LEXINGTON -- Wolfgang Chenault started playing the tuba about three weeks ago.

In another three weeks, the first-year cadet at Virginia Military Institute will march alongside 144 other cadets when VMI's Regimental Band performs in the 119th Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year's Day.

How Chenault, 18, from Roanoke, became part of the regimental band is simple. VMI needed another tuba player. Chenault was game.

"I showed up here in August and they just threw me in band," he said.

Chenault played the bagpipes, then the clarinet, until the band needed a tuba player.

"So I'm marching tuba now," he said, and couldn't be happier. "I'm excited. They say it's a big honor for a band."

"There's no parade in the world that has better coverage on TV," said Capt. Burt Mitchell, assistant director of the VMI band.

The Tournament of Roses Rose Parade is full of award-winning high school bands, but just a handful of college or university bands are invited to participate.

VMI's band was chosen because it packs a certain kind of musical punch that only military college bands offer.

"We have the unusual combination ... of having the bagpipes and brass together," Mitchell said, something most other military schools are doing as well.

The bagpipes lend a unique sound to the band's performances.

"It's the kind of thing that I think is in people's blood in the South," Mitchell said.

Participants in the parade are chosen by a committee more than a year in advance. That has given the VMI band plenty of time to practice during regular parades on the VMI post in Lexington and in other regional parades throughout the year.

Still, Mitchell and Col. John Brodie, the VMI band director, have held daily practices the past few weeks to ensure the band is ready.

The VMI band leaves Dec. 27 on a military flight to Pasadena. Leading up to the parade, the band will play at Disneyland, take part in a band festival and enjoy a beach cookout organized by VMI alumni.

"There are a lot of logistical concerns of getting 145 cadets to not forget things, and be at the right place at the right time," Mitchell said. "It's a little overwhelming, but it's all organized."

For his part, Chenault plans to be ready. "I can't wait to get out there," he said.