A cool video to show your family this winter break

I always had difficulty explaining to my extended family what interested me in becoming part of a scramble band. Surely it had to be the horrendous khakis and preppy sweaters, right?

Like many college band folk, I'd joined band back in elementary school and had never been humiliated enough to leave. I even won the "Best Marcher" award at the end of my freshman year marching band season-- resulting in my aunt collapsing with laughter over Thanksgiving dinner at what a loser I must be.

Most of my family knew that I'd had the opportunity to travel to some cool places, go to a few NCAA tournaments, and have a moderately successful social life (comparative to high school) as a Penn Band member. They could see that I was happy, so they too were happy. Then came the Great Mascot Scandal of '06...

The road trip was Brown/Yale, and we'd just played a Brown team hungry for revenge over the previous year's blowout. We ended up with the W, packed up our instruments, and loaded everything on to the bus...but there were some obvious omissions, most noticeably the Quaker mascot costume. We were staying with the Yale bandos that night, so we had no choice but to leave and drive to New Haven before it got too late.

Thankfully, Athletics had held on to our older Quaker mascot costume from the previous year-- we ended up making it to the NCAA tournament that year and had the old costume at the ready. We all figured that a Brown-affiliated person had to have been behind the stealing, but no progress was made into any kind of investigation...until six months later when a few of us Board members received a strange e-mail from an obviously fake address, which linked to this video (screen shot shown above, can't figure out how to embed videos yet).

Let's just say that this was one of the more bizarre things that we had to deal with as a Board that year. Shortly after that I received an accusatory e-mail from the then President of the Brown Band, stating that we should basically look within our own organization for the source of theft (yeah, right). The e-mail (legitimately) mentioned an amendment to the Brown Band's Wikipedia entry, "The Brown Band also has a long tradition of stealing other schools' valuable items," which I found hilarious (and I KNOW WHO YOU ARE-- but your secret stays with me to the grave). The missing mascot costume was un-mysteriously and anonymously returned after Penn Athletics intervened and officially filed a claim.

Long story short, the video always provides a good deal of amusement in my family, and it's a nice example of how college kids can creatively play pranks on their rivals without having to resort to petty ad hominem attacks (although, let's face it, plenty of that goes on, too).

Baking Day

So how awesome is it that I randomly decided to spend an entire day baking and half the band shows up at my apartment? Well, maybe not quite half the band, but I will say this: bandos are great about supporting crazy get-togethers (especially when they involve free food).

Of course, I don't think any of us got the optimal amount of studying accomplished (or really any).

Here's to finals and winter break!

<3

Just a test

Test, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.

Good.

Low Brass vs. Saxes

This past weekend the freshmen members of the low brass and sax sections competed head to head in a Penn Band Challenge set up by the upperclassmen of the low brass section. Amongst other things, they competed in musicianship, humor, intelligence, and Lawrence Musketfeathers.

As part of musicianship, they sang the Ruff Ryder's Anthem and learned the cheerleader's dance to "The Red & Blue." (They were all pretty terrible on that last part.) However, the saxes came out on top for Ruff Ryder's, but the low brass won the "R & B" challenge.

As for humor, each section composed a song making fun of another Ivy League school. The saxes decided to make fun of Princeton to the tune of "The Final Countdown." Here are their lyrics:














The low brass, for their part, made fun of Yale to the tune "Bulldogs!" Their lyrics are as follows:









Pretty funny stuff, ha? I thought so, too. (The saxes won.)

As for intelligence, well, they now know a lot about the low brass section. And Lawrence Musketfeathers? Well, we all know what Lawrence Musketfeathers is, so why explain it? All that matters is that everyone was a winner this weekend in the Penn Band Challenge. Except Matt Conrad. No one wins with something like that...

Retroactive "live blogging": not as cool/funny as it sounds

I promised a Loyola update, so here it goes:

(A view from the back seat of the Kooshmobile)

8:53 a.m.- Josiah and I make a stop at the 11th and Chestnut Dunkin' Donuts (can't cheer on the Quakers without caffeine).

9:03 a.m.- Koosh, Chloe and Deven pick us up at 12th and Spruce.

9:05 a.m.- Koob arrives! The radio tells us that there has been a shooting in one of Villanova's parking lots. Nobody cares.

9:06-10:45 a.m.- Deven sleeps, and Chloe learns how to spell all of our names. Smart kid (must run in the family).

10:46 a.m.- We pull into a parking lot next to Reitz (their athletic complex)...does 'Lot closed on Sunday' = free parking?

We wandered inside, got our tickets, and found a dining hall. Koosh convinces Chloe that M&Ms aren't suitable for breakfast. I drink a Gatorade (in case Miller decides to sub me in).

Something I always like to do whenever I'm on a college campus is check out the newspaper-- you can learn quite a bit in a relatively short amount of time. The front page of their paper ('The Greyhound', I believe) provided excellent game time fodder...apparently their mascot, Nicholas II (a greyhound), had just passed away. "Short-lived mascot (clap-clap-clapclapclap)?" Koosh suggested. Yes, very yes.

11:30 a.m.-ish- Noah et al. arrived. Loudly. Perfect.

12:00 p.m.- Tipoff!

12:01-2:00 p.m.- Heartache. Sloppy passing on our part and atrocious refereeing were the primary themes of the game.

A note about the student section:
Josiah and I were having a discussion about the dynamics of student sections, and we came up with an obvious conclusion: student sections will remain relatively silent unless 1) they are playing a highly-touted opponent (like #1 UNC), or 2) they are being antagonized by the opposition's student section. We were effectively the Red and Blue Crew for the day, and it wasn't until we began questioning the refs calls and supporting our guys that the 'dog pound' retaliated, albeit awfully. As the guy sitting in front of us told me, "You guys are good at co-opting cheers:

Loyola: "T-shirt (clap-clap)" (Grandieri is supposed to give a crap about this taunt? Seriously?)
Us: "We love t-shirts! (clap-clap-clapclapclap)
Loyola: -crickets-

Loyola: (game is nearly over) "Stick to reading!" (Wow, thanks for the compliment, guys)
Us: "We love reading!"
Loyola: no response

It was one of those games where you glance up at the clock with 15:00 to go in the second half and wonder what you can do to pass the time less painfully (Take Chloe to the bathroom? Make obscure historical references in chants to confuse the students? Buy another $1.00 hot dog?)

2:25 p.m.- Journey home. Slept almost the whole way back.

Next: a video that all Penn Band freshmen need to see, why high school parents make awful fans, and the semantics of fandom.

Monmouth University: Giving out HS Diplomas in School Spirit

As Dr. Kushol Gupta (PHD), writes in his blog, the Penn band travels more than any other band in the country. And last night (Saturday) we were lucky enough to travel to the great institution of higher learning that's known as Monmouth University. (Two part trivia question: which President used the mansion on the grounds of Monmouth U for his summer residence? And what musical that was filmed in 1982 was partially filmed at the same mansion? Answers at end of blog.)

The game was at Boylan Gym, without a doubt the most high school-like gym I've ever been to in my year and half with the Penn band. (Cornell's stadium is a close second) How much like high school was it? Well for one they have banners for all of the championships that any one of their teams has won; the Palestra, on the other hand, only has championship banners from men's/women's basketball and volleyball (ie the sports that play in the Palestra). Two, it only sat like 2,2000, and was in your standard, two sections of bleachers on the sides of the court. And lastly, in the lobby of the gym, there was a bulletin board of their PE requirements (not kidding).

