Band Week Starts Up Again

Today is the day that signals we're truly in the home stretch before football season – the first day of Band Week. The new freshman reported today to start working with the rank leaders, section leaders, returning Drum Major Cody Martin, and Professor Boerma. In addition to signing out their instruments, they were out on the blacktop at Elbel Field for a pair of two-hour rehearsals. Congratulations to those who survived, and good luck with the rest of your week. We refer you back to our Guide For Incoming Freshmen, including the comments.

Good luck to all of you this week; you're going to enjoy it all through the exhaustion. These people will be your constant companions for at least the next semester, and you're bound to make some of your best friends throughout your college experience. Someone you meet this week? Yeah, you're probably going to be in their wedding.

(Three posts!)

The HSR Guide for Incoming Freshmen: Game Day In The MMB

Thanks to everyone who commented last week on my Band Week Guide For Incoming Freshmen. There was a lot of good material in the responses. Craig also wrote up his guide to game day for incoming freshmen, and it's very good. However, it's not really relevant to anyone in the marching band. Your Saturday morning is going to be a very, very different experience, so I'd like to give you an idea of what you're getting into.

Saturday Begins On Friday
On Friday, check your equipment, make sure you have clean spats and gloves. If not, make your purchases now. If you can't find a yuba strap, this'll give you the opportunity to get to a shoe store and buy one of those really thin laces (In black, of course). Buy a Bo-style baseball cap with the Block M and nothing else on the front and bring it with you for game day. Brass, polish up your horn.

Appalachian State is a noon game, so you're guaranteed to have an 8:00AM practice. Mark it down now. Sometimes with a 3:30 game they'll push practice back a bit, but this will be an 8:00. For those rehearsals, I usually ended getting up at 5:30 (I lived in Markley my freshman year. You can get away with a later time if you're closer). Partying is out of the question, really, and you're going to value every extra minute of sleep. I could never manage to fall asleep before midnight, but try to get what you can. Guys, you'll want to shave either on Friday night or not at all. The plastic chin strap will irritate the skin too much if you shave on Saturday morning.

Fire Up, It's Saturday!
When you wake up, check the weather. You're probably going to want to dress in layers, especially if it's a sunny day. A lot of Saturdays, you'll end up walking down in sweats and a jacket but stripping down to the regulation shorts and t-shirt by the time marching rehearsal begins, even the reserves. Bring sunglasses. Half the time it's impossible to see the tower without them.

My 5:30 alarm gave me enough time to get a shower in, wake up a little, check my gear, and walk down from Markley to Revelli Hall by 7:15 or so. Having extra time will allow you to grab a bagel and/or coffee at the hall, and both were quite cheap when I was in the band. It's also useful for that one time when you can't find your black socks or you can only locate one shoe in the bottom of the closet. Oh, and a tip on carrying your uniform: If you're tall enough without the garment bag dragging, you can hook it into the top handle of your backpack. It'll flop around a bit against your legs, and you'll need a little more space in your locker, but it's less annoying than shifting it between your arms every five minutes. Once you get out to Elbel, take a few minutes to look over the music again, get stretched out, etc. The usual stuff. Remember: You need your hat with plume and yuba for Saturday rehearsal.

Practice will consist of warm-ups, then regular music rehearsal, followed by marching rehearsal for block members. During marching rehearsal, reserves shouldn't wander too far. Do they still hand out jobs while the rest of the band marches? They did when I was around. Everyone should do water bottle duty at some point, but it's easiest on a cooler day against a bad team. OK, the bad team part doesn't really make it easier, it just means you don't regret missing the game as much.

Whenever practice lets out, lunch begins (~10:00, usually). I recommend the hot dog stand on Hoover Street at the railroad tracks, because grilled >> boiled. Don't stuff yourself or you'll regret it. In the choice between nausea or being starving in the third quarter, I'll choose starving by a wide margin. For me, that meant that a dog and a Coke was my lunch.

Family members may request that you visit them during lunch. This is fine if they're parked at Elbel or the Coliseum, but if they're out at Pioneer, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. It's a longer walk and you have less time than you think. Make them come to you if they insist.

