Well, we survived the “Polar Vortex” and the “100 Year Winter.” We may have spent a good portion of the semester huddled up in Lynah but never fear; we can finally hear birds and detect no snow, for now. In case you needed another sign that spring was here, it is time for the spring edition of Band Notes! Allow us to introduce ourselves:

Hello, I am Emily Miller. I hail from the small town of Palisade, Colorado. My town is approximately 40 miles away from the Utah border, has fewer people than my Cornell class, but is world renowned for its peaches and wine. I am a Policy Analysis and Management major in the College of Human Ecology. I am also pursuing minors in Inequality Studies and Demography.  I am a proud member, and current section leader, of the only REAL Flute Section in the Ivy League!  When I am not with band, you can find me working with Cornell Dining, or up in my lab doing research on advertising and public health! Marching Band and Pep Band have given me wonderful memories and friends, and I am excited to help keep you all informed of the band’s progress!

And I am Anjum Malik, a double major in Anthropology and Archaeology with a minor in German Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. Pleased to meet you! I come from Islamabad, Pakistan (a.k.a the Land of Far, Far Away) and I give the band an international flavor! My city nestles at the feet of the Margalla Hills and has everything one could ask for…except BAND! Marching Band was a new and exciting thing for me as a freshman. Determined to explore this wacky bunch of frolicking musicians, I enlisted as a novitiate tuba player and began my extraordinary journey in the BRMB. Besides band, I love calling Cornell alumni, especially old bandies, at the Annual Fund, and playing at Indiana Jones when excavating ancient sites. Marching Band introduced me to music-playing and a group of incredible people. Like Emily, I too, am excited to keep you all updated on the band!

We are thrilled to be continuing online Band Notes, and are currently revamping the band website and streamlining how we, the students, communicate with you, the alumni. We are also introducing new content to this edition: a financial update, section blurbs, and a Pep Band Conductor and ShowComm Committee perspective! If you have any questions, please feel free to email Emily at eem56@cornell.edu or Anjum at am2222@