And to be honest, their fans were at the high school level. For one, they had absolutely no presence of a student section until the second half when about a dozen or less students stood up and did a few cheers every now. Instead, adults cheered and I don't mean just clapping after baskets; they were actually cheering during the game with "De-Fense" cheers and the like. But then again, it was just like high school where the parents of the players are the ones cheering. (In fact if you look at their roster, only one of their American born players is not within easy driving range.)

But the epitome of their "high schoolness" was their band. Even though we the Penn Band had limited numbers at the game, we still had more lowbrass (they literally had none and we had a tuba, euphonium, trombone and mellophone each), clarinets, and flutes. The only thing they had more than us was drum sets (1-0). Plus with their white and black striped uniforms they look like the Juventus soccer team. And their actual playing was as bad as their instrumentation and/or uniforms. They didn't sound that impressive at all, which is kind of sad considering they actually have auditions and applications for the group. Also, they play their fight song, which sounds crappy, all the time. Proof that it sucks? It was written in 1997. All good fight songs have to be written at least before the 1950's. Come on!

Another thing that really annoyed me about their band, and in some ways this might have been our Drum Major's choice, but we never got a chance to play our fight songs when the team came out. For some reason their Pep Band always plays songs in the last 6 minutes before the game starts. I have no problem with that as long as we play our fight song when our team comes out. Now I still don't know if they demanded it or if our Drum Majoresident Becca Goldman decided to, but instead of playing fight on as the Quakers entered the court, we sung the song. (Embarassingly, however, very few bandos knew all of the lyrics to our fight song; that shouldn't be the case). The same thing happened with Cheer Penn. Now I think it's unfair if they demand us to not play the fight song since back in the Palestra or Franklin Field we never care if another team plays their fight song while their team comes out if it's at the same time that our team does. Seriously, there's always conflicting fight songs going on. And frankly, there should be. It's a musical representation of the game.

So adding up all of these factors, a high school gym, a less than enthusiastic crowd, and a second rate pep band, and what is the result? The Penn Band steals the show. Maybe it's because everyone was so into the Carolina game and enjoyed it, but for whatever reason , the band kept up a high level of intensity throughout the night. We were so good that we even got another group of minors to adore us. This time it was a group of three boys that must have been around 12-13, right at the age when you starting thinking you're the coolest thing ever. They decided it would be hilarious if every time we did "De-fense" cheers they would say "Sucks, Sucks" right when we were clapping.

But mocking the band wasn't only restricted to prepubescent idiots. Their "Student section" of 12 did a cheer of "he's a freshman" when a freshman got an and 1. But when he preceded to miss the free throw, the band cheered back with "he's a freshman." So almost immediately after the "student section" yelled back at us "bandis, bandis." It was their only creative cheer of the night. (We responded with "we- can-read").

We were so impressive that a Monmouth-associated person came up to Koob, our amazing chaperone for the night, and complemented us. According to Koob:

Yeah, some Monmouth guy in a shirt and tie came up to me at one point and was like I'm from Monmouth, so I probably shouldn't be saying this, but you guys are awesome. He was really impressed with our energy and our constant cheering. Then he asked if he could rent us out. It was pretty funny.

Plus we got a sweet shout out from Vince Curran, the color commentator for the Penn radio basketball games. Obviously I didn't hear it since I wasn't listening to the radio, but Koosh said it went something like "look at the Penn Band dupe the Monmouth player by counting down 5-4-3-2-1 with plenty of time left [on the shot clock]." Thank you Vince, and yes it actualy worked a couple of times.

All in all, although the stadium was pretty worthless, it still was a great game to go to. Especially considering the Quakers finally got a road win!
______________________________________
Starting with this game, I'm going to keep track of all the songs we play in the band. There are going to be two categories of songs. One is songs that our Drum Major calls (this will be the wide majority of songs). There will also be songs that aren't necessarily called by our official drum major, but we play them anyway. As you'll see by the end of the year this category will mostly be filled by one song, Ruff Ryders' Anthem. (18 to Stop, Drop, read link). (Note I'm excluding Penn songs since we play them all the time.)

Songs played as of the Monmouth game:
DM called:

• Land of 1,000 Dances
• Video Killed the Radio Star
• Free Bird
• Sweet Child O' Mine
• The Office theme
• Holiday
• The theme from Gummy Bears
• Hip to be Square

Unofficially called:

• Guns of Brixton
• Ruff Ryders' Anthem

________________________________________
Answers to trivia questions: Woodrow Wilson and Annie

Ivy Season Preview

This post is not about sports.  It's about the third most important/fun part of being in band (1. The sports; 2. The free stuff) going on road trips to other Ivy League schools. 

All the schools are equally worse than Penn, so they're all competing for number two, although some are more equal than others.

ON TO THE RANKINGS! (From expected to unexpected.  I'll list the tops at least two and then the bottom, if applicable.)

Best Band (Musically)

1. Harvard- They're unparalleled musically in the Ivys.  Great arrangements, great sound, sweet blazers.

2. Cornell- Not a true Ivy Band (they march, plus, it's for gym credit for many of them).  That having been said there are lots of them and if there's one thing I've learned in music it's that the more people making music the louder the music sounds and the louder music sounds, the better the music is.

3. Yale- I put them here provisionally, one more horrible performance like the one they had at Franklin Field this year and they're off the list. Though their gun formation is great!

Worst Band (Musically)

6. Princeton- I heard it was their fall break when they played Penn at Franklin Field this year, I hope that's true.

7. Dartmouth- Horrible, when we heard them this year in Hanover they sounded horrendous, really truly awful.

Best Band (Socially)

1. Cornell- They have 2 members with superfluous nipples, if that wasn't enough they're also really nice.

2. Dartmouth- At least I think those were band kids.  Maybe they weren't.  Whatever.  They were fun.

Worst Band (Socially)

7. Harvard- When we travel there we have fun, but not because of them.

Best City to Travel To (Sightseeing)

1. Boston- My personal feelings aside (I hate this city) there's usually fun stuff to do when we go here before a trip to Harvard.

2. Providence- Delicious hot dogs at Spike's and RISD, so a high number of weirdos.  Nifty!

Worst City to Travel To (Sightseeing)

5. New York- Crowded, expensive, overdone.

6. Princeton- Not crowded, expensive, eating clubs.

7. Hanover- Horrible, the closest thing they have to fast food is an organic grocery store.  There is nothing there, nothing at all.

Best City to Travel To (Partying/ WARNING 18 to read, 21 to understand)

1. Ithaca- Great, fun, plus if you've been drinking it's very hard to walk up their large, incline hills.

2. Hanover- There's a reason Animal House was based on a Hanover fraternity.  Plus, they know what to do with paddles.

3. Princeton- This is conditional to one trip I made as a member of an a cappella group.  An absolutely shockingly wild time.

Worst City to Travel To (Partying/ WARNING 18 to read, 21 to be depressed)

6. Providence- Eating hot dogs are the reason to go here.

7. Cambridge- Just sort of depressing.

Best Bus Trips (It's not the length baby it's how you use it.)

1. Ithaca- Only 5 hours.  Time enough for some sweet quizo or a pair of movies.

2. Hanover- 7 Hours, we always get lost, it usually snows.  Always excitingly unexpectedly horrible.

3. Princeton- Does not take very long to travel to or leave.

Not or Not (Ivy Bands in Terms of Attractiveness)

5. Harvard- Only raised because of Joe the Trumpet players love of French and tattoos, something they have in spades.

t.6 Yale

t.6 Columbia

t.6 Dartmouth

t.6 Princeton

t.6 Brown

7. Cornell- The ugliest band in America.  Sorry.

Place I've Never Been Even Though I've Been in the Band 2 and 1/2 years:

1. New Haven- I always liked Old Haven better so I have a vendetta against them.

Also, the Harvard Bowl is pretty cool, no other stadium/gymnasium compares to Franklin Field or the Palestra though.

