Beyond the Field
We are shoulder to shoulder, instruments tucked under our arms, as we hear the long, “WAAAAAAAAAAAR EAGLE” of the crowd as the eagle ceremoniously decrees the start of an Auburn football game.
While everyone in the stands has their eyes on the eagle, all we see is the back of the head of the marcher right in front of us as we wait for the “tweet tweet” of the whistle to call us to attention. As a member of the Auburn University Marching Band, this is just one of many views I have during game days.
6:30 AM - Wake up! It’s game day! My day begins long before I enter Jordan-Hare stadium – sometimes even before sunrise. And while many Auburn fans like to plan their game-day outfits, the AUMB is no different. Our practice uniform includes an AUMB dry-fit shirt (orange, blue, or white), khaki shorts, a belt, and our official Under Armour shoes.
I often start my mornings with a nice plate of French toast sticks before filling up my collapsible wagon with my saxophone, hat box, and garment bag with my gameday uniform for later that day. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about gameday traffic or parking struggles because I live right by the practice field.
7:30 AM - After arriving at the AUMB practice field, I spend 15 minutes stretching with my section and warming up our instruments before our long day ahead. We watch the sunrise over campus for another great gameday on the Plains while we play through our warm-up exercises. During this stretching block, it begins to really feel like an Auburn gameday as the first echoes of War Eagle are heard across campus.
8-10 AM - This is one of the most important segments of the day. We spend two hours reviewing our two main performances that will happen on the field later that day. For the first hour of our morning practice, we rehearse our pregame show. The AUMB has an arch that mimics the one in Jordan Hare which we use to practice. Running through this tunnel the morning of a home football game brings the real excitement of gameday as all 380 of us are now awake and ready to cheer for an Auburn victory.
At the end of this hour, we do a full run of our pregame show. Our directors, Dr. Spurlin and Dr. Gross help correct things from their towers, looking at the overhead view of the performance. The full run includes our “jog” style march out of the tunnel, which is one of the most unique and physically demanding aspects of being a member of the AUMB. This is followed by our march down the field, the making of the interlocking AU, and the spelling of USA, AUBURN, and TIGERS.
The full run of the pregame includes the sound of our hype video, which plays before the drum majors take the field. This whole sequence, complete with the small audience of loyal fans who also begin their gamedays with the AUMB’s practice, gets us another step closer to being back inside JHS. Although I often end our run fully out of breath after 10 straight minutes of playing and simultaneous movement, I am so excited for the rest of the long day.
The second hour of our morning rehearsal is set aside to practice for our halftime show. Throughout the football season, the AUMB learns, practices, memorizes, and performs at least 5 unique halftime shows to perform at JHS and at away games. Like our pregame rehearsal, we spend the better part of the hour running smaller chunks of our show as the directors make sure that everything is to their liking, and then we end our practice with a full run of our show.
However, before leaving the rehearsal we have one of my favorite AUMB gameday traditions to take part in. The entire band circles around the center of our practice field to receive game day announcements and a fantastically motivating speech from our director. The band links arms and sings the Alma Mater together as we continue to get into the gameday spirit.
10:00-11:45 AM - This is where things start to look different depending on the kick-off time. If there is an early kick-off, the band immediately has more performances to head to, however, if the kick-off time is later into the afternoon or evening, there is more free time for band members to hang out around campus.
I often enjoy spending this time wandering around campus with some of my friends from the band. We say hi to friends and family, and enjoy the tailgating atmosphere around Jordan-Hare. I love to snag some tailgate snacks before kick-off. For some games, the AUMB caters meals for us, such as Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits or a Jason’s Deli sandwich. Later kick-off times give us time to find our own food. I enjoy eating at the Edge on campus and getting their special gameday orange and blue ice cream!
The Student Activities Center on campus is reserved just for band members on gamedays and is where the long trail of orange and blue leads follows our morning rehearsal. Here we have room to set down our belongings, hang out, and change into our official gameday uniform. Our official uniform includes different combinations of our orange and blue coats and our blue and white pants as well as our official hats, or shakos.
11:45-12:30 PM - Now that the band is in the gameday spirit, it is time to get the rest of the Auburn family in the spirit too! This all starts at our first official gameday performance at Tiger Walk. For this performance the band is divided into four quarters: Band A, B, C, and D. At each home game only two of these bands perform for Tiger Walk, either bands A and C or B and D. Bands A and B are assigned to the top of Tiger Walk outside the South Donahue residence hall while C and D are assigned the bottom directly outside JHS.
