ATHENS COUNTY, Ohio — Local band directors from Athens City Schools and Nelsonville-York City Schools were among several hundred from across the nation who marched in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, on New Year’s Day.
Aaron Backes, band director of Athens City Schools, and Terry Robb, retired director of Nelsonville-York High School, attended as a part of the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation’s Saluting America’s Band Directors project.
Backes said the parade was an important opportunity to “represent his students and show them that I still have an interest in music and performing it.”
The foundation formed the first Band Directors Marching Band in 2022, when the band first participated in the Rose Parade. The foundation sees this project as “a way to recognize and salute the extraordinary dedication and accomplishments of band directors everywhere,” according to its website.
Backes and Robb played the alto saxophone and mellophone, respectively, on the 5.5-mile parade route.
Backes told the Independent that his decision to march with the alto saxophone goes back to when he was first starting out as a musician.
“Alto saxophone was the instrument that I started on when I was 10 years old in band, and played through college,” Backes said.
Backes said the choice of instrument was also a way to honor all of the music educators he’s learned from, ranging all the way from his hometown of Detroit to Bowling Green State University. Backes cited his middle school and high school band directors as great influences on him.
“One of the reasons for doing it was to kind of remember the band directors and mentors that helped me, and my family as well,” Backes said. “It was nice to be able to play the instrument that I’ve played since I was a kid.”
The Band Directors Marching Band received the music they’d play in the parade last fall, but did not meet to practice as a full group until Dec. 28, according to Backes.
2026 marks Backes’ 16th year as a band director for Athens City Schools, and 18th year of teaching overall.
Robb retired in 2014 after teaching as a band director for over 30 years. The Independent reached out to Robb for comment, but could not make contact in time for publication.
