Marching band takes grit.

If members of Slippery Rock University’s Marching Pride didn’t possess the skill before now, they mastered it ahead of the band’s third international appearance this weekend, said euphonium player and section sergeant Emily Eastman.

Eastman, a senior studying music education, is one of 140 marching band players who jetted off this week to participate in London’s New Year’s Parade, which will see SRU students perform for a live audience of more than 500,000.

“It was lot of rehearsal time and a lot of parade marching technique work,” Eastman said. “People who haven’t been in a marching band think you’re just marching in a straight line, but you don’t do that. A lot of time was spent working on parade form in rehearsal, and a lot of time was spent on music. We’ve played when it was 80 degrees out and we’re sweating, and when it’s 20 degrees out and we’re freezing to our instruments.”

In 2022, Marching Pride was officially invited to perform in London’s 2024 parade after the band was recommended to parade officials. Marching Pride has performed in Dublin in the past.

“This was in the works for a few years,” said band director Jonathan Helmick.

When he announced to students they’d be traveling to London for the parade, Helmick said many picked up their phones and called their families.

“They called home and said, 'Mom, we’re going to London,” he shared.

“The whole trip is meant for students to grow,” Helmick said. “I think for a lot of our students, you can see who’s a first time traveler. They show up with brand new luggage, and have doe eyes — you’re telling them ‘You’ll be ok.”

“I didn’t travel like this until undergrad,” he said. “It gave me the self confidence to do this again and explore the world … we’re able to encourage students to do this in the future and build connections globally.”

Helmick said he hopes the New Year’s performance will communicate to locals the idea that SRU is “their hometown university with an international footprint.”

To begin building an international reputation, Helmick said the band focused on the quality and quantity of the student performers, as well as the state of the musical instruments.

“One of the things upping our game as far as music goes is we worked really, really hard to get students resources,” Helmick said. “Many of our musical instruments, when I got there between 2015-2018, were in need of repair. We replaced older instruments, replaced drum lines and raised funds so students could really shine. That was paramount to getting us at the point where we were ready to take to the international stage.”

“Marching Pride represents pretty much every major on campus,” he said. “We have students in secondary education, and one of our drummers’ major is computer science. We have folks who are thinking of becoming history teachers or nurses or physical therapists — you name it.”

Eastman, who is originally from Crawford County, said she is excited for the trip and the prospect of performing for an international audience.

“I cannot wait for us to come around the first bend in London and see smiling and cheering faces, and for all the students in Marching Pride to realize how worth it it really is,” Eastman said.

“Once music’s in your blood, it’s hard to get out,” Helmick said.

Eastman said she joined Marching Pride amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 as a first-year student. All her classes were virtual, she said, but band was in-person.

“That time was so isolating,” she said. “Band got me through.”

“I would say the best people in the world do band, and that’s no exception at SRU,” Eastman said. “The people in Marching Pride are the type of people you can call in the middle of the night, sit down with at the dining hall. They look out for you. They’re caring, passionate, hard working. For me, having that level of friendship has been essential to my success.”

Eastman left for London on Wednesday. It’s her second time traveling overseas.

“Going to SRU has been my only opportunity to travel out of the country,” she said.

While on the trip, Helmick said students will be able to visit historic sights, including the Tower of London, Parliament, Oxford University and go on a river cruise of the Thames.

The parade passes through Piccadilly, Regents Street, Pall Mall, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall.

Viewers at home can watch the parade online at lnydp.com or as it is televised on PBS. The parade will begin at noon London time, or 7 a.m. locally.