A Proud Mother Moment: International Music Award Winner

Maria Montell, Counseling Secretary at Charter Oak High School, and her son, Nick Montell.

A shared moment by Maria Montell, Counseling Secretary at Charter Oak High School.

I am so proud that Nick was in one of the largest band events in Europe and appeared in the Rose Parade and is a world champion!

About 700,000 spectators along Colorado Boulevard saw 19-year old Nick Montell play the bass guitar on the banner float in the 2016 Tournament of Roses Parade. Due to technical difficulties, the banner float which was supposed to be the first float was pulled by a tow truck at the end of the parade and Nick did not appear on television.

Nick, a member of the marching regiment and winter percussion drum line, was the 2012–2013 Drum Major and 2013 graduate of Charter Oak High School. Nick had the flute solo in Charter Oak High School’s 2011 gold medal performance at the SCSBOA marching band championship. He also has a silver medal and two bronze medals. COHS took top honors in all four high school years. He has been playing the flute for 10 years and the bass guitar for 7 years.

Nick is studying Music Industry Studies at Cal Poly Pomona and is also a music student at Riverside City College (RCC). With RCC, Nick went to Dayton, Ohio, to compete in the Winter Guard International Percussion Championships where his group took the 2015 top honors with the highest score ever achieved. This led to his selection to the 97-member Blue Devils International (BDI) Drum Corps out of Concord, California. Nick worked in the BDI music instructional camps during the 5-week European tour where BDI also headlined performances in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, Italy and Switzerland. The final stop was at the world’s second largest (and one of the most spectacular) open-air tattoos: the Basel Tattoo in Switzerland. You may see him playing the bass guitar in the performances on the Blue Devils’ Web site: https://bluedevils.org/programs/international/2016/