BY: SERENA DAVANZO
The next meeting for the board will be on August 17th at 7pm.
There'll be discussions on a variety of things from performances ABBA did, to the golf tournament, to preparation for Homecoming, and more.
Board meetings are open to all ABBA members, please reach out to psu.abba.president@gmail.com if you'd like to join via Zoom.
BY: CURT HARLER
The 2025 Blue Band season is just about a month away with the Nittany Lion football team on the field between the Band’s pregame and halftime shows. In all seriousness, Dr. Greg Drane and the Blue Band staff have several amazing halftime programs set for home games this year. The musicians will be challenged.
"I’m eager to see what the band can whip up this year,” he says with excitement.
Keep in mind that the Blue Band literally starts anew each season. Dr. Drane and his team will know more as auditions at Band Camp are finalized. The block should be filled. “Numbers are looking good so far,” he adds.
As the calendar flips to August, music is being sent to arrangers and the Blue Band’s directors are designing drills and formations. The first show of the year at the game August 30 against Nevada will be “Karaoke,” a sing-along with fans in the stands. Exactly which numbers will be played is not yet set in stone but expect the program to feature a medley of popular songs through the years.
Next show is “The Evolution of Oz,” a musical look at the iterations of L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz story including tunes from the original 1939 Judy Garland film; 1978’s The Wiz with Lena Horne, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson; and the 2003 Tony Award winning Wicked which originally starred Idina Menzel as Elphaba, Kristin Chenoweth as Galinda, and Joel Grey as the Wizard. “It’s going to be a good one!” Dr. Drane says.
From there, the Blue Band goes “Higher, Faster, Louder.” This will reprise some of a 2017 halftime show which Dr. Drane says will feature “tunes that bands sound great doing.” The performance will include jazz numbers like Duke Ellington’s Caravan and a rip-roaring Louisiana Funk set. The show will wrap with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
Once again, each Blue Band stadium performance will conclude with a post-game show and the students getting a post-game meal to replace calories and fluids lost through the afternoon. “You can’t believe how valuable a meal is for the students after a long game,” Dr. Drane says. “They don’t have to hunt down dinner and can go home fed and ready for their evenings.”
This year, the Blue Band will send a pep band to two of the Nittany Lions’s away games. However, if there is one blemish on the upcoming season it is that none of the visiting teams coming into Happy Valley will be able to bring their band to perform at halftime. “We are not hosting any bands due to the current stadium renovation,” Dr. Drane confirms. There simply will not be room for an additional several hundred attendees.
Board meetings are open to membership, please reach out to psu.abba.president@gmail.com if you'd like to join via Zoom.
BY CURT HARLER
The Blue Band is inviting the Alumni Blue Band to join them in celebrating our 125th anniversary. The Annual Blue Band Banquet takes on special meaning this year and the Blue Band has arranged for a limited number of alums to be a part of the party.
The Annual Banquet will be held at the Penn Stater Hotel on Sunday, April 6 at 7 pm.
“This is a special anniversary year for us,” says Blue Band Director Dr. Greg Drane. “The banquet is an opportunity to celebrate our 125 with the alumni.”
The students are arranging a special guest speaker.
Presently, there is room for 75 ABBA members (and guests) to attend. To secure your spot use the link below. Tickets can be purchased for $65 each. Of course, part of the ticket price goes to support Blue Band activities. These include such niceties as hand warmers and cups of hot chocolate served during the third quarter to ease the 11-degree temperatures at one playoff game. It also will help defray the cost of the post-game meals the Blue Band provides everyone after every game, home or away.
Whether it is the Annual Banquet or a football game, the Marching Blue Band is always hungry.
“There is lots going on during game days,” Dr. Drane says. “I like the students to have a hot meal when they leave the Blue Band Building.” There typically are sub sandwiches before the games so, rounded off with hot eats, the students’ nutritional needs are well met. “The students greatly appreciate it,” he adds. “Everyone is thankful.”
Not only is the Band’s 125th a great year in retrospect but it marks a watershed for the Band going forward. First year students had to handle back-to-back away bowl games. Dr. Drane says he is excited to see the level of experience those students will bring back to campus next year.
Registration Link: https://www.psualumnibands.org/event-6104154
By CURT HARLER
With the Nittany Lions on their way to post-season play, the Blue Band already is prepared to rock Beaver Stadium…and beyond. Things kick off when the #4 Nittany Lions host #10 SMU. The game is a White Out in Happy Valley at high noon, December 21st. The planning beyond that is tricky.
“There is a lot of logistics going on,” says Dr. Greg Drane, director of athletic bands in what might be the understatement of the year. “We are literally planning for four games – all the way to the national championships!”