Individualistic Sections and Required Reading

Just a couple of things tonight.

First, in response to Brain Greenberg's post from yesterday, I think it's good to know the development of the sections throughout the last 20 years or so. What's interesting, is that Brian refers to the sousaphones, trombones and "horneytones" as three separate sections. But the fact is, right now all of those comprise one section: the low brass. (You'll need a facebook account for that last hyperlink.) And like Brian implied, the low brass is now the "dominant" section.

Now before you yell at me for calling the low brass dominant, here out my explanation. First off, we are the loudest, so we theoretically dominant the music. But I'm not implying all other sections have inferior musicianship. Also, our cheering dominates during the sports games. But that doesn't mean non-low brass members don't cheer. I'm just saying we're the most ubiquitous section; it might seem we're goofing off in practice, but we're also the section that has asked the most questions, both serious and not, during rehearsals. (Of course Noah's "with repeats?" does inflate this, but it's still true.)

One thing we don't dominate is Newports consumption. That would be the trumpets. (We are a distant second.)

But the important thing here, is that all of the sections have their own role, and that role is important. Just like our songs require different instrumentations at different times, so must the band as a whole need different sectional personalities. Not everyone can be the "rowdy, party" section of the band, because then we'll just end up being like this. (Of course I'm not implying only the low brass has fun.)

Secondly, tonight I interviewed the author of Jumping Through Hoops: Why Penn Wins, a book about Quaker basketball as illustrated by the 2005-06 season. It's a really interesting read, and definitely a must for any Quaker fan. There are some references to the band throughout the book, and the author even said we're "the best band" he's ever seen. Although he followed up by saying not in quality of music, but in quality of school spirit. (At the same time he was a rambling old man, so who knows). Here's the story.

The Penn Band - A Hetero-Sectional Organization

Picking up on Mel's point about how the band changes over the years, I want to talk for a minute about sections.

Anyone who's ever watched the Penn Band perform probably sees it as a cohesive group, working together toward a common goal - the song, the halftime show, the cheers, whatever. Those within the band see it a little differently. Yes, we're all part of a larger group, but we also have affiliations that make our experience in the band, both musically and socially, slightly different. The closest non-band analogy I can think of is a group of good friends that happen to be of different religions. They hang out together and share common experiences, but in certain circumstances (holidays, Sabbath, etc.) they break off into smaller groups and share experiences that are different than the rest.

When I entered the Penn Band in 1987, the dominant section was the Trumpet section, or the Chops, as everyone called us. The Chops were one of the largest sections (Koosh can check me, but I'd guess we had 15-20 in good standing), not to mention the loudest, the most boisterous, mischievous, and enthusiastic section in the band. We accomplished what the current band calls "cheers" almost exclusively with our horns. I'm sure there was a rule about the band playing during the game, but when the Chops played something on their own, it wasn't really the band playing, it was more like fans cheering (at least that's how we rationalized it - and no one ever called us on it, so there you go). There were the generic cheers (Michigan, Mambo, Tequila), as well as cheers for specific circumstances (injury: Quincy, bad call: Mickey Mouse, great play: Superman). There were also fanfares written specifically for (and often by) the Chops (Love-15, the Chops Medley, the Random Fugue in F Major). We even had our signature song, Joshua, which still exists today, although it's reputation seems to have degraded seriously in the intervening 20 years. Back in the late '80s, the Chops would start Joshua whenever they didn't care for whatever the Drum Major called, and the rest of the band would enthusiastically join in. I have vivid memories of then-President Michael Brose complaining to then-Director Claude White that Joshua should not appear on our album, Live at Smoke's because, "This is not a Chop album!" Today, Joshua is generally met with more of a groan, even by some of the Chops themselves. Sad. Very sad.

I could go on and on about the Chops, but there were other sections with their distinctive personalities as well. The Sousaphones come to mind immediately. Back in the day, there were no fancy Sousaphone covers with professionally printed Split-P logos on them. The Sousaphones would get together before the game, agree on a word to spell, and then paint letters on octag paper and tape them to their bells. The crowd would see it as a statement/joke made by the band, when really it was just the Sousaphone section expressing themselves. The Sousaphones would also (literally) run circles around cops directing traffic when we marched in the streets of Philadelphia, usually to the enjoyment of both the surrounding spectators and the cops themselves.

Then there were the Drummers and the Trombones, who basically combined to form the, well, the rowdy/party crowd in the band. Most belonged to an organization that has existed for decades, but one I hardly hear about anymore: the PGA (Koosh's rules about keeping this blog relatively clean prohibit me from divulging that the acronym stands for). Again, the rules were different back then, but these were the folks who would put a keg of beer in the back of the bus for long road trips, use beer in their cereal instead of milk on the morning of games, and occasionally have trouble showing up on time for and/or staying conscious throughout the entire football game. These folks had their detractors, to be sure, but they definitely added a certain element of fun and spontaneity to the band that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

As the years went on, the membership and personality of these sections changed. In the early '90s, two guys named Howie and Kevin started a brand new section known as the Horney Tones (made up of people who played marching French Horns or Baritone Horns). Howie and Kevin were extremely enthusiastic bandos, arranging events like "The Penn Band Olympics" over senior week (I still have a paper plate with the words "Winner - Longest Wiffle Ball Hit" written in Red and Blue on the back), and various parties and other social activities. As the section grew more popular and visible, Claude wrote them a few fanfares, their membership grew, and they slowly became the new Chops (as defined by the late '80s).

Today's band reflects still more changes. The Trombones are clearly the new Chops (or, perhaps, the new Horny Tones?), complete with fanfares, cheers, and sectional traditions (e.g., "Bonegiving"). The flutes also seem to have their own camaraderie as well, although, as with my experience on of the late '80s/early '90s, it seems to be more inward facing and, on at least one occasion, involved a wild Saturday Night of watching Gilmore Girls DVDs (talk about change...)

I'm sure these personalities will continue to evolve over time, and alums coming back for Homecoming, Alumni Day, etc. will help it along by demonstrating some of the old ways to the young blood coming up through the ranks. The changes are sometimes discouraging, but in the aggregate, they keep the band interesting and enrich the experience for everyone involved.

Wednesday Shorts

• As Zach pointed out, there was a big game yesterday between number 1 UNC and Penn. A loud Penn crowd (and an unsurprisingly large, under informed and embarrassingly silent North Carolina contingent) and a red faced Governor at a non-Eagles game, that's how you could tell it was significant.
• Contrast that with the Penn Women's game tonight which featured the band, some screaming elementary/middle school girls and some old folks there to watch Lafayette. (It was snowing but the way the university treats womens' sports like second class citizens is remarkable.)
• Tuesday was also a day to debate whether or not spreading lies ("Duke will without a doubt win the ACC." "Carolina will lose at least 8 games this year.") after a game is funny or not. It is.
• Zach and I are trying to get on a regular schedule (with him updating Tues., Thur. and Sun. and me on Mon., Wed., Fri. and alternating Sat.) so with that in mind I encourage you to only check on my days as my posts are significantly more informative and funnier.
• Friday: A look forward to Ivy Season featuring rankings of EVERYTHING (seriously).
  

Packed Palestra + Frantic Fans= Awesome Atmosphere

Tonight was the biggest basketball game of the year: the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels @ the Palestra on ESPN2. And as with all of the biggest Quaker sporting events, the Penn band was there. While the result of the game was disappointing, that doesn't mean the game wasn't fun. In fact, for the first half of the game, the sold out Palestra was absolutely hopping (or rocking, or whatever sweet gerund you want to use).

