Training

for the Summer Olympics is no easy feat.

For

athletes, it means four years of intense workouts

and competitions. For the 160 members of Fayette

County High School's Marching Band headed for

Australia Aug. 31, the marching and musical

preparation for participation in the opening

ceremonies is almost as grueling.

Last

week, the Olympic-bound band strutted its stuff

for school band director Kenny Beard, assistant

Doug Dee and music arranger Ken Dye, who was on

hand to assist. Dye, who is Notre Dame

University's band director, arranged all the

music the 2,000-member Olympic band will perform.

According

to Beard, his students must memorize a total of

22 different pieces of music for their part in

the opening extravaganza. "The band portion

of the opening ceremonies will be about 45

minutes," he said.

Dee

added that the band of 2,000 - composed of

approximately half Australian musicians and half

American, Japanese, European and Pacific Rim

musicians - will be the largest in Olympic

history. "It's an unbelievable effort,"

he said. Dee is already anticipating the sounds

of about 140 tenor saxophones, 400 tubas and

proportionate numbers of other instruments

playing in unison on the field.

The

young musicians have been in rehearsal since

April with practices heating up and stretching

from early morning until early evening this

month. Starting next week, the 90 band members

not traveling to Australia join their bandmates

for a school-based band camp to practice for the

upcoming football halftime show.

If

that's not enough, Beard has been playing in the

small pit band for Fayette Community Theatre's

production of "Guys and Dolls" in the

evenings.

During

a brief afternoon break, Beard admitted he was

tired, but continued to handle three tasks at

once without skipping a beat.

Fayette

County's band is the only Georgia band

participating in the Olympic ceremonies. Their

bid to play was in jeopardy about a year ago when

Australian Olympic officials pulled their

invitation to take part in the opening

ceremonies, citing too few Australians and too

many foreign nationals in the band. After several

weeks of negotiations, and a trip to Australia by

Beard to talk directly with Olympic officials,

Fayette County's band was re-invited. They will

march with several bands from California and

contingents from around the world. They will also

perform at the famed Sydney Opera House.

Extensive

fund-raising efforts have netted about $150,000

for the collective expenses anticipated by the

band, according to Beard. Aaron Gray, a senior

trumpet player, said he still expects the trip to

cost about $3,000 per student.

The

group will be in Australia for a little over two

weeks, with a portion of their stay taken up with

rehearsals. They will be housed at Charles Sturt

University in Bathhurst, which is about three

hours from Sydney. Beard said five Fayette County

High School teachers will accompany the students

and keep them up to date on their school work

while abroad. Their expenses will be paid by the

band's fund-raising efforts organized by band

members' parents, according to Beard.

In

addition to playing during the opening ceremony,

the band is assigned to play during the parade of

athletes for Denmark, Korea, Japan, and the

Ukraine, among others. "We're not playing

for the United States," Beard noted. The

2,000 members were divided up into three bands

- the red, green, and blue bands. Each color

band will play for a number of countries, Beard

explained.

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