On most weekday nights, the ticking of a metronome rings out across the University of Massachusetts Amherst athletic fields, followed by the music of the “Power and Class of New England,” the UMass Amherst Minutemen Marching Band. The students in the band put in a huge commitment and passion to their music and routines, and this year their hard work has brought them to the 2024 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, where they will showcase their talents on a national stage.

“This is a chance to represent our university and our state to this huge audience,” said Timothy Anderson, the director of the Minutemen Marching Band. “The students really understand what the mission is. That, to me as their teacher, has been real inspiring.”

The marching band was selected from bands around the country to perform in the Thanksgiving Day classic, which will be televised on NBC starting at 8:30 a.m., and they will be the fourth band to play.

“I really am excited for people to see the UMass band and what ‘Power and Class’ is all about and what we do here,” said Qeanu Smith, a fifth-year drum major. “We’re trying to bring as much of ourselves with us there and really show people ‘this is what we do. UMass. This is what the band is all about.’ What we do here is special and getting the opportunity to go to the parade is really exciting.”

The band will play “This Will Be an Everlasting Love” during their televised performance, a tribute to late UMass alum Natalie Cole. The routine includes musicians, baton twirlers, dancers and the color guard, who will march the 3½-hour, 2.5-mile parade route, ending with their performance in front of Macy’s flagship store at Broadway and 34th Street. The band began practicing their music in early October, and overall had about a month and a half to prepare the routine, also practicing for their team’s football halftime shows during that time.

The band learned they would be performing in the parade at the halftime of UMass’ Oct. 7, 2023 football game.

“I got to go to New York in the middle of the summer, and walking the parade route, it was super neat standing there. It’s kind of hard to envision. We were in the street looking at the Macy’s sign, and I’m like, ‘There’s going to be a star here!’ It’s going to be so cool, I’m super excited,” said Lilly Barnett, a junior baton twirler and travel coordinator for the band.

At a Tuesday night rehearsal on Nov 19, just over a week before their performance at the Macy’s Parade, the band was still making adjustments to their routine, ensuring that everything was precisely in place for the parade.

One of the trickiest parts of performing in the parade is getting the 400-plus members of the band into the small televised space during their 1 minute and 15 second slot. The performers have 56 counts, or approximately 25 seconds, to move everyone into the Macy’s Star and begin their routine, while playing. The dimensions of the star and performance space in Herald Square are spray-painted onto their practice field, and the band meticulously practices getting into that space and landing exactly on their “dots.”

“The hardest thing about getting ready for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is that the stuff you see on TV, that is like, at most, a fourth of a football field,” said Anderson. “The first couple days we started learning the drill I just had to tell them, ‘You guys need to trust me on this, this is how it’s going to work.’ And now they’ve got the hang of it, but really that’s the biggest challenge is that it’s such a small, restricted space.”

Even the smallest changes can make a huge difference in the band’s 75-second routine, so precision is key. At practice, Chris Sirard, assistant director and visual coordinator, instructed students to move closer together in certain configurations, so that different formations would be distinct from each other, telling them to find space “even if it’s 6 inches.”

Along the parade route, the band will play songs including “God Bless America” and “Fight Mass,” the UMass fight song, that are part of their typical repertoire. While they have yet to perform in a parade this year, the band typically marches in a few each season and will perform at the Merry Maple celebration in Amherst on Friday, Dec. 6.

The UMass band left Amherst on Monday and spent the days leading up to the parade practicing in a bubble dome, hotel ballrooms and on the streets of New York.

On Wednesday, the day before the parade, the University of South Carolina Band joined UMass for a performance at New York’s Pier 16 near the South Street Seaport at 10 a.m. Anderson and the USC band director went to graduate school together, and when they found out they would both be in the parade, they decided to put together this performance.

The students in the band put a lot of time into it throughout the year and their season, practicing every afternoon Monday-Thursday, and often performing on the weekends.

“After four years, you really become a strong part of this band, and the band becomes a part of you,” said Aiden Beckman, a senior who is the Macy’s coordinator for the band and section leader of the front ensemble. “It’s amazing. You know that there is one large place on campus where you can go every day, feel welcome, and commit to a common task.”

This year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade will feature 22 balloons, 34 floats, 11 marching bands, 28 performers and more from 8:30 am to noon. It will be available to watch on NBC. The UMass Minuteman Marching Band also will be performing their Macy’s set at the football game against the University of Connecticut on Saturday, Nov. 30.