(Even halftime was sweet. While Joe went out for his usual Newport break, a two-man "Extreme Team" made some sweet acrobatic dunks using trampolines, including one where the Quaker held two balls out and each of the guys ran, jumped, grabbed the ball in midair and dunked it while doing flips.)

This game was one of those sweet instances when I'm glad the band is involved. Yet again, as with many of the not-as-important games, the band was leading the Palestra in cheers. The most important of these cheers were in the second half. Unfortunately at this time the game got out of hand (we were outscored 57-34), but more unfortunately the Red and Blue crew severely cut back on their cheering. To be fair though, I was impressed that nearly the entire Palestra stayed for the duration.

On an aside, I wasn't too impressed by the Carolina fans. For one they didn't send any band although this isn't that shocking since no ACC bands travel for conference road games by rule. Yet at the same time there were still tons of Carolina fans, perhaps as many as 45% of the Palestra. Clearly UNC is one of the most popular (read bandwagon) teams in America. And considering the Tar Heels never come to the Philly region, it makes sense why a lot of UNC fans would come. Yet, despite the high attendance, the only chants they tried to start were some feeble attempts at "Let's go tar heels" and their go-to cheer where one group of fans yells Tar! and the other responds with Heels! This is what it's supposed to sound like. (Well at least that's with a nickname, and not the spelling of the state your team's from.)

But the highlight of the night came from a non-bando. Ed Rendell, the current governor of Pennsylvania and an avid Penn Hoops fan (class of '65) was in attendance as he is for many Penn games. At one point the head ref reversed a call a fellow official made (a tied up ball) and instead called a foul on Penn. (Worst referee ever; he might not have called a single foul on UNC the whole night.) All Penn fans booed and others did even worse things. And good ol' Gov Ed was one of them. Turning nearly red in the face he stood up and proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs at the ref. If only he had a snowball.

The Penn Band's A-Changin'

so, i'm sitting at the info desk in the library, staring at the gorgeousness that is eric swanson. and of course that prompts me to write in the blog. swanson can have that effect on people. (oh, and yes - he is "in another state." at the library. go swanson.)

last night members of the low brass section got together to hang out at geezer billloth's apartment. in attendance were myself, kettler, palusci, klitzman, big stunna, ellen, and lauren. and of course bill! we just listened to music and shared stories. oh, and we played duck hunt! seriousy - duck hunt! it was awesome!

anyway, listening to all the stories everyone was telling about the band got me thinking. (yes, i'm a senior and a lot of my posts will therefore be reflective/nostalgic.) i feel like in many ways i am a bando caught between various waves. (in fact, last night at nova, i was told by klitzman/joe that we will be staying with the cornell band in the spring b/c "[my] generation" is the old one and the "new generation" doesn't want to stay with columbia.)

on one hand i am very proud to see this new wave taking over for the penn band. (for instance, seeing klitzman speak so well at election made me both proud and happy that younger students are blossoming into leadership roles.) but on the other hand it makes me sad. a lot of people don't like the cheers we did my frosh year - like u-g-l-y and and the baskeball "who's your daddy" cheer. i just hate that these cheers might die as soon as i leave.

and again, i could very much identify with bill's stories last night b/c my frosh year i hung out with a lot of geezers. but then again, the people in my section now are probably the reason i still show up to band. (i have come to the realization that if i didn't like them so much my attendance might have dropped off when i came back from abroad.) it's just really hard to feel like i have no set place in this band. i don't know. i know that i don't need a set group - honestly i love that i am a part of both. it's just strange. and i am sure that many seniors go through this. it is just strange to put it into words.

i look at the future and i know that i will always have a place to come back to. at the same time, i see some of my friends that are now alums and they are sort of bitter. i just hope that doesn't happen to me. (honestly, i won't. i'm not that type of person. not that those people are bad in any way. i'm just not like that.)

alright, i have to switch desks right now. gosh, i'm such downer when i post! although swanson is still stumbling around as i look over at him, and how can anyone be depressed knowing that?!?!?! (and yes, the greatest question i got last night was from a frosh who asked if swanson is really "like that" all the time. and of course the answer is "yes." another new thing that i absolutely love!)

ps - got a text last night from my buddy xavier at columbia. it read, "you know willow joined cumb now. she says she's totally over the penn band..." :-(

Wednesday without Field Rehearsal: I'm crying on the inside

Tonight is the first real Wednesday without a band field rehearsal since the football season ended. (The night before Thanksgiving doesn't count since no one's here anyway). And in some ways this is sad. As Vice President elect Michael Kettler said during his campaign speech on Monday "field rehearsal is great because the band comes together and plays some music, jokes around and has a good time" (definitely not a direct quote, but a very loose paraphrase.)

I couldn't agree more Mike. I'd say Field Rehearsal is one of the sweetest things about being in the band (besides free stuff all the time). For a hour or so we get to march on the field in the oldest two tiered college football stadium in the country, the same place where the Eagles played for 13 years from 1958-1971 , and home to the nation's largest and oldest track and field events . And the beauty is that we have the whole of Franklin Field to ourselves.

What's really cool is that unlike other colleges and probably most high schools, our field rehearsals are fun times. While we're serious about learning the formations and whatnot, we still joke around and enjoy ourselves on Franklin Field. Like during the one on Halloween when I threw a football right at Joe Coyne who was wearing a Newports cigarette box as a costume. Or the time when Greer tackled Joe.

But without a doubt the best part of Field Rehearsal is something we call Band Football League. After the rehearsal is "over" the real fun starts. Since we still have Franklin Field all to ourselves we play a little pickup game of football. And since it's the band, anyone can play, regardless of skill level. This year alone we had superior athletes like Handsome Hands Tom Tom, to old men like Greer to freshmen sensations like Lauren to our Drum Majoresident Becca and loads in between.

In fact one of my regrets about Basketball season is that we don't have something similar to BFL or to field rehearsal. I mean seriously, how sick would it be to play pick up basketball in the Palestra? Probably sicker than Greer was after playing BFL (just joking, Greer did awesome).

UPDATE: Today's the first Saturday since the start of the year (Thanksgiving weekend aside again) that didn't have a football game. Unlike last Wednesday, I'm glad about this since I got to sleep in to 2pm. Nice.

Elections Postmortem and Why I Love/Hate the New Media

I had to take a day off to heal from the harrowing (and borderline crippling...my wrists hurt) experience of live blogging a Penn Band election but I figured I should punch up a postmortem with some quick thoughts about the election.

• More than anything else this election appeared to be about two things: 1. Whether the band is too rambunctious. 2. Whether or not we communicate well as a band.
• The Board is made up of all guys.
• The Board is made up of only brass players.
• The Board is made up of 2 incumbents and 2 first time board members.

What does any of this mean? Well, maybe nothing. We're one of the only performing organizations on Penn's campus that has an actual adult leadership. The Board, at the end of the day, still has to answer to Greer, Koosh and Adam.

However, the election also interestingly displays the band's character. Mike Kettler, a rambunctious member of band who lost the Vice Presidency last year, won this year. Joe Coyne, often perceived to be one of the most rambunctious people at Penn, won this year. These two are tempered by Ben Gaines, who has been very even in his approach to just about everything this year as Vice President (he soothes like Tums), and Eamonn who is at his most rambunctious when requesting that we play Band March (not all the time, but close).

As for the new media: The Penn Band and the Daily Pennsylvania's Sports Section have had a rocky relationship in my 3 years here (despite several members of band being members of both groups.) The other day Buzz Blogger Josh Wheeling either took a shot at or complimented the Penn Band (ambiguous). This, as blogs are wont to do, started a comment war about the relative merits of the band (Some: Great! Others: Sucks!).

