Tennessee State University’s marching band is heading to the West Coast. The Aristocrat of Bands will celebrate its 75th anniversary in style — by playing in the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day.
The students have been working overtime, sprinting through two weeks of intense rehearsals.
Still, when they come to attention and start to play, the energy is electric. Their instruments roar to life, and the sound bounces off the walls of the indoor practice facility.
Their hard work will pay off on a trip to California, where they’ll play at Disneyland, the California African American Museum, the Staples Center for a Lakers game, and the main event: The Tournament of Roses.
They’ll be one of four collegiate bands — and the only historically Black university band — to march in the Rose Parade this year.
Paige Pfleger, Kelly Fletcher WPLN NewsTSU’s Aristocrat of Bands on their final day of rehearsal before playing at the Rose Bowl.
“HBCU bands, they put the B in HBCU,” Logyn Rylander says with a laugh.
Rylander is a junior who plays the saxophone. She sees this national stage as an opportunity to show off what HBCU’s have to offer.
“The world needs to see that,” she says. “California needs to see that.”
Next to her, sophomore Jazmyn Wall jumps in.
“We want to put Tennessee State on the map,” she says.
Wall hopes that students around the country watch the parade and think: I want to go there!
“That’s the first thought I want to pop up in their head,” she say.
Kelly Fletcher For WPLN NewsLogyn Rylander and Jazmyn Wall are members of the Aristocrat of Bands, and will perform at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Rylander knows that’s a possibility, because she decided to apply to the school after seeing the band on TV in a Cedric the Entertainer special.
“Man, I was once that girl didn’t know a thing about Tennessee State, didn’t know a thing about the Aristocrat of Bands,” she says. “But I saw them one day and it made me want to strive — not only to be in the band — but to do something more with my life.”
They both say the discipline and dedication they’ve learned by being part of the Aristocrat of Bands is something they will always carry with them.
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