Give yourself plenty of time to get your uniform on. If you go early, you'll have a lot more room, which I always appreciated, an it's your last chance to control your own schedule. Take the time to make a last stop at the bathroom before putting on the uniform. Find a spot in the bibbers to stuff your Bo-style hat. Some hats you can snap around one of the suspenders. If you have an extra yuba, you can even thread it through one of the ventilation holes in the hat and tie it to the bibbers.

I Love a Parade
It's a long series, and rank moves aren't really stressed during Band Week, so you're bound to miss a couple of cues. Look to older band members and follow what they do. As you approach the parking lot to Michigan Stadium, half ranks will be called for and some people will forget where to go. You may have to improvise. Just make sure you end up with six people in each rank and nobody will know the difference. Remember: rank moves are verboten after the stop for Parking Lot Victors, but vocals are still good (Again, is this still the case?).

With the band so stretched out, it's hard to hear whistles at the steps, especially in the reserves. Do your best, let everyone around you know what's next, and follow any visual cues for "Let's Go Blue" and "The Victors". Don't let anybody cut through the band. When reserves are dismissed, run down the tunnel like a crazy person. Skip if you want to. Slap hands with all the little kids hanging over the railing. Enjoy every second of it.

Game On
Reserves, find your seat, then make sure people don't cut through the section. If you're a freshman third trumpet, you don't get to sit in the front row, dude. Wait for the show to begin, and then be LOUD. When the block members get into the stands, they get the water bottles first, even if it's 90 and you're dying. The drum cheers between plays take a little while to pick up on, so keep your ears open and pay attention to people who've been there before. The MMB does not participate in the Wave, nor do we boo anyone (and I think hissing is bush league). Your cape is not to be used as a penalty flag. If you aren't hoarse by the end of the game, don't give up. You can be louder next time. After the '99 Notre Dame game I sounded like Tom Waits for the next three days.

Apples will be served during the third quarter. Eat quickly, as there's no telling when you'll have to play again and the box will soon be coming back for the cores.

When Michigan wins, we turn our hats backward. It can be tricky to find the right chin strap setting for this at first. When the post-game concert is over, you'll want to tighten it up so that your hat doesn't flop into your face due to a particularly vigorous rank move.

Following the post-game concert, line up in half ranks for the parade back to the stadium. This can be a little trickier than it sounds. Again, just make sure you have six in a row. Shortly after you start moving, it'll be time for quarter ranks, which will again lead to some improvising before you emerge from the tunnel in half ranks. Given how early it is in the season, you probably won't have special rank moves for the way back (Flying Camels, anyone?).

When you get back to Revelli, you'll be exhausted and soaked in sweat. This is when your family will decide to take you out for dinner. It's times like these when it can pay off to bring a change of clothes, because otherwise your choices become 1) Go back to the dorm to change while the other 100,000 people get in line in front of you at Cottage Inn OR 2) Find yourself all alone at the far end of the table (Personally, I never chose 2). Whatever you go for, there's a solid chance you'll fall asleep at the table.

There's Got To Be a Morning After
There are four home games in September. Four! In the hottest month of football season. Pick two games of those and take your uniform down to Revelli for dry cleaning on Sunday. Trust me, everyone will appreciate it. AT LEAST take it in once, otherwise it becomes a biohazard. You don't want that thing lurking in your closet.

The HSR Guide for Incoming Freshmen: The Michigan Football Fan

We at the Hoover Street Rag want to make sure that the Michigan Class of 2011 is well served by the Michigan blog community, and we have decided to write up a few guides for incoming freshmen. We're not saying that they are perfect, complete, or even totally accurate, but we're hoping we can do what we can to ease the transition.

0). A presumption.

It is a presumption that this guide will make that we are speaking to the incoming freshmen to Michigan who is not well-versed in Michigan lore and tradition. If you grew up following the Maize and Blue and knowing that you wanted to go to Michigan, this guide is not aimed at you (however, we encourage you to submit additions and corrections to us in the comments section.) We're also presuming that if you're taking time to read this that you're actually going to care about Michigan football.

1). Your Saturdays for the first semester of school are gone.

