Rehearsing Campus: The Band
Written by Zach Joyner 24’ & Sindey Amar 24’
Honorary Screaming Eagles for a Day: Sindey Amar 24’, Kate Kemp 24’, & Liv Hardenburg 24’
“Having the time of your life,” echoes through Alumni Stadium. They’re right; with a show like this, you’re living your college fantasy. How did the Marching Band put together their 80s Pop Hits ABBA Halftime show?
You just finished a long day of classes. A take home exam, a midterm: you finally clicked every submit button and shut your laptop. Now, it's time for band practice.
Will today's practice end late? You'll be hungry and exhausted by 10PM–not that that would ever stop you from going.
What if today's practice ends early? Maybe you'll have time to hang around with your bandmates.
The sousaphone section in the dungeon of 2150.
No matter what happens, you find your dedicated feet marching to the lobby of St. Thomas Moore Apartments, or 2150 as everyone knows it. You get in and are immediately bombarded with sounds: someone complaining about the class they just came from, EBoard members trying to move everyone along, and someone, somewhere, is playing "Careless Whisper" on brass. You're quickly pulled aside by your fellow sousaphone player. Both of you started by playing percussion in the band–you, humbly beginning with the triangle–and spent a hot summer week before class learning how to play the sousaphone together.
Oh, bandcamp. Seven full days learning the new halftime show and music before campus is filled with students. Besides extra time for cross training practice, rehearsals run all day, but thankfully the days fly by with fun activities in the evenings and group meals. Without bandcamp, the entire band would only have a few hours to learn all of the music, and new members wouldn't even be able to play For Boston!
You follow them into the 2150 elevator and scan in, riding down to the basement made of twisting, tangled corridors cluttered with mechanical equipment and large instruments. The sousa section's home base is subterranean for the year while Conte Forum gets rebuilt, fine considering you'll be sitting in a brand new Band Room next year.
The band writing last minute white lies and setting up for practice.
You and your section escape the basement and walk over to Alumni Stadium. The sunset is purple, covering your face and shiny instrument with a golden glow, and a cool breeze rustles whatever remaining leaves.
Football, hockey, basketball, or baseball season, practice is starting at 7PM. When you get to the football field, a soccer ball slams into the back of the net.
By the time hockey season rolls around, you stop having formal rehearsals. After a month of learning BC fight songs for football, you have them down already. By the end of Spring semester, your section will start again with formal practices to get ready for Band Camp in August and another new year.
The soccer team finishes up their practice while the band assembles on the side, a large stretch of people, instruments, and sheet music packets to attach on the front of brasses and woodwinds stretch across the sidelines, as well as some unfamiliar faces: the BC Dynamics and BC Irish Dance Team are joining the Screaming Eagles Marching Band and the Golden Eagles Dance Team for the Fall 2022 ABBA Salute Halftime show! This Fall, the band's been bigger and better than ever.
Boys from the brass section, Michael Pelosi 23’, Jacob Forrette 26’, Alvin Li 24’, and Zach Joyner 24’, goof around before practice and show off their peppy Thursday sprit.
All of a sudden, you notice most of the people with the band are wearing either a white T-shirt or are, strangely, taping paper to their backs. Oh right, it’s Thursday! To liven up practices, the EBoard has been giving Thursday rehearsals a theme. It's White Lies night! You look over and see some sousaphone players ripping out paper from notebooks and scribbling down fibs, 'I'm loud,' 'I don't know how to ride a bike,' and your favorite, 'I'm NOT an obnoxious toddler.' Even your director, David (Dave) Healey is joining the fun, and the Irish Dance team made their shirts together. Just before Director Healey begins practice, you run into band legend, Alvin Li 24':
Word on the street is that you recorded some music with Jason Derulo!
"I went to get an autograph after our rehearsal session, and I noticed he was looking at my instrument. He said "What's this?" and I said "It's a tuba". “Are you free after the performance tomorrow?", "Yeah, I guess I am."
It was just that he asked me, I really had no expectations. I thought I was going to get ghosted, but we were hanging around getting some pictures with him after, and his manager pulled me aside and said "Hello, let's go record". We ended up in the backroom of Robsham, and they played a song and said "can you play this baseline?". I said I could try if you give me the notes. We had to open up a keyboard app on his phone and play it from there, and then I played it by ear. Then Jason Derulo comes in and he's like "wait a second, that's the wrong song, you have to record something else." So, we did. It was a bari sax part but I played it on the tuba, and then recorded a harmony and it was done."
Wow. Just like that.