Obviously, I have no problems with those who hate the band (people have been wrong for generations and will continue to be wrong after I die). I do have a problem with this: commenter anonymity. If you're going to take a shot at an organization on your campus, don't be a coward, use your real name, or just admit that you're former Daily Pennsylvanian Sports Writer Jeff Shafer.

LIVE BLOG: Penn Band Elections

It's 5:57 PM and we are Live! in the Cheeseman Lab of Atonal Polyphony. That's right, I'm going to live blog the Penn Band elections.

First, we'll go through the candidate list as it stands at the moment:

President
Ben Gaines (Trumpet, Junior, Incumbent Vice President)
Zach Klitzman (Low Brass, Sophomore, BFL Captain/Blogger)

Vice President
Erik Hickman (Trumpet, Junior, From Oregon)
Mike Kettler (Trombone/Low Brass, Junior, Recruitment Chair, WENT TO GONZAGA!)

Secretary
Rebecca Aaberg (Clarinet, Sophomore, Blogger)
Joe Coyne (Trumpet, Sophomore, Big time Cusser/Mean Dude/WENT TO THE PREP!)

Treasurer
Eamonn O'Callaghan (Tuba, Junior, Incumbent Treasurer)

Usually, there's a couple of people who throw their names in the ring during elections. This year appears to be different, however, with a large number of incumbents and Juniors running for positions. I'll check back in with updates regarding speeches, victories, and the fashions they're wearing.

6:06 PM

All the candidates have arrived. The presidential candidates are both in polos with long pants with Gaines appearing more formal in a button-down and khakis and Klitzman in jeans. The outfit disparity is even greater in the Vice Presidential race. Kettler is wearing khakis and a t-shirt, while Hickman has shown up in a full technicolor dream suit (purple shirt, yellow tie). Joe Coyne, surprisingly, looks like a normal human being in a nice sweater and jeans with a haircut. Aaberg is in a red t-shirt with jeans, she also looks like a normal human being. This is much less remarkable than Joe looking normal. Eamonn looks Eamonn-licious (blue polo that has some vague and I imagine corporate logo, blue jeans).

In other news Good Times Carly Weiss (Drums/Keytar, Sophomore, Good Times) has gotten her braces off.

6:11 PM
The band, in general, is showing up late tonight. Either that or turnout is low. This is neither a free food nor practice rehearsal. Interestingly, flute turnout is very high. Maybe even higher than usual. I'm not suggesting Kennedy's Texas in 1960 high, but something to keep an eye on if a flute candidate throws his/her (just kidding, they're all hers) hat into the ring.

6:13 PM
I'm talking to RGCIII. He already has 6 proxy votes (voting while being away), though one of them may not have returned his parka, so there may only be 5.

A Brief Interview
Noah: Greer, how do you feel about the election process?
Greer: It works.
Noah: Have you ever seen an election for the band where you are really frustrated with the results?
Greer: The band always gets the board it deserves.

It seems like Greer is asserting that he has hated boards in years past. I'm looking at you Board of 2003 (Loth, Haddad, Kohl and Tsai).

6:18 PM
Cheeseman kicks things off by saying he's "missionary" position...nice.

Koosh and Greer do a very awkward and obvious plant question. The long and short of it is that you may abstain. Vote by writing down the full last name, otherwise your vote doesn't count.

The first "eat it" motion of the night comes out.

I am the number 7 registered voter.

Adam Sherr, one of the patron saints of Bonegiving is here.

6:21 PM
Presidential elections are up first. Ben Gaines and Zach Klitzman are the candidates. Hal is jokingly nominated. He respectfully declines.

Gaines steps up wearing a tie that I hadn't noticed before.

Gaines' Speech: He's been equipment manager and VP. Loves his time with the group has tried to be as involved as possible. He's helped plan Disney trip, wrote shows (with show writing committee), helps plan road trips with Joe. He's trying to get to know us. Wants to make band a great experience. Takes direct shot at the "rambunctious" members of band. Band has done more for him than he's done for the band. Grown as a leader, become more assertive, more social, these would help him as president. Has experience and skills necessary. Nothing would make him happier.

Klitzman's Speech: He's Zach Klitzman and he plays Euphonium. This is like his family, except not everyone has the last name of Klitzman. He's never missed a basketball game, no missed rehearsals this semester, never missed an overnight trip. Last year's Freshman of the Year (by a wide margin). Leading by example (someone's cell phone has gone off, it's Eamonn's). He wants to be a vocal leader (he writes for the blog, he's very loud at Penn games). Quotes, the band constitution wants to be official leader of this group. Could improve on the communication in the band to outside groups. President as issuing directive rather than dialogue (edit: This is the opposite of what he wants). More openness, like someone's weird uncle we need more inter-sectional unity/social events. There have been unfavorable DP quotes, he would work with DP to solve this, oversight committee for football scripts.

Q&A Period:
Gupta asks a question first. It's very long, complaint about language at basketball game. Gaines answers first, he feels very strongly about it, cheering has gotten out of hand. Here's what he has that's inappropriate: "Engaging small Children, 'S#!%adel', @$$#0$3". Here's what is appropriate: "You suck/Eat It, Engaging Fans, Heckling". Klitzman says "Engaging athletes is part of the experience of being a fan, it's both cheering on your team and being creative in putting down the other team." "Slight cursing is okay." "Engaging small children is hilarious." We would have stopped taunting the children if their parents hadn't been such huge deadbeats.

Becca Goldman (Current Drum Major-esident), asks a question that again directly attacks "the rambunctious members of band". I exit my role as silent character and respond that I was the one who first had chanted the hilarious anti-Citadel chant.

Erik Hickman asks a question regarding "you suck/Rock and Roll Part II Chant". Gaines responds that it's an intrinsic part of the atmosphere. Ben, yet again, takes a shot at "the rambunctious members of band", from here on out I'm going to short hand that as Not Outwardly Appropriate Heathens or NOAHs.

Eamonn asks what other time commitments they have outside of Band and Class. Ben has an answer that he has real interests that involve things I barely understood. Klitzman responds that he's a liberal arts major and writes for the DP and that he would cut down even more for Band President.

Elaine asks why do you have the necessary experience to Klitzman. TR, JFK and Bill Clinton were all young presidents. Klitzman points out that 3/4 of the current board was elected as sophomores, also that Ben Gaines is only 4 months younger than him. He also discusses his role in BFL.

Mel asks, what's on your tie? (Ben: "Instruments!"). Also, what's your most important contribution to the band, one thing? Klitzman: Enthusiasm; Gaines: "Not to be the same but..." dedication.

Becca gets the last question, what do you think the president does? (Becca: "Because I didn't have much of an idea.") Gaines, who's on the board with Becca, responds with what I assume is a correct answer. Klitzman also responds in a sort of meaningless way.

Hickman again, what does SMAC stand for? Klitzman nails it.

Closing Statements: Klitzman: throws out bunch of words; Gaines: "I think you've heard everything we both have to say...Vote for me."

Analysis: Gaines had a clear and large advantage but Klitzman really brought the fight to him. I would imagine Gaines will win this. However, Zach did a very impressive job for a Sophomore running for his first position.

Interview:
Noah: How do you feel you did?
Klitzman: I feel I did pretty well, although obviously the big question mark, my lack of experience came up.
Noah: There were a lot of questions asked about the NOAHs, how did you feel about those questions being a referendum on other members of the band?
Klitzman: I felt it was somewhat legitimate as it came from Koosh since he personally is not against the said person. While it's not an unimportant issue, I felt they were making too big a deal out of it.

