Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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continued from one 15 During the halftime performance at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence Oct. 7, Tim Schartz, junior in mechanical engineering, plays his part with his trombone. The band was outstanding at KU. Frank Tracz, director of bands, said, on the field, playing, marching, in the stands. 1 is a pretty no friendly atmosp d our kids beyond % th a lot of t stuff. (Photo mon) Before they left to go to K-State ' s football game at the University of Kansas, Traci addresses the marching band, giving them Last-minute parking instructions. (Photo by Evan Semon) UNSEEN

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IN BAND FOSTERS wumusuNITY bylincloaliporter AMARADERI iii111111111∎TH Snuggled next to the University of Kansas student section, the 300 members of the K-State marching band expected verbal harassment during their visit to Lawrence Oct. 7. The banter during the 98th-annual Sunflower Showdown reflected intrastate rivalry, but did not sport any physical abuse. I only saw one cup thrown at us so I was actually Ben Baffa, senior in economics, said. I know that the KU band had gone to Missouri and had glass bottles full of beer thrown at them. We did not have that, but some of the words coming from their stands were not the nicest words they could have said. One paper cup thrown out was nothing. It was just good clean fun. The KU game was the only away game the marching band attended because the cost of transportation was too high. Shuttling the band and their instruments to Lawrence and providing lunch cost around $7,500. That expense was covered by the band ' s budget while the athletic department bought the game tickets. Having a season that ran parallel to the football season, the band was busy continuedonpage16 Preparing to leave for tavirence, ba members load one of seven Oct. 7. (Photo by Evan Se on) at 7:3

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10 of 12 weeks during the fall. Beginning with the KU game, the band played six consecutive weekends, five games and a march ing festival. We put in a lot of time, Brian Pelcak, sophomore in interior architecture, said. I had heard comments made that said we practice every bit as much as the football team does and to an extent that much was true. Three days a week for two and a half hours a day we were out there rehearsing for the show, plus what we did in sectional time, one hour a week or so. Practice was not the only time-consuming aspect of preparing a show. Before the students could begin the drill, it had to be desig ned. Although the drills had not been designed by hand for 15 years, using a computer program still took hours to completely design a formation. What took the most time was the actual coming up with ideas, Frank Tract, director of bands, said. The computer did facilitate things, m ake them easier to get going, but you still had to come up with the ideas and the drill. One night I came in at eight o ' clock to do something on the computer and usually it would take me a couple of hours to work one piece of music. I left at a quarter after [hive the next morning and I only did one piece of music. Each eight-to-I0 minute show the band performed at halftime contained three to four pieces of music. Tract said the computer program used for drills saved him time and eliminated problems. Before Tracz began using the computer program, he placed each dot, representing each band member, by hand. Without the program ' s accuracy, there were occasional instances with baud members running into each other or two people standing on the same yard line at the same spot. Tract said the computer program made things easier, but it was still a lot of work to create each show. Trans contribution to the band only began with charting the shows. 12r. Tracz was the biggest unifying factor for the band, Bath said. He motivated us when the work ethic started to dwindle. He just made it fun again. Tracz said he took center stage during rehearsals, but at performances, everything was out of his hands. The outcome of the shows depended on the band members themselves. I think overall as a group we had the old midwestern work ethic. Pcleak said. We really went at it and went at it hard. BalTa said hard work, good weather and camaraderie were key factors for a successful season. I tell people all the time that this beats the heck out of working for a living. I really enjoy this, Tracz said. °There are probably not a lot of people in the world who an say they do not look forward to retirement; that they look forward to getting up in the morning and going to work. This is what I ' ve always wanted to do and I ' m doing it at a place like Kansas State. It ' s like Disneyland for me. I tell people all the time that this beats the heck out of working for a living. It ' s like Disneyland for me. Preparing to take the field for a halftime performance, Jason Black, freshman in mechanical engineering and tuba player in the K-State marching band, cheers on the K-State football team. (Photo by Evan Semon) STUDENT PIPE