Getting into position and making a dance floor for BC Irish Step
You turn around and see Director Healey has ascended the bleachers, and the band is spreading out over the entire field, now all turned to face the Director giving an overview of practice today. Then, you head over to your smaller warm-up group, the low brass section. Your deep sousaphone notes. The Dynamics singing "Dancing Queen", the banging of the drums, and the sound of Irish step dancing fill the stadium like fans cheering, chaos until Director Healey announces that it's time to go over the entire halftime show. You'll run it fully once, and then keep starting, stopping, and restarting until everyone performs perfectly enough for the Director. Everyone moves into their spots, with the percussion section planted firmly in the middle near two large wooden boards for your guest dancers. Some parents and Newton locals watch in the bleachers, enjoying an evening outside along with the band. By the time you're done with the first half of practice, the halftime show is almost perfect, and the band is ready to practice for Pops on the Heights.
Sousaphones getting ready to walk onto the Pops on the Heights Stage.
In addition to the halftime shows, the band records one or two large-scale music videos per year, performs at other BC Athletic games, and pops up around campus for mini-shows, like their campus tour for Day of Giving in the Spring. Live performances are a completely different beast than recordings; the audience is ecstatic and screaming, so its more challenging to hear everything you usually could in practice, plus it can be easy to get distracted with everything going on. Indoor performances are more of a controlled environment, but still full of energy and excitement, looking at the crowd. The energy of a live performance is unmatched.
“I feel like I play immeasurably better in front of an audience. You really can’t get the same result without them,” pipes in Zach Joyner 24’.
Grab your sousaphone, and don't hit it on the top of the door! Time for the second half of practice. Keeping close to your section, the entire band files into Conte Forum from Alumni, careful not to crumple the carpets laid on the floor for BC's esteemed guests at Pops on the Heights. Big events like this only happen once or twice a year and nothing as ornate as Pops. You all take your places on the giant, steep stage, the sousaphones at the very top back against the white curtains changing colors with the lights. Before you know it, Director Healey is thanking you for your hard work, and the EBoard is coming to the front.
First things first: it's someone's birthday! The whole band sings together before passing out cupcakes as the EBoard tells you about upcoming events. Outside of rehearsals, it's common for band members to get together for ice cream, social functions, and movie nights.
As the night winds down and everyone descends the stage, you meet one last time with your section to go over details before the final team chant: a primal scream. There's no section like the sousa section.
You all walk back to 2150, but stop in the grass outside before returning your giant instruments to the basement. It's shining night! You sprawl with half of the sousas across the 2150 terraces and apply your first layer of shine. While you wait for it to dry, you decide to get to know your fellow sousa Zach a little bit better.
How long have you been involved in marching bands? What made you want to continue being part of the band in college?
I started marching band when I was a freshman in high school, but I learned to play the tuba in the 8th grade. I was honestly pretty hesitant to join band in college, but after spending my first year at BC in quarantine I realized how much I missed getting to perform and having something to dedicate my time to.
You've been part of the Marching Band for two years now. What about the BC Marching Band keeps you coming back for more?
The main thing that brought me back for a second year was how much more fun it was than high school band. We get new music throughout the year, and it’s a more relaxed environment. There’s more focus on entertaining students and fans than on making something that’s “perfect”.
How is the low brass section different from the rest of the band sections? What makes the sousaphones special?
The low brass are the lowest pitched instruments, so we provide the foundation for the sound. It’s really important that we all play loud so that it doesn’t sound out of balance with the higher pitched instruments. Our instruments are all a good bit bigger than the high brass and woodwinds, so it takes a lot more air to play, and we have to breathe pretty frequently to maintain our volume. The sousaphones in particular are unique because we dont actually hold them, they just kinda rest on our shoulders while we play. They also make it exceptionally difficult to go through doors or hallways.
Do you feel you can express yourself creatively despite having to perform within the perimeters of the Band? Is every person playing their part as important as playing a solo?
Absolutely. I’ve never felt like I wasn’t making a unique contribution to the overall performance.
What is one thing that, if the band did it differently (didn't have this, didn't do this as well), would make you leave the band?
If we got boring. My highschool marching band rarely got any new music, and it was even rarer that we actually got to play it at a game. Getting to perform new arrangements every season and having a fun and unique half time show is the most important thing in an ensemble like the BCMB.
Everyone you’ve met in the band so far has been just as friendly and honest with you as Zach, reminding you why you joined the band. Just like that, the night comes to an end, and you make it home early.
The Sousa Scream
Edited by: Sindey Amar 24’
Thank you Director Healy for letting the Arts Council come to band camp. Thank you to all of the Screaming Eagles for your hospitality, especially Zach and the sousaphone section for letting us shadow you.
Note: 'Rehearsing BC' is inspired by The Rehearsal by Nathan Fielder, on HBCMax.