Results:
Gaines wins.

6:53 PM
The Vice Presidential race begins. This race holds a lot of personal import as Mike Kettler (close friend of mine) was violently kept out of this position last year, I assume by the GREAT BEARD OF PITTSBURGH (though Ben Gaines, our new fearless leader did an excellent job as Vice President. LONG LIVE CHAIRMAN GAINES!!!).

Kettler's Speech: "I'm here to ask you for your votes." Experience and dedication. I've had a ton of leadership positions. Council, equipment manager, recruitment chair. The speech is interrupted by Atone in the closet. I'm very creative, had a big hand in recruitment. Our recruitment this year has been pretty great. I'm also a part of Fanfare, joined as soon as I could. Helping to have more parties, doing the dirty work, willing to continue taking off my shirt as long as we need money. Been the voice of the band for the last two years. Unique perspective on the Vice President's Job. I'm passionate about the band and this job. I like it cause we get to write scripts and I like to do that. Greer tries to stop his speech. Kettler likes the job so much he's wearing band pants.

Hickman's Speech: He opens with jokes about Pirates. (An aside: I love Pirates.) I yell out jokes at basketball games. I did not create those, I read these on a website, the UVA Band website. I helped spawn the Wizard of Oz show. I have been to a lot of show writings. Show writing committee is responsible for a lot of it. But Vice President has to be leader when President isn't there. I feel like I can get along with anyone on The Board. I get along with anyone in the band, "I get along with you Noah."

Q&A
John Palusci's question is about retaining freshmen. Kettler responds that it's about enthusiasm, you don't have to be there. "You don't have to be here and listen to [jerks] like me discussing how awesome I am." Hickman responds that he thinks dedication is important.

Joe's question is about mingling with the freshmen and making them want to be here, what have you done to keep freshmen specifically? Hickman, I've shown enthusiasm "to the chagrin of clarinets or saxaphones", I wasn't particularly social at the BBQ but that was the fault of the freshmen, not me. Kettler fires back that all he was trying to do for a while was mingle with freshmen, emphasize section leadership, emphasize roadtrips.

Mel's question, what have you done that you didn't have to do but you took the initiative to do it. They're both stunned momentarily silent. Hickman says he stays later and locks people in (gives it a real Silence of the Lambs vibe, gets a nice laught). Kettler says he's been to every football game with the exception of one because he was at OSU-UM in Ann Arbor but he goes above and beyond.

Becca's question reminds us they've both lost board positions before. Hickman says he changed positions because he looked deep inside. Kettler says he has a greater understanding of what is or isn't appropriate.

President Gaines asks how can you figure out where to draw the line. Kettler actively responds first that dying is less funny than teenage pregnancy. Also, he says people should be able to say anything they want that doesn't harm someone else. Takes a shot at Adam. On 2 occasions I've prevented us from forming phallic symbols on the field. Hickman tauts his friendship with Ty. Also, he can draw a strict line. Kettler rebuts that we shouldn't just self-censor ourselves totally, we should have alternatives that we know will get by. Hickman re-responds that not everything is something we should need to get by.

Klitzman asks is you have specific show ideas. Hickman wants to get a "Rowbottom" into a show. Kettler says that almost everything is current events.

Joe asks number of show writing meetings you were at this year. Kettler, all of them. Hickman, not all of them. Joe cuts him off when he tries to explain. Some people are offended by Joe.

Roger asks, should people who are really good friends and in the same section be both president and vice president and Kettler how could make sure this stays a collaborative process. Hickman, I have friends outside the chops. Kettler doesn't want to write all the shows by himself.

Analysis: I thought Kettler had a really nice advantage of having been to all the show writings but I'm concerned that Joe's question may have hurt Mike. As Roger pointed out, Ben and Erik are friends and Ben just won. Every race is tough tonight.

Interview
Noah: Has there ever been a board elected that you've disapproved of?
Koosh: Before the fact, no.
Noah: What makes an objectionable or good board?
Koosh: Before or after the fact. I guess their record in the end. How they handled the tasks that were placed before them.
John: Would you prefer a board that sort of prolongs the status quo as opposed to one that takes the band in new directions.
Koosh: I don't think they're mutually exclusive.
Noah: I was reading about "The General" one of the so called greatest leaders of the Red and Blue Crew.
Koosh: Yeah! The General, he was a really great guy.
Noah: This post was about the 2005 Brown-Penn Game at the Palestra. Notable for the way Penn killed Brown and also the fact that the crowd chanted at "@$$hole" at Forte for about 97 minutes.
Koosh: That pales in comparison to what we did to Princeton in 1999.
Noah: So why is that great and NOAHs are so appalling?
Koosh: Are you ascribing that chant to John Lubin?
Noah: No, the post suggests that the entire Palestra was doing it.
Koosh: Yeah probably the entire student section.
Noah: I was at that game. I was at that whole game. The band was also chanting @$#*!%. That made me want to join the band more. Do you want less of me in the band?
Koosh: A. I wouldn't replace you for the world. B. You're linking the two. The cause and effect. There's more substantive reasons to join the band than that.
Noah: I agree, however, what I said was it was a primary motivator and something that let me know that even an Ivy League band could be a cool group of people, rather than a bunch of introverted, anti-social band nerds.
Koosh: I prefer a larger view of what the band is. You're making it very specific. It's not an adequate view as to what the band is.

Results:
Kettler wins.

7:25 PM

Hickman after losing the Vice Presidency runs against 2 year incumbent treasurer Eamonn.

Eamonn's Speech: I think I'm a good fit for this position. I've done 2 SAC budget requests. Helped set up the new PayPal links. I'm dedicated to the band. Aside from Treasurer, I'm also in Fanfare. Been to both Relays for Life. Vote for Eamonn.

Hickman's Speech: He doesn't get one cause he already spoke.

Q&A

Anabelle asks what was your management project and what grade did you get? Eamonn helped kids set up a thrift shop at their school (B-). Hickman helped the elderly have a luncheon (B-).

Mel asks about their organizational skills. Eamonn uses excel, I'm on top of receipts that aren't Mel's. Hickman, I can also use excel.

Rebecca Aaberg aasks aabout aa girl in her section who never got her pants. They didn't have them ready till the day before the very last game. The only thing I could have done would be encourage her to go down with a group.

Elaine asks how many hours they work. Hickman, 9 but he works in Platt. Eamonn does 10-15 hours at the Video Vault, but he can do most of his work from his computer.

General Gaines asks why Eamonn's running for treasurer again and why Hickman dropped down. It's cause treasurer is what Eamonn wants to be. Hickman wants to give more by joining board and this is his last chance. Takes a shot at 5th years. Koosh disrupts.

Vice Provost Kettler asks about how Hickman can live up to the job that Eamonn has done. Also, do you have skills that set you apart from Eamonn.

Connie asks what areas could you improve to Eamonn. Eamonn thinks that he could give money back in a more timely manner. Hickman agrees that timeliness is important.

Erin: "What's your least favorite part of being treasurer?" Eamonn: "SAC Meetings."

Raimy asks what Eamonn contributes to the Board. He does a large number of the little things. Becca interjects that he's taken minutes.

Analysis:
Eamonn should be impossible to displace. Though Hickman is a great contender.

Results:
Eamonn wins.


7:44 PM
A male chop runs against a female clarinet player for Secretary. Joe v. Aaberg.

Joe's Speech: I don't have time to tell you how much I love the band. I'm always here. I get paid to do this job, I make collate and file attendance lists for money. The last three iterations of Penn Band Secretary have been quiet and introverted. Joe proceeds to name every person in the band.

