Strike up the Band
In a slightly sloped, football-field-sized parking lot, west of the Student Health and Wellness Center, trumpets blare, tubas roar, and drums pound in beat.
It’s two days before the big homecoming show during Saturday night’s USU football game, and the marching band is gathered for practice
Band director, Thomas Rohrer, sporting black sunglasses, a Utah Jazz cap, button-up shirt with tie and slick, black exercise pants, with a stack of papers tucked half-way in the front side, stands atop a 20-foot tower overlooking the parking lot and oversees his band. They’re rehearsing the formations and songs for Saturday’s show.
Rohrer interrupts again and again with a whistle and calls out instructions for improvement over a megaphone.
“There’s two things that need to happen right now,” Rohrer says. “Number one: you have to put your foot down on the beat. And number two: don’t get there [to your positions] too early. Now let’s do it again.”
Drum major Dennis Cox then leads them into another effort. Shortly after, Rohrer blows the whistles, and jokes half serious through the megaphone.
“Some of you seriously look like you have a foreign substance stuck to the bottom of your shoes and your trying to scrape it off. Try it again, feet on the beat.”
For many of the marching band members, music is life. Saxophonist Tyler Whittaker, a senior majoring in music education spends, on average, five to six hours a day playing music. Whittaker said he enjoys playing in the marching band.
“I love it for a lot of reasons. The social aspect is great, I mean, you instantly know 100 people,” Whittaker said. “But, my favorite part has to be putting a show together from the ground up. It’s amazing to see the music and formations evolve and come together.”
Each show the band performs has a different theme and rarely is the same show duplicated. French horn player Britney Ross, a senior majoring in music education, said the variety and mixture of themes is one of her favorite aspects of the band. She said last year’s Halloween show was one of her favorites to perform.
“It was just a lot of fun. We got to dance to thriller and play some cool Halloween-style 80’s music,” Ross said.
In past year, the band has put together super hero themes, a Beatles tribute show, patriotic ensembles and even a “Pirates of the Caribbean” soundtrack show. Saturday’s performance will have an Olympic theme and tribute Aggie athletics. The band will form the Olympic rings and even create a weight lifter with moving arms and legs.
The formations are created by Rohrer, who uses computer software to help write them. He then prints out a package of sheets that contain a football field like grid and a corresponding letter and number for every member.
“We look at the printouts and learn where we need to be,” said trombonist David Sweeney, a sophomore majoring in music education. “I’m E-4.”
The formations, known as drills, are sometimes hard to perfect.
“A lot of people don’t understand how many things we have to keep track of at once,” Ross said. “We have to read the music, keep beat and maintain posture, while moving to create the formations. Sometimes, it can get overwhelming.”
Earlier in the season, the band performed back to back shows, one on Sept. 11 and the other on the 18th. The “Pirates of the Caribbean show” on Sept. 18 gave the band only a week to practice.
“Sometimes it comes down to crunch time,” Whittaker said, “but we always get it done.”
Eric Schaelling, a senior in music education, said the marching band can be time consuming and requires a lot of commitment and dedication.
“A lot of us play in multiple bands and have a lot of things going on. Finding time for everything can be hard,” Schaelling said.
In addition to the marching band, Schaelling plays in USU’s Wind Orchestra, takes care of the instruments and logistics for the band and is vice president in the bands’ nationally affiliated Greek fraternity.
Kappa Kappa Psi and its sorority counterpart Tau Bata Sigma are service organizations which do a lot to help the band.
“Our whole goal is to serve and promote the band,” Schaelling said.
The marching band is a two-credit class and eight credits of it are required for music education majors.
But not all of the bands members are there because it’s required. Assistant Band director Roger Karren said “nearly 30 percent” of the band’s members aren’t music majors and choose to be in the band because they enjoy it.
Cox, a senior majoring in marketing, has been in the band for five years.
“I do it because I want to do it,” Cox said. “It’s an extension of my love for music. It’s also a really good way to get involved with the school.”
First timer Brian Parrott, a freshman majoring in business administration said the marching band has been a “vivifying positive experience,” so far.
“I show up, work hard and feel like I’ve accomplished something at the end of the day,” Parrott said. “And that’s what I’m looking for.”
Parrott also said he’s amazed at the work ethic of Rohrer.
“He has every minute planned out and doesn’t ever waste anyone’s time,” Parrot said. “He’s also very aggressive, but not degrading, subordinate aggressive; he’s aggressive in a positive, uplifting way. I also totally admire the effort he takes in learning everyone’s name. Before the semester even started, just in passing he’d address me by name-he’s that way with everyone; it’s impressive and makes you feel important.”
Rohrer said that with 105 members, the marching band is one of the largest student organizations on campus.
But regardless of how big it is he tries to personally get to know everyone in the band.
“The kids here know they’re not just a number,” Rohrer said. “With a lot of the upper classman, we know all about them -where they work and what kind of car they drive – having that kind of a relationship with them is important to us.”
Homecoming weekend is always a busy time for the marching band. In addition to Saturday’s halftime performance, the band will also perform in the Homecoming parade, at a pep rally Friday morning for Channel 2’s morning show and will be participating in an alumni concert Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Kent Concert Hall.
-jrsaunders@cc.usu.edu