Beat SMU in the first round and the Nittany Lions head to Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl. Win that and it’s on to the semi-finals at the Orange Bowl. And then…
Fortunately, the NCAA does help participating bands with accommodations and has reserved blocks of rooms for both bands all the way through to the National Championship.
SMU has informed Dr. Drane that they will be bringing their band for the first-round meeting at Beaver Stadium. “We are excited for that match-up,” Dr. Drane says. Penn State will reprise the oh-so-appropriate Winter Wonderland routine it did at the last game.
Let’s hope someone has told those Southern musicians about encountering stiff valves, sluggish slides, and the advantages of plastic mouthpieces in the frigid conditions they are apt to encounter at Beaver Stadium. Cold weather also changes pitch somewhat, tending to make brass instruments play sharp…an issue SMU is unlikely to experience at its home games in Dallas.
The Blue Band will do its NOLA Brass show at the Fiesta Bowl, so that will be another show that will have little learning curve for the musicians.
Still, the Blue Band practiced all of this past week, right up to the last day of classes. The SMU game comes at the end of finals week. Fortunately, residence halls will be open since graduation is on Sunday.
As if he were not busy enough, in the week before the SMU game, Dr. Drane was in Atlanta on December 13th judging the Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Band of the Year national championship contest in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Blue Band pep band musicians kept busy as the Women’s Volleyball Team made its run in the playoffs, starting with an impressive 3-1 win over #5 Marquette at Rec Hall to move to the Elite Eight. The Pep Band played on as the Lions beat #2 seed Creighton this past Sunday (12/15).
Of course, the men’s and women’s basketball squads will be playing, too. Dr. Drane says preliminary plans indicate that ABBA musicians will be called upon to help out at home games.
Meantime: GO STATE – BEAT SMU!
Original article from psu.edu linked below
https://www.psu.edu/news/arts-and-architecture/story/new-scholarships-reflect-blue-band-alumnis-own-experience-band?utm_source=College%2BE-News%E2%80%94December%2B2024&utm_campaign=995811f753-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_09_24_02_17_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2bc77c850e-995811f753-379966395
By: Serena Davanzo
Hello ABBA,
The PR team for Blue Band is looking for for ABBA members who wish to join in a video for Giving Tuesday.
The video is about the legacy of the organization. You're asked to answer the question "How has Blue Band left a lifelong impact on you?"
If you wish to participate you can fill out the form below and submit your video.
The submission deadline is 11:59 PM on November 29th.
https://form.jotform.com/243244164660049
Hi fellow ABBA members,
The communications team would like to start making monthly features of ABBA current members (musicians, silks, majorettes, drum majors, etc).
We have a variety of people in our organization who are from all walks of life. Everyone has a story about their life post graduation and we want to tell it.
When featured we want to also include pictures of you now and during your time at PSU.
If you're interested in our monthly feature, please fill out this form below. People will be randomly selected and reach out too.
Any questions feel free to reach out to me at serena.davanzo@yahoo.com.
https://forms.gle/F45Mv6Jm82GZFvWi8
The Alumni Blue Band association is looking for seven candidates to run for positions as directors for the upcoming election. If you are interested, you’re asked to self nominate on or before November 15th at elections@psualumnibands.org.
Your candidate statement should include the following:
Directors serve a three-year term, starting in January 2025. Most quarterly meetings are via Zoom and take between 60- 90 minutes. ABBA members who graduated in the past 10 years are encouraged to apply as they are the most underrepresented group on the board.
The next scheduled meeting of the AABA Board will be a virtual Zoom meeting. It's slated for Sunday, January 12th, 2025 at 8:00pm Eastern time. All ABBA members are welcomed to attend this or any other board meeting, although voting is limited to elected board members. Among key business items will be the election of a new Board President to a two-year term (Randy Seely, who has done yeoman work leading ABBA, has reached his term-limit ceiling and is moving off the board).
Penn State basketball will face the Indiana Hoosiers on January 5, 2025 at the Palestra in Philadelphia. Expect an announcement on a pep band for the event (the Blue Band likely will be supporting the Nittany Lion Football Team at a prestigious bowl game).The annual Knoebel’s Penn State Day event is slated for Saturday, June 14, 2025. Look for a pep band announcement soon.Golfers and golf fans should mark down June 21, 2025 (the Saturday following Knoeblel’s) for the annual Fore the Glory golf tournament at Penn State. Participation – both as sponsors and as players – is open to everyone.
Penn State Alumni Blue Band Association
101 Blue Band Building
University Park, PA 16802
membership@psualumnibands.org
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