Northwest Guilford High School students preparing to perform in front of the Pope
Dec 16, 2024
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Band practice at Northwest Guilford High School has taken on a whole new importance this holiday season.
The group is practicing for what may be one of the most important performances of their lifetime. After Christmas, they are headed to Rome to play in the New Year's Day parade.
The band will march into Vatican City, and perform for the Pope before he delivers his New Year's Day message to the faithful.
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Band Director Brian McMath has been before and says it is incredible.
"It is an amazing experience to be, number one, in the Vatican City. You know, it is its own country, the smallest country in the world. And all of that to perform before the Pope. We've even told he might acknowledge us in his speech, the visiting bands from the United States or other places. So yeah it's a huge honor to go," he said.
This is a trip Mr. McMath has been working on for more than a year now. It's taken a lot of work and planning. But it's a challenge he's willing to take on for his students' sake.
"I love travelling with my kids," he says. "It is my favorite thing to do. It's the most stressful thing I do, and I've been all over the world with kids in my 28 years of teaching. To see their eyes open up and experience the world. That the Sistine Chapel is not just in a book. The Vatican City is not in a book. The Roman Forum, the Colosseum. We're in Florence. We're in Tuscany, Siena. And travels not as scary as you think it is."
Picking out the music they'll play was also not an easy task. While he thought about playing some Italian favorites, he chose a little bit of home.
McMath said, "We're going to do some American songs that everybody will probably recognize, one of them being Sweet Caroline, which we all know. That's a big one. If you know nothing, you know how to go bop, bop, bom. So hopefully the Italians will sing along with us. And the other one I chose was celebrate. I figured what better way to ring in the new year than to celebrate?"
The band members know this will be a trip and performance of a lifetime.
Emmie LaDow is a Sophomore Band member.
"I'm super excited to, like play on New Year's Day for the Pope," she says. "I think that's the most exciting thing and marching down into the Vatican."
Michael Van Rooyen a Senior member of the band agrees.
"I'm really excited. I've actually never been out of the country before, so this is my first time. I'm really excited," he said.
The band will be in Rome for a week, so they will also get to do some touring and sightseeing. That's part of the student's education that Mr. McMath knows will last far beyond their teenage years.
Says McMath. "Music education is what we do. It's what I do every day, but it's training them to be better people. It's giving them experiences that make them better people. That understand everyone in the world is the same. It doesn't matter. The commonalities. That's why I love travel so much."
The group will be one of two bands from the United States performing and creating great memories.