field; you're having fun putting into motion what you're playing and the crowd is having fun enjoying you," Bryant said.
And getting to play in events like the Macy's Parade is certainly a bonus, he said.
"It didn't hit me ‘til about a week before. I was like, ‘We're really going to New York City; We're really doing the Macy's [Thanksgiving] Day Parade,'" said Bryant, who continued that with the parade came a more hectic practice schedule for the band.
"There's usually a point in the season where we get a day off and our director was like ‘this year we can't afford it,'" he said. "We needed all the practice we could get and I didn't mind at all."
Bryant said that the band arrived in Manhattan on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and returned to Towson, where he lives on-campus, the following Saturday.
He said the extra time in New York allowed the band members to do some site-seeing, including the Statue of Liberty and the site of the fallen World Trade Center.
The highlight for Bryant was, of course, the parade.
"That was surreal … When we were playing, I was thinking to myself ‘I can't believe I'm here,'" said Bryant, who especially remembered lining up outside of Central Park, passing through Time Square and seeing Cyndi Lauper, who also performed in the parade.
He did say, however, that Towson's current marching band cannot take all the credit for making the performance happen, as its predecessors for a few years back were the band that was judged prior to being selected for the parade.
"The people before me helped to make this happen … it was a big group effort," Bryant said. "It was an amazing experience and I'll remember it forever."