As a rising senior, I have been assigned to perform at both the top and the bottom of Tiger Walk over the years. From the top of Tiger Walk, it is so exciting to see the team emerge from their buses and begin their walk as the band hypes them up and the crowd cheers. The bottom of Tiger Walk is a completely different atmosphere as the crowd is tenfold as everyone entering the stadium tries to get a glance of their Auburn Tigers.
12:30-1:25 PM - Following the completion of Tiger Walk, it is time to get the band back together. This begins with the Spirit March, followed by my favorite part of gameday, the Four Corners Pep Rally. For Spirit March, bands A and B begin from the top of Tiger Walk on South Donahue while bands C and D join outside the Rec and Wellness Center on Heisman Drive. From this point, the two half-bands march down their respective streets to meet at the intersection outside JHS.
The feeling of marching toward the stadium with a crowd of so many fans excited to see the band is a joy like no other. I feel so prideful to be a part of such a fantastic organization whenever we perform this march, and seeing the band come together from two directions reminds me how close we are to being back in the stadium.
At the intersection, we perform some of the AUMB’s most iconic stand tunes alongside the Auburn cheerleaders. I love seeing the crowd chant along and wave their shakers proudly in the air. It is a gameday sight like no other, always reminding me how fantastic and extensive Auburn’s fanbase is. After we finish our final tune, the band reassembles all together and we march in step into JHS ready to get the fans hyped up.
1:25-2:32 pm - After entering through our designated gate into the stadium, the band then gets a short minute to rest inside the south tunnel out of the sun and away from the crowds. But it’s gameday, not rest day, so after just a couple of moments, it is time to assemble for our March Down performance. I love being a part of this because this past season I got to be in the very front row and was one of the very first faces the crowd saw when the band marched out into JHS for the first time on gameday. This performance is just a playing of War Eagle and Glory to Ol’ Auburn, yet it is something everyone in the band enjoys as we get the student section on their feet and ready for the game.
Following this, we march back into the tunnel and excitement fills the air as we prepare for our pregame performance. All around band members are getting in a last-minute stretch, laughing with their section mates, and anticipating the assembly in their spots in the lower tunnel.
Suddenly we hear the drum major’s whistles call us to attention and we wait as they call the 4 groups to assemble in the tunnel, now wearing our performance-exclusive plumes on top of our hats. It is close quarters while we wait. We can hear the crowd cheering alongside the cheerleaders leading them in Bodda-Getta as the countdown clock ticks closer and closer to our time to shine.
2:33 pm - The cheers of the crowd are near deafening after the eagle’s flight as the anticipation reaches its all-time high and I hear the first few booming notes of the band’s hype video. This video isn’t only made to get the crowd hype, but the band as well. Finally, following the drum major’s salute, we hear the “tweet-tweet, tweet” of the whistles signaling the beginning of pregame as band members begin to stream out the central tunnel.
It is the most invigorating feeling in the world marching out of that tunnel and seeing over 89,000 people watch our movements. The noise is unlike anything else and the band members have to shout the beats out loud to be sure that we can keep time. Marching down Pat Dye Field while looking around and listening to all the fans sing along to War Eagle is a gameday feeling that not many get to experience but is near quintessential to my gamedays on the Plains.
Following our spell out of USA, we perform God Bless America and the National Anthem. Being able to stand on the field, playing the songs I have down to muscle memory, and looking at each person in the stands is such a great moment of pregame that I don’t think many in the band talk about enough. Suddenly, as we are playing the last notes of the Star Spangled Banner, the crowd begins to roar, and it takes me a moment to realize they are spotting the noses of the planes that are doing the flyover, but for the band, our eyes must remain straight ahead as we being to spell out AUBURN.
“A” . . . “U” . . . “B” . . . the crowd cheers along as we begin marching when the letter we are standing in is called. I am stationed at the very bottom of the “R”, and get a moment to stop and watch the crowd again, laughing to myself at noticing how the echos of the crowd are a beat behind the drums I hear right next to me, reminding me to focus on their beat, and not the noises of the crowd.
Finally, we spell out TIGERS and march one more time back towards the jumbotron as we prepare to head back to the tunnel. After arriving, I can hear the huffing and puffing of the band members but also the boom of the jumbotron and the roar of the crowd. It is so difficult to stand still at this moment while being so tired from pregame and simultaneously so excited that the big game has finally arrived. But I can’t imagine a better day!
War Eagle, and…
Be Well, Auburn.
