Wednesday, Oct. 9, Princess Anne’s Fabulous Marching Cavaliers performed on NBC’s “Today” show, and at the New York City premiere of PA alumni Pharrell Williams’ new movie “Piece By Piece.” The band was invited to perform the lead single from the movie of the same name as the song, which the band recorded for Williams in April 2023.
The 52 student performers, along with parents and Band Director John Boyd, traveled from PA to New York on Tuesday, and were up early the following morning to prepare for their appearance on the “Today” show. Field Lieutenant senior Shilomae Santana described the process preparing for the show as “stressful” but “memorable.”
According to Santana, the band found out they would be performing only a few weeks ago, which was a demanding process due to how unique the performances were. “Obviously, the… band wasn’t really prepared to do anything like this,” Santana said. “I mean, our whole purpose is to make a show, so all of a sudden having to learn a two to three page song and having to memorize it all by New York was stressful.” She explained the band practiced in any available time for the past week, with practices that lasted three or four hours.
Throughout the preparation process, both Santana and Boyd shared that the logistics of their performance on the show changed almost on a daily basis while communicating with NBC’s production team. Despite these difficulties, Boyd explained that he and the band worked hard to perfect their performance to meet every needed requirement on set. “We figured the best way to do that was to make sure we had the song learned cold, so we could do whatever we needed to do,” he said.
Changes to their performance were still being made once the students arrived at the “Today” studio, according to Boyd, but he said the students were “absolute champions” in adapting to the production team’s needs. Front Ensemble Section Leader senior Mathias Chambers emphasized that their preparedness helped them adapt to these situations. “There was not a lot to it because we had prepared so much previously,” Chambers explained. “So the goal before coming to New York was to have all of the music down, so that we could be as adaptable as possible.”
Once their time on camera began, the band found themselves a little starstruck being in such close proximity to Williams, who was being interviewed in front of them. “We were just so in shock being on NBC News and seeing famous news anchors,” Santana explained. “People were just clapping everywhere and all I saw was people yelling and excited. After that, we had to take time to take it all in.”
Chambers shared a similar opinion as Santana: “It was fun to see the hosts [of the show] right there and see Pharrell right there and Pharrell saying ‘what’s up gang’ to us, the drum line.” Many of the students had the opportunity to greet Williams on set and in the green room before the show. In his interview before the band performed, both Williams and host Hoda Kotb shouted out PA and Virginia Beach.
In the afternoon, the band then traveled to the Lincoln Center to perform “Piece By Piece” again on the red carpet of the film’s premiere. Field Lieutenant senior Victoria Yu emphasized that during both the performance on “Today” and at the red carpet, the band had to both play with few mistakes, and had to be professional. “An important part was that we had to stay professional because we were close to all of these celebrities and cameras [on the carpet], but we had to stay focused in order to sound good and look good.”
Santana also explained the most difficult part of the performances for her was to maintain this professionalism because of how excited she and the other students were to be there. “Even though there were all of these people coming in, we always had to keep our composure…but I mean you can’t really do that if the most famous celebrity in Virginia is just walking around giving you fist bumps,” she laughed.
Overall, Boyd shares he was excited for his students to receive the recognition he believes they deserve. “I always know, the band parents always know, and the kids themselves always know that they are absolute rockstars,” he said. “I just didn’t know if other people know that. But now on national TV, everyone got to see what I’ve always known about them.”
Santana credits the band’s success to their relentless practice and Boyd’s leadership. “I think [the performances] were so perfect because it was stressful, but we were all prepared for it because that’s how Mr. Boyd trains us,” she said.
Williams’ lego biopic “Piece By Piece” is in theaters now and features the Fabulous Marching Cavaliers’ performance on the song. Williams explained in his interview with “Today” that the movie will feature PA and several other areas of Virginia Beach.
Check out Williams’ interview and a clip of the FMC’s performance here.
