High School Tuba Player Marches in Parade of a Lifetime
By: William Seay
Updated: January 3, 2013
(SAVANNAH, Mo.) Izaya Wittler is one of the best high school tuba players in Missouri.
He has made the All-State band, and he is a very serious musician.
And at only 16, he can say he's marched in a parade televised nationally.
"It's sort of a rush. It feels good and I like that I'm in this band. It makes me happy," Wittler said, reflecting on his time spent in Pasadena, California, marching in the Tournament of Roses Parade.
He marched in the Salvation Army Honor Band.
The Honor Band has 180 members that come from amateur bands within the Salvation Army organization.
This year Wittler was picked to join them.
So he boarded an airplane for the first time in his life and flew - all by himself - to California.
He had marched in small parades before, but nothing like the Tournament of Roses Parade.
"Definitely the crowd. There were huge crowds yelling at us like crazy. They love the Salvation Army. They love to see us march. They were yelling at us and singing along too. I had never seen it before. At first I was nervous. Then I got used to it and it was pride. I held my head high," Wittler said.
The Savannah junior admits that he wasn't even really excited to go when he was first told of his selection.
He says he was more nervous than anything else.
But confident in his own abilities, he made the trip anyway, to the delight of his Salvation Army mentors.
"It makes me happy to say here's a young man who's doing what's right," said Salvation Army Captain Chuck Cook. "Here's a young man who's trying to follow what God's calling him to do. We're extremely proud of that."
"I felt a lot of pride, just because I knew I was in a huge band," explains Wittler. "I was in the second row in the lineup of the marching band. So I didn't see everyone in front of me, but I knew there was a very big band carrying on behind me."
And it's that sense of pride and confidence that he carries back with him into the band room at Savannah High.
He has made the All-State band, and he is a very serious musician.
And at only 16, he can say he's marched in a parade televised nationally.
"It's sort of a rush. It feels good and I like that I'm in this band. It makes me happy," Wittler said, reflecting on his time spent in Pasadena, California, marching in the Tournament of Roses Parade.
He marched in the Salvation Army Honor Band.
The Honor Band has 180 members that come from amateur bands within the Salvation Army organization.
This year Wittler was picked to join them.
So he boarded an airplane for the first time in his life and flew - all by himself - to California.
He had marched in small parades before, but nothing like the Tournament of Roses Parade.
"Definitely the crowd. There were huge crowds yelling at us like crazy. They love the Salvation Army. They love to see us march. They were yelling at us and singing along too. I had never seen it before. At first I was nervous. Then I got used to it and it was pride. I held my head high," Wittler said.
The Savannah junior admits that he wasn't even really excited to go when he was first told of his selection.
He says he was more nervous than anything else.
But confident in his own abilities, he made the trip anyway, to the delight of his Salvation Army mentors.
"It makes me happy to say here's a young man who's doing what's right," said Salvation Army Captain Chuck Cook. "Here's a young man who's trying to follow what God's calling him to do. We're extremely proud of that."
"I felt a lot of pride, just because I knew I was in a huge band," explains Wittler. "I was in the second row in the lineup of the marching band. So I didn't see everyone in front of me, but I knew there was a very big band carrying on behind me."
And it's that sense of pride and confidence that he carries back with him into the band room at Savannah High.
