For many, the first steps into a new year are slow and sleepy. For professor Robert “Bob” Evans, adjunct clarinet professor and director of the Symphonic Band at Olivet Nazarene University, 2026 started with a rousing march. On January 1, Bob joined 359 other band directors by performing in the 137th Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
The Band Directors Band is a special project of Saluting America’s Band Directors, created by the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation. The Band Directors Band first performed in 2022 in the Rose Parade—which is the year that father-daughter Eric Penrod and Paige (Penrod) Smith ’15 marched with the group. Eric and Bob are both instrumentalists in the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra (KVSO) and after sharing about his own wonderful parade experience, Eric suggested that Bob apply to march with his son, John, who is a junior high band director in the St. Louis area.
In early winter 2025, both Evans men applied to participate in the 2026 parade and were two of the lucky 360 band directors who were notified of their acceptance in May. The significance of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was made sweeter as John is celebrating his 20th year as a band director and Bob is celebrating his 50th year in 2026. In total, the combined years of music education experience represented by all the members of the band surpassed 5,000. 
Over the course of the weeklong event, the Band Directors Band rehearsed under the direction of Jon Waters, well-known for his long tenure directing the marching band at Ohio State University. Rehearsals were held in one of the ballrooms of Westin Bonaventure Hotel and the band had two additional performance opportunities beyond the parade on New Year’s Day.
Traveling to southern California for the parade brought back exceptional memories for Bob. In 1980, he directed his students from the marching band of Bloomington Jefferson High School in Minnesota. The 5.5 miles of the parade route requires marching while carrying and playing an instrument (plus more walking to get to the start of the route and before being picked up by buses at the end). In short, it can be a strenuous activity, even for teenagers. Since that time, the parade route has not changed.
To keep his students in marching shape during the brutal winter, Bob had the band run the halls of the high school and rented out an airplane hangar at the Twin Cities airport so the group for large rehearsals. For this experience, 45 years later, his training looked a little different.
Bob has played the clarinet continuously since his college marching band days at Northwestern University. In addition to a long tenure as principal clarinet with the KVSO, he also plays locally with the River Valley Wind Ensemble. However, it’s been quite some time since he’s regularly marched with a band. His training regimen to prepare for the Rose Parade included daily walks in the local mall (to get 10,000 steps in) and adding a space heater to his garage, where he paced for hours while memorizing the five pieces of music the band would play.
When the time to ring in the New Year finally came, he was prepared.
“My emotions were off the chart at the start of the parade,” Bob says. “I’d done it once before, but this was so much better because I had had a lifetime of experience since then. Plus, I got to share the experience with my son, which was very special.”
On New Year’s Day, Pasadena experienced uncharacteristic pouring rain (only the eleventh time that has happened in the history of the parade). Bob had wisely prepared for inclement weather and had chosen to play on a student-grade plastic b-flat clarinet, rather than risk damage to his professional instrument. For the first stretch of the parade, the band played a medley of “Strike of the Band” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” A core part of the parade featured a John Philip Sousa medley that featured “The Thunderer” and America’s national march, “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
Every year, the Rose Parade features high school and university bands from around the country, as well as equestrian units and of course, the world-famous parade floats which are hand-decorated with real flowers and live greenery. The parade is broadcast live on ABC and NBC. Bob’s positioning on the far-right rank of the clarinet section (which included 42 instrumentalists) gave him great screen broadcast time.
Bob and his wife, Kathy, who is also a professional clarinet player, joined the faculty in Olivet’s School of Music in 2018, having both retired from long careers in music education.
“I love to perform, but when I retired from teaching at the high school level, I realized that I still wanted to teach in some capacity,” Bob reflects. “Olivet has given me the opportunity to still be a teacher and a director. In fact, it’s because of Olivet that I could do something like the Rose Parade.”
When it was discovered that Bob also had experience with band directing, he was given additional responsibilities of teaching music education, conducting and woodwind methods courses, as well as directing Olivet’s concert band. These unexpected opportunities have been pivotal in his career. One serendipitous Olivet connection even happened during the Rose Parade when Bob was recognized by alumna, Ellen Fennell ’21, a middle school music director in Indiana, who was playing piccolo in the band.
“It was the experience of a lifetime,” Bob reflects on the whole experience. “It was great to perform with so many people with so many similar backgrounds. To be in the center of that sound was extremely moving.”
For more information about the School of Music at Olivet Nazarene University, visit Olivet.edu/Academics
Photos submitted by Bob Evans.