Rebecca's Speech: Insults Joe's grammar, twice. She's section leader. She can communicate with a section. I can get things together. Works in the Harnwell house office, has secretarial experience. Won't name everyone in band.

Q&A
Noah asks will you please name everyone in band? She names them but slower.

Mel asks why don't you have good standing to Aaberg, slash what is the priority of the band? Joe answers, I've missed no Monday night rehearsals and I've missed 2 games, one for a funeral and one for my Mom's 50th. Are you organized? Rebecca yes, Joe not personally, but I am professionally.

Elaine asks will you have a 20 second dance off? They do.

Our Father Ben Gaines, how often do you check your email? Both check all the time.

Kettler asks can we have a smoke off? They don't.

Koosh asks what's your vision for the next 365 days. Joe responds, my major goal is getting people to women's games and for summer going to high school camps cause the girls are sweet, Joe had a 2K11 pow-wow with the Freshmen and they're devoted. Rebecca wants more social events outside of band and to play at games.

Klitzman asks Rebecca exactly what do you do for Harnwell House Office. She keeps communication between the house dean and the students. She's an organizational powerhouse.

The Almighty Gaines asks about working with the other people on the board. Rebecca can work with anyone. Joe likes the idea of working with Ben and Kettler because they bounce ideas off each other so often.

Mel asks why are you so abrasive Joe? Would you tone that down? "I'm kind of like sandpaper but with glass on it." "While I seem like a jerk, I do love ideas." Rebecca, I'm not abrasive (trombone section dissents).

Robert asks what's your favorite font. Joe responds wingdings. Rebecca, Geneva.

Joe asks if you can't read how can you be secretary? Mental imagery.

Analysis: Girls hold the secretary position, that's the way the Lord wanted it. Joe might win this though but this election has been hard to get a read on, I'll predict Rebecca.

Results:
Joe wins.

The board is a sausage fest. All guys.

Joe caps the night with an EAT IT!

Adaptive Traditions

Traditoinalize- (v.) to make traditional

“‘Tis better to Bone Give than to Bone Receive!”- Lawrence Musketfeathers (1898)

Tonight was the last rehearsal before Thanksgiving break. Therefore, it was time for the ritual celebration of Bonegiving. From the Challah of Bifurcation to the veal, all the symbols of the holiday were in place and the gluttonous celebration commenced.
Being in the band affords the opportunity to see something become tradition, something that was lost to time or something completely new. I.E.

• ARN, the Penn (and Stanford) Band’s victory song, features a trombone lick. After every Ivy League victory the Trombones traditionally play the fight song/alma mater of the other school, and by traditionally I mean this started during basketball season last year.
• Bonegiving, founded in 1898, lost in 1973 and returned to the Penn Band Low Brass Section in 2006. An event full of gluttony and fun that was, hopefully, traditionalized tonight.

These “traditions”, despite their relative newness hold important places in the hearts and minds of the section. In his blog post, Dr. Gupta discusses the institutional memory of undergraduate groups. He’s right, kind of. The role of the upperclassmen is not solely to teach and maintain long term memory, it’s to adapt to the strengths of the group. A tradition should not necessarily look the same year after year, it should continue to shift and change until it’s something that conveys the feeling the tradition originally intended, which, on Bonegiving, is stuffed to a point of nearly vomiting every time you stand up, walk, sit down or lay down. I’m feeling Bonegiving-y right now.

Commentary on this weekend

Rebecca did a really good job of explaining the busy weekend the Penn Band had, so I won't repeat what she said. However, I'd like to give my thoughts on the experience on the whole.

With three sporting events, one outdoor film session and a couple of "social gatherings," I estimated that I spent at least 20 hours with the band in a 40 hour span. Yeah, that's a lot of bandos.

But even though I never want to hear our drum cadence again, or play land of 1,000 dances (seriously Becca, three times yesterday, not to mention a lot for CBS today?!) I'm glad I spent as much time as I did. The band is really like a family away from home, or whatever lame cliché you want to use, and spending that much time with the band makes you realize how awesome it is.

By doing all the things we did this weekend, we really lived up to our purpose as stated in our Band Constitution:

The purpose of this organization shall be to serve the entire community of the University of Pennsylvania through its support of the University's athletic teams... Its purpose is, moreover, to provide a social atmosphere in which the individual band member's experience at the University is made more meaningful and complete.

While it was a lot of fun supporting the Quakers (even if we can't seem to win a game on the hardwood), equally important is the bond that we create when we come together and play music, cheer, or just hang out at the "band house" on a Saturday night.

So while standing in the rain today for 2 hours sucked, it's the experience that matters.

Of course the downside to all of that is that now I only have Sunday night to do my homework. Oh well.

Proof that all flutes think alike

Saturday was my last football game as an undergraduate (yes, I am completely aware that it will never be my "last" game, but in terms of my undergraduate career at Penn, this was my last game). I have to admit that it was really exciting to hear my name read over the speakers of Franklin Field. My non-band friends in attendance thought that the show was really entertaining.

Pictured above: Most of the Penn Band Class of 2008 with the Quaker
(From l-r, front: Connie, Melanie, Brooke, Janelle. back: Shannon, Megan, Sofie, Raimy, the Quaker, Annabelle)

My favorite moment of the game, though, had nothing to do with football - hey, I still don't understand the sport, after four years in the band. To set the story up for those of you that are not currently in the band or have somehow stumbled upon this blog, Joe, a sophomore trumpet player, has a tendency to shout "Eat It!" whenever Penn does something good, the opposing team does something stupid or wrong, or just about any other context you could possibly imagine. At a flute section dinner on Friday night, a few of us decided that we should make signs that say "Eat it" and hold them up to the trumpets every time Joe says the phrase - we cut out each letter in pink construction paper, mounted it on a white or black background, and glued it to cardboard. The exclamation point was dotted with a heart and covered in glitter, and since there were 7 of us and only six letters/punctuation marks, we also cut a larger heart out of construction paper and used that as the space between the two words. There was obviously no other way to make the statement flute-ish or feminine than by making it pink and glittery.

Little did we expect that when we got to the game, two of the freshman flutes that had not been with us the previous night and were not aware of the signs, had done something similar on their own! Cindy, whose uncle made the shirts, and Andrea were wearing bright red t-shirts, one that said "EAT" and the other which said "IT". Proof that all flutes think alike.

The flutes sit in the second row, behind the drummers, so most of the band got a good view of the signs/shirts when we held them up behind us after Joe had screamed his signature phrase. After the signs and shirts had been unveiled, everyone started laughing, and most of the band chanted "Flutes! Flutes! Flutes!" Never in my life did I imagine that the chops and low brass would be cheering for the flutes at a football game... or ever, for that matter.

The flutes with our lovely signs
(From l-r, Brooke, Raimy, Becca, Shannon, Megan, Danielle, Sasha)

Cindy and Andrea with their amazing shirts

Three minutes of playtime

It's been quite a band-filled weekend! Yesterday started with the last football game of the season. The senior show was "Survivor: West Philadelphia" and included swimming across the Skullkyl (why is it that I still don't know how to spell that??) as one of the "challenges." I think it went pretty well, although the jokes were quite a bit longer, and I got dizzy from all the do-see-do-ing (yeah, I don't know how to spell that either) my section (the clarinets) was (were) doing for organized chaos. Right after the game, we all ran over to the Palestra to play back to back basketball games. Maybe it was 10 hours of band, but it was worth every minute (especially since it meant that I wasn't doing homework).

