Michael Buckstein might be an assistant band director at the University of Pittsburgh, but it has still been a while since he practiced his heel-toe marching step.

He’s been brushing up lately, though, after being chosen to perform with the Band Directors’ Marching Band at the annual Tournament of Roses Parade, held on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif.

“The band was created by the Saluting America’s Band Directors group, which I’m a member of,” said Buckstein, 28, a Plum native and Monroeville resident. “The group was founded a few years ago to promote music education. They marched in the Rose Bowl parade a few years ago, then the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, took a year off and now they’re back at the Rose Bowl.”

The group of about 300 band directors from across the U.S. will march alongside the SABD’s float. They have four pieces to learn for the parade, and the centerpiece that will be performed live on television is “Strike Up the Saints,” a mash-up of “Strike Up the Band” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Learning the music hasn’t been too tough, Buckstein said. Reacclimating himself to the rigors of marching band performance, however, has been a little more work.

“The older you get, the more tiring that activity becomes,” he said. “The Rose Bowl parade is about 5½ miles, so it’ll be the longest parade I’ve ever done, and I imagine that will be a bit of a challenge.”

Buckstein, a former band director at Mt. Pleasant Junior/Senior High School, will fly out to California on Dec. 28 to start several days of full-band rehearsal leading up to the parade.

“For me, really the biggest challenge was finding the time to prepare,” he said. “I just got hired at Pitt in August, so the new job and the life change has kept me pretty busy.”

One thing is certain: Preparing for the Tournament of Roses Parade has given Buckstein a deeper well of empathy for his students.

“Doing this definitely helps me put things in perspective when I’m asking my students to do something similar,” he said.

The 137th annual Tournament of Roses Parade will step off at 11 a.m. on Jan. 1. It will air live on ABC. For details, visit TournamentOfRoses.com.