Keeping good time

Q:I hear that you recently became the conductor of the band. When exactly did this happen?

A: At the end of football season this year. Last year I played saxophone.

Q: What attracted you to the position of conductor?

A: I guess it's interesting to look at music from a different perspective. It also adds a whole new dimension to watching the games. I find myself much more into watching the games this year.

Q: Did you have any previous conducting experience? How did you learn to conduct?

A: No. The outgoing conductor did some mini-clinics with the applicants, and that's all the experience I had. The old conductors are still in the band, and we also have a professional music adviser who gives me feedback, so all of those things happen together. The conducting that I do in a marching band setting is much more about timekeeping and bringing the band in and cutting them off. In an orchestral setting, it's more about the flow. Because of the situation, being that we're in a hockey rink or a stadium, it has to be a precise, but not terribly emotional, piece. In that sense, it's not as hard to get the pattern down and to keep time. But running rehearsals is much harder than I thought it would be. I think that's where my learning curve is probably the steepest.

Q: Are you enjoying your new position as conductor? Do you miss playing your instrument?

A: The highs are higher and the lows are lower, because there are points where you have to watch the game and listen to people and communicate well with the PA guy. There's just a lot. But I feel like I'm setting the tone a little more than I was before. I do miss playing my instrument, but after the year is up, I'll get to go back to it.

Q: I understand that the band is a "scramble band." Can you tell me a little bit about what that means?

A: When we're not in football season, our function as a pep band is very similar to the function of other bands. It's really only an issue during football season when, instead of having actual halftime shows, we write our halftime shows the week before. And when I say write, it's usually two jokes that are current events-related or about something that happened at the school that's kind of funny, and then we usually elaborate on it in nonsensical and hopefully hilarious ways. It's fun for us to do and it's fun - I hope - for people to watch. I was on the football band in high school, and basically you get on the field at halftime and you have to face straight and be serious, and I wasn't having fun. Now I actually enjoy the halftime shows and the games.

Q: Any exciting upcoming events?

A: If the teams do well, we'll go with them to the NCAA tournaments, which we went to last year for hockey. The hockey team's really good this year, and the basketball team is doing really well, so hopefully we'll get to go and travel with them, which would be really fun.

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Q: What's your favorite part about being in the band?

A: Three of the things that I think are the most fun to do are to hang out with people I like, watch sports and play music, and this is a chance to do all three at the same time.

Q: Anything else you want to add?

A: Even though I'm the conductor, I just want to say that I'm not actually "in charge." In all honesty, I am in charge of the music stuff, which is what people see, but getting buses to go on trips, coordinating with other bands and talking to [the] athletics [department] about which games we're going to, all [those things] have to happen before people hear the music. No one sees that, and no one appreciates that, because it's so behind the scenes. But it's much more important than how good my cutoffs are.

-Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Christine Call ‘12