Budget cuts last spring nearly silenced the musicians when the Campbell Union School District was unable to provide the $4,000 needed to keep their before-school period afloat for the 2005-06 year.

The music boosters ended up draining their account to save the program. Then last month, an anonymous donor came forward with a $4,000 check that restored the account in full.

That's music to the ears of the club, which will watch the students perform in the upcoming Los Gatos Holiday Parade on Dec. 3.

"This is a program that really inspires the kids," parent booster Bev Barnett said. "It's an opportunity to go out and show what they can do."

Band director Mike Rawlinson was confident the school and the club would find a way to rescue advanced band, given the school's and parents' strong support for the program.

Twenty-five percent of the school's students come through Rawlinson's classroom, and advanced band is a select group of those musicians. Rolling Hills, Rawlinson said, is the only middle school marching band in the district.

Parents such as Barnett are glad to see the program continuing to prepare young musicians for performances.

At 7:20 a.m., while the rest of the school is still quiet, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders are filling the morning with music. Eighth-graders Adam Pilkington and Alex Ruiz Poon are playing trumpets, seventh-grader Brent Baldridge balances a tuba on his shoulders and Daniel Kim beats a snare drum. All the children live in Campbell but attend middle school in Los Gatos

The band goes through its paces practicing, "We Wish You a Jazzy Christmas," one of the pieces it will play in the parade.

The students are excited about the parade, but joke about their green uniforms. "We look like leprechauns," one girl said.

However, many students are already looking ahead to another performance. The advanced band travels with Rawlinson and their parents to Disneyland, where the students will record their music in a professional studio and enjoy two days in the park.

By the time the advanced band students reach high school, they have a solid foundation in music and marching band. They have experience playing classical and traditional band music such as marches, as well as popular and multicultural music, Rawlinson said.