My Band Experiences

So I've done band for quite a long time, going on 17 years.  In spending a lot of that time in high school and college band, I've compiled quite the list of the many gigs, concerts, parades, and sporting events in that time.

My high school tenure went about the same as pretty much anyone else's high school band experience, but with a few neat twists.  My band, the Oak Hills High School Highlander Band, got to do one of the premier parades every year, what with the way Cincinnati celebrates the coming of a new baseball season every year in the city-wide holiday known as Reds Opening Day, with a parade that is part of the tradition.  Getting off school AND being part of a big tradition like that, not to mention great weather?! Yes, please!  Other than that, you had the usual gigs in high school like football/basketball games, the 3-4 concerts every year, and a few community gigs, but one did stand out from those.  My senior year, our band had the distinct honor of playing for the President of the United States when President Bush came to Great American Ballpark during his campaign run.  Sure it wasn't under the best circumstances, which we didn't get told until right after our last game vs our big rival at the time, thus we had to rehearse "Hail to the Chief" THAT night.  The only thing is we didn't get to play it as they blasted recorded music over us when Bush did come out to speak, but still, the notion of playing only 50 ft from the President was a pretty big deal.

Then came college, particularly the University of Cincinnati Bearcat Bands.  With that came the likes of playing in front of big stadiums, playing on national TV, lots of small gigs, and a few unique opportunities sprinkled in.  The learning curve between high school and college was pretty steep, but the payoff was more than worth putting in that time. In fact, my first college performance wasn't at the home confines of Nippert Stadium.  Nope, my first game was at Ohio State University's Ohio Stadium.  Talk about a jarring experience for a first time college band member; coming right out of band camp and thrown into a 110,000+ seat stadium full of the type of fans OSU brings in, not to mention playing opposite one of the best college bands in the nation.  It kind of painted a picture for me what the epitome of college band life was like, in a nutshell so to speak. A big thing about marching band I've come to appreciate more and more is the Bearcat Bands infamous tradition of charging the stadium steps for each home game.  For those first few games where Bearcat football was barely a speck on the map, it was alright.  However, when the team started getting good and the stadium filled, it became quite an intense ritual.  Not much in band compares to flying down those stairs at a sold out prime time game.  Heck, I have to run on adrenalin the whole time as I wouldn't have the energy otherwise to keep marching and play at full tilt after the stair run.  I could go on and on about each other experience, but to keep it short and let the list speak for itself-

Football

- Away football games- Miami (OH), Ohio State, Akron, West Virginia
- Home games and appearences at Bengals games @ Paul Brown Stadium
- International Bowl- Cincinnati vs Western Michigan- Rogers Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- PapaJohn's.com Bowl- Cincinnati vs Southern Mississippi- Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama (ugh)
- Orange Bowl- Cincinnati vs Virginia Tech- Dolphin Stadium, Miami, Florida
- Sugar Bowl- Cincinnati vs Florida- Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana
- Liberty Bowl- Cincinnati vs Vanderbilt, Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee
- Belk Bowl, Cincinnati vs Duke, Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

Basketball

- Random neutral site games- US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Multiple Crosstown Shootouts vs Xavier, one of the most heated rivalries in college sports
- 2011 NCAA Tournament, Round 2/3-Verizon Center, Washington DC, Cincinnati vs Missouri, Connecticut
- 2012 Big East Tournament, Madison Square Gardens, New York City, Cincinnati vs Georgetown, Syracuse, Louisville
- 2012 NCAA Tournament- Round 2/3- Sommet Center, Nashville, Tennessee, Cincinnati vs Texas, Florida State
- 2012 NCAA Tournament- Sweet 16- TD Bank Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Cincinnati vs Ohio State
-2013 Big East Tournament, Madison Square Gardens, New York City- Cincinnati vs Providence, Georgetown