I’m going to be honest with everyone—I used to be a Penn Cheerleader. I don’t miss doing touchdown pushups, and I definitely don’t miss the creepily tight football pants (for the record, baseball pants are the perfect amount of tightness). However, I miss all the quality time I had with the Penn Band! I was fortunate enough to sit down and chat with Bandos Kylie Murrin, ’15, and Lauren Mendoza, ’15. These cool kids are better known as Penn Band’s drum majors.
Gum Drawer Notes: How’s the band looking this year?
Drum Majors: The band is looking great! We are so excited for football season. We love doing field shows. They should be awesome this year, considering that the band is the biggest we have seen in almost twenty years.
GDN: When you think ‘Penn Band’, what’s the one word that comes to mind?
DM: Can it be more than one?
GDN: I said one.
DM: Family. Penn Band is one huge family. By the end of the year everyone knows so much about each other. A lot of us live together, we are this insanely tight knit group.
(GDN side note: I did not get the impression of any Charles Manson cult shit going on.)
GDN: If Penn Band had a stage name, what would it be?
DM: Funny you should ask, we actually have a stage name. We are “The Huge, The Enormous, The Well-Endowed, Undefeated Ivy League Champion, University of Pennsylvania Oxymoronic Fighting Quaker Marching Band”!
GDN: Can you walk me through game day?
DM: If game day is at noon, call time is at ten. We all meet in the band room and then go dorm storming. Our targets are the Quad and Hill. It is awesome to play in Hill because the acoustics are incredible. We take over the streets and play down the sidewalks to Franklin Field. We sit in the stands and play Penn Songs. Throughout the game we showcase all of our arrangements. For touchdowns we play “Fight On Pennsylvania”. At the end of the third quarter, we play “Drink a High Ball”. After the game we play “Red and Blue”.
GDN: Speaking of “Drink a High Ball”, what’s your stance on the toast throw?
DM: WE LOVE IT! We hate that people do not know when to throw the toast. Do NOT throw it when we start playing! First we play it through and then we sing it. Throw the toast as we are finishing singing!
(GDN side note: Penn Band director Greer Cheeseman was essential in creating the toast throw back in the ’70s.)
GDN: You said you love doing field shows. They are always so funny. Does a lot of work go into them?
DM: Field shows are a ton of work, but definitely the most fun. We have a committee that writes the show and ‘the voice’ who reads the show over the loud speaker. Our ideas must be approved and then we have to work on which arrangements to play as well as formations. It is always great to see the shows come together.
GDN: I love your arrangements. What songs are you bringing back this season?
DM: We will bring back all the traditional Penn songs. Also some of our popular songs: “Accidentally in Love”, “Time Warp”, “All the Small Things”, and “99 Red Balloons”.
GDN: Anything new?
DM: We are thinking about some new Kesha and Katy Perry. We are always looking to take songs from off the radio. We take requests!
GDN: Have you ever started a sentence with “this one time at band camp…”?
DM: We actually have our own version of it. Every rehearsal we have ‘story time’. This is a great way to bond and learn a lot about each other. Everyone has so many quirks and so much character that the stories are just ridiculous.
GDN: If you had to engage in hand-to-hand combat with any Ivy band, who would it be?
DM: Is it friendly combat?
GDN: Sure. (GDN side note: the combat of which I speak is NOT friendly.)
DM: We have a really good shot at Dartmouth because they are so small and also very sweet. A few years ago we had a drum battle with Cornell. It was just like the movie Drum Line.
Check out my Spotify playlist HC: Penn Band to see what else the band will be playing this season! And if you’re interested in stalking Penn Band, you can creep around their website, pennband.net, as well as their Twitter and Instagram accounts @PennBand. Want to join Penn Band? Show up to their first rehearsal on September 9 at 6 PM in the Platt Student Performing Arts House!