Part of the band has started quoting from Spiderman throughout any sporting, social, or other event possible. Right before Peter Parker fights in the cage match pretty near the beginning of his time as Spiderman (although I believe he attempts to go by the name "The Human Spider" at the time), his opponent warns him that Parker can't leave, tells him he has "three minutes of playtime," and makes this horrible frightening face. Those are the three or four lines that I think I've heard 20 times (at least) this weekend. Of course, every time it's said, it must be done with all kinds of gestures and facial expressions (most of which I'm convinced are going to give me nightmares). It's really pretty comical at first. I always laugh a little the first time I hear it, but by the fifth or sixth time during a game, it starts to lose something. Even so, it's just one of those band obsessions, much like the theme song to "The Office" that is perpetually stuck in my head--with lyrics sung by Joe, of course (argh). Gotta love it.

Today CBS filmed us at Franklin Field for a documentary of some kind that will be on at the end of the year. Other than the 40 degree weather (with rain!), extra 90 minutes of playing, and random dancing during the cadence, it wasn't so bad. Actually, I have to admit that it was kinda fun, and definitely nice to be (at least somewhat) recognized as a group. But really, I could have done without the fist thrusts. That was just a little too cheesy, in my opinion.

<3

Nah nah nah nah nah, it's the k-l-i-t-z.

So as my first post, I'll give some personal background. I'm a euphonium player in the band and currently a sophomore. I am also a part of Fab Five Gen X, which is pretty much five guys who try to keep the band entertaining (we're the ones who took our shirts off at rehearsal yesterday that Rebecca previously posted).

While I love the music of the band, I think equally important is just our participation in the crowds at the sporting events. That's why over the last few days we've had a discussion on our email listserv about cheering at the games. While I won't get into the stupid arguments going back and forth (which I know I started), I will say this. Chanting/cheering is a key aspect of the band, especially considering we're not allowed to play our instruments while the ball is in play. Thus, I think everyone in the the band that wants to, should be able to cheer however loudly they want, as long as the cheers are clean. (Although cursing in cheers is a whole separate issue.)

That's why I was slightly disappointed when I heard that a couple of people in the percussion section had "threatened" my boy Joe "I'm from NYC, don't mess" Catania if he continued chanting all the time. Come on guys, he's just trying to have fun and support our Quakers. And considering the bleak outlook of our teams this year, they can use all of the vocal support possible.

Clothing optional?

Tonight several members of the band decided to get something off their chests...their shirts. What began as a harmless ploy to get band money on Monday ("We'll put these shirts back on when you pay!") quickly turned into what I am hoping will not become a recurring theme. In the future, please please PLEASE wear clothes. This is definitely going down as one of my most memorable field rehearsals...

<3

Hello, World...

Greetings, all. Your resident alumni blogger here. Brian Greenberg, Class of '91. Trumpet player (That's "Chop" to those of us in the know...) There's more in terms of biography, but that'll come later.

But first, a quick note to Mel and Brooke - if you think Saturday is your last football game, you're crazy. I was at 38 football games as an undergrad (two of the forty were on Yom Kippur...), and I've been to 15-20 since (including an away game at Princeton!). It's only over when you say it's over (or when the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor, but that's another movie...) Or, you could make a career out of it and change your name to Greer, Koosh, or Adam. Like I said...options.

Anyway, I'll try to drop by here periodically and throw out an old war story or two. If it all works out, we can make this a place where band alums come to congregate, talk, share stories, etc. That would be awesome...

Greetings!

To write for an audience or not to write for an audience? Blogs beg the question, but I'll save my answer for a later time. For now, here's a brief summary of who I am and why I'm choosing to contribute to this blog.

Most people call me Lisa. I graduated in May as a member of the Class of 2007 (our Facebook group asserts, "We're the best Class of 2007 ever"), and I'm currently living and working in Philadelphia as a clinical research specialist at an academic medical center, Thomas Jefferson University. The study that I'm working on is investigating the correlation between cardiovascular risk factors (like diabetes, hypertension, etc.) and cognitive decline (memory loss) in older adults. Day-to-day I enjoy what I do, although there are some days that are particularly rewarding/depressing. As a Penn Band member, I was a member of the clarinet section, served on the 2006 Bored as President, conducted at a fair number of women's basketball games, perfected the face painting art of 'quadrants', and lost my wallet at a Burger King in Connecticut on the Harvard/Dartmouth road trip (thanks for spotting me money for Subway once we got to Hanover, Greer).

Why do I choose to blog? When I was in high school, I desperately sought out any kind of personal accounts or experiences Internet strangers were offering to share about life at their respective universities, and, now that I have time to live a life devoid of homework, exams and paper deadlines, it's my turn to give back. That, and I certainly have had a memorable love affair with the Penn Band (no, not in the Humbert Humbert way)-- sometimes stories just need to be shared!

Next up: the Fab Five Gen X et al. take a roadtrip to Baltimore...

Retrospective on my first football game

I echo Rebecca's sentiments about how awkward it is to start this blog up - I guess once we've all signed up for it and posted a couple of times, it won't seem as strange. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Brooke and I'm a senior in the band - I play flute, piccolo and alto saxophone (I basically play whatever instrument I feel like playing at a particular game).

My last field rehearsal of my undergraduate career is tonight, which means that my last football game is this Saturday. It's bittersweet, I suppose, because on one hand, this really does mean that my time at Penn and in the band is ending soon, but on the other hand, it means I never have to wear band pants again! (I jest - girls just like to kvetch a lot, band pants really aren't all that terrible)

So, while my last game is quickly approaching, I have fond memories of my first home game as a bando. I joined the band late into the first semester freshman year; I'll talk about how I found out about the band and my first rehearsal at some other point in time. My first game at Franklin Field was the last home game of the year, the Penn-Harvard game. We had a field show planned, but for some reason or another (I was an uninformed freshman, I'm still not exactly sure what happened), our usual amount of time was cut to basically just enough time for us to get onto the field and play Red and Blue. The band scrambled into formation, and instead of reading the show as had been planned, the voice did a "human dial tone" for what seemed like an eternity - the human dial tone basically consisted of the voice saying "BEEEEP" for a considerably long amount of time. Since this was my first "real" field show ever (the previous week at Cornell, our show consisted of a game of musical chairs), I was extremely confused, but thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever heard - like most of the bandos on the field, I was laughing hysterically. If this was indicative of what was to come with the band, I was going to love this organization. A friend of mine was visiting that day and said, "That was one of the strangest, but funniest things I've ever seen... I wish my school had a group like the Penn Band! I would join instantly!"

Tonight's field rehearsal may be my last, but I still have plenty more band activities to look forward to this season and beyond.

Until next time,
Brooke

Is it just me or is starting this thing really really awkward? Maybe it is just me. Oooh italics! I know, fancy.

So let's see. Band. We had rehearsal Monday.

That was probably the worst post I have ever read/written/thought of, but it is better than the blank space that occupied the screen for ten minutes, and I must run to swing rehearsal.

<3

Penn Band Blog

hmmm... so this blog should be an interesting experiment. i personally wonder if anyone will read it. even if no one does, it will be a great procrastination tool! (hey, it's already working; i should be doing background reading for my thesis right now...) in any event, it will be a great way to track all the silly shenanigans that go on in the penn band. now everything can be recorded for posterity. you know, if koosh had one hair for every story/e-mail/picture he has archived... well, let's just say his head would look more like john palusci's chest.

but in all seriousness, if this blog does anything, i hope it evokes the love we all have for the penn band. having just went on my senior road trip for football, i can't believe that the journey for me at penn is almost over. it's comforting to know, though, that my journey with the penn band will never end. once a member, always a member. (if you don't believe me, just look at our director, greer. hell, he's been here forever!)

anyway, about that thesis... i really should be getting to it now...

The Penn Band Experience

More coming soon!