At some point during your freshman year, you're going to think to yourself "Hey, it's OK, I can just put this off to the weekend." No. You can't. You can probably get away with putting some things off until Sunday, but for eight of the first twelve Saturdays of your college life, you're going to be staring down a game at the Big House and that is a full day affair. Similarly, you're going to find out that even though you'll likely be done by 3:30 in terms of the game, standing and watching for three and a half hours takes way more out of you than you think. You're likely going to end up going back to your room, chilling out, getting some dinner, and watching ABC Saturday Night College Football. I have to say, this is not the worst way to go. Road games give you a little more leeway, but remember to find the person with the biggest television possible and make friends with the immediately. It's as important as making friends with the guy/girl who has the car and the parking permit.

We also need to mention that in looking at the schedule, the very likely possibility of the three straight 3:30 starts in September are absolutely going to demolish your day, even more so than usual. You'll end up sleeping later, you'll kill some more time before the game, and be absolutely exhausted by the time the game's over to the point where you will get back to your room and crash, even if you wanted to watch the late game.

2). You need a Saturday game plan.

As most games start at noon, you're going to need to get up no later than 9:00 AM, you're going to want to make sure you know the weekend bus schedule (Bursleyites, we're looking at you. It's a total rookie mistake, one we made ourselves) and you'll want to be on Central Campus no later than 11:00 AM. Why? Because part of the joy of game day at Michigan is just soaking in the atmosphere, taking in the festival of sorts that happens on campus.

You're going to want to make sure you eat breakfast (even something light) and especially for the early season games, you're going to make sure you need to hydrate and that you wear sun block. (Do not fool yourself, just because the calendar says September that sun beats down upon you like it’s the middle of July. Very rarely do you get a September game with cloud cover, last year's Central Michigan game notwithstanding.)

You need to make sure you have a spot where you're going to meet up with your seatmates so you can all head in together (strength in numbers, especially if you have squatters.) This, admittedly, is much easier in the era of cell phones than it was nigh on a decade ago, but still, it's good to have a starting point. We recommend the steps of the Michigan Union, the bus shelter right next to the steps (if you don't want to get into the masses), or the ATM on the north side of the intersection of Packard and State. Your decision will likely come based on a calculation of where all of you reside.

(Geoff would like it noted, and I do second it: Anyone who gets to the stadium after the band has taken the field deserves to be tarred and feathered. Period.)

Your Saturday game plan will evolve. You're going to meet people; you’re going to figure out things that work better for you and things that didn't work. But you need to go in to this with some kind of plan to start with.

3). Game day rituals.

This is mostly about the nature of fandom, so some of you may find this utterly silly, but bear with me. If you have something lucky, you must wear it to every game until Michigan loses in your presence. The student shirt does not count, because everyone is expected to wear that. It just has to be something that you do that gets into the luck run. We're not saying you, specifically, will be the reason that Michigan's dreams of an undefeated season come to an end, but do you want that lingering suspicion in the back of your mind that it was your fault. (Note: this does not apply to away games.)

4). Don't do anything stupid.

Forgive us for sounding a little paternalistic here, but we like to think it's more about the voice of experience ringing through. You're going to be getting your first true taste of freedom in college, and well, there is a tendency to confuse that freedom with the right to do something utterly stupid. We don't recommend it. We've seen far too many people do stupid things in their lives in college which they would come to later regret. Now, are we saying you shouldn't have any fun, no, not at all. What we're saying is that you should not think just because you can do a thing that it necessarily follows that you must do that thing. Don't let your friends talk you in to doing something you don't want to do, if you have to be the voice of reason for your group, so be it. To wit, do you really want to be the guy/girl who left the '04 MSU game because all his friends wanted to get ready for a party? There will be other parties, there will not be other comebacks like that. (There are other higher level examples here, many involving illicit activity, but we'll leave it to the reader's fertile imagination to see where we're going with this.)

We know damn well we sound like old men here, but we just don’t like the idea of regret and Michigan football being tied together.

Lastly, we realize that we're just a couple of "old guys", and we probably don't "get it". So we'd like to encourage any of you reading to post your own tips in the comments section.

The Hoover Street Rag Presents: A Guide For Incoming Freshmen (Band Week Edition)

Summer is coming to its usual shockingly early end, and the end is so near that freshmen will be reporting to Revelli Hall only one week from today. Only seven days till Band Week! With that in mind, Jeremy has helped me come up with some suggestions for those about to embark on their first year with the MMB.

