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!