Training
If you've just been sitting around eating Cheetos this summer, you're about to pay for it. The days when you have three marching rehearsals are going to be deeply unkind to you, and there's not a lot you can do to alter your fate at this point. However, anything you do will help at least a little. Running is a good idea, cycling helps too. Any aerobic activity will help you out. Just make sure you arrive well-rested on Tuesday.

We're Talking About Practice
Learn the audition music now, not the night before you have to perform. The airless closets in the dorm basements misleadingly described as "practice rooms" will not work miracles for you. As a very beneficial side effect, the multiple music rehearsals each day won't wear you out as easily.

Equipment
Your most valuable piece of equipment isn't going to be the Yamaha issued to you by the band, but a pair of broken-in tennis shoes with good support. The asphalt out on Elbel Field is going to be your home, and it doesn't have a lot of give to it. Even worse is the reserve field with its wicked lumpiness, just looking to roll your ankle. Even apart from that, you'll be walking to and from the dorm to Revelli Hall, up to the Union or wherever for lunch, and around campus whenever you have a free moment. Only slightly behind shoes on the list goes sunscreen. You can end up with a really wicked sunburn out there if you aren't careful, especially if you're fair-skinned.

Food, Water, Etc.
Obviously you're going to want to stay hydrated, and the MMB does a good job about giving enough water breaks when the weather is hot. Many people bring their own water, and that usually was fine for me for the first couple of hours, but then the water in the bottles went from "tepid" to "soup", and I turned to what is called The Trough. The Trough isn't actually a trough, per se, but a metal pipe with holes in it which is set on a stand and hooked to a hose. It may taste a little rusty, but it's exactly what you're looking for when it's 92 degrees and you've just gone through traditional step by the numbers for the 16th time. Always drink more water than you think you need.

Also, don't go crazy at lunch or dinner. Remember that you're going to have to march again soon enough, so you need some more fuel, but not so much as to weigh you down. I never really had too much trouble, but I know some friends who deeply regretted overindulging at Blimpy Burger. And drinking more water at lunch is generally a good idea.

Punctuality
This maxim from William Revelli will be drilled into your head soon enough: "To be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late, to be late is to be forgotten." Get everywhere at least ten minutes early and you should be just fine. You'll need the extra time to get your music out, your gloves on, and to warm up. And if you have to get your instrument before heading to Elbel Field, make it more like 25.

Other stuff to keep in mind:

• Make friends with your rank leaders. They usually know a lot of people in the band, and sometimes they have cars. It's hard for a director to know everyone, especially someone brand new to the band, so Boerma will likely depend heavily on the grad staff, the section leaders, and the rank leaders when it comes time for auditions.
• Don't stress over First Look. Yes, it's the first marching/playing audition to determine who makes performance block for the game, but don't sweat it too badly. You've been in the band for such a short time when it happens that it often comes down to luck and the wisdom of crowds. There are plenty of people who are put in the reserves after First Look but end up making block for the rest of the year.
• Learn the traditional songs and memorize them immediately. The top 8, in order of importance: "The Victors", "Let's Go Blue", "Cheer #1", "Temptation", "Varsity", "The Star-Spangled Banner", "Hawaiian War Chant", "Respect", "The Yellow and Blue". Figure out the different arrangements of "The Victors" (Parking Lot, Trio, Pre-Game, etc.) and learn the part of "Temptation" played before 4th down first.
• Get your computer set up as soon as possible. So much intra-band communication depends on email that you're going to miss something if you're not at least catching up in the computer lab.
• Partying during Band Week is a very, very bad idea. The alcohol will already have you dehydrated before practice drains you further, landing you in a special kind of hell with your hangover as you pound your legs down during high step. No one will be sympathetic. Some may point and laugh.
• The medical staff is there for a reason. Make use of them if you get injured, and get yourself taped before practice rather than trying to tough it out. Stretching every night before you go to bed will also make your mornings that much easier.
• Make sure you meet the people on your hall in the dorm. It's easy to ignore them with all the things going on with the band, but you're going to live with these people for 8 months and you might want someone to eat lunch with when February rolls around.
• This isn't really a Band Week suggestion, but bring a winter coat. That first 40-degree day in October will come much sooner than you expect, and you're going to be out there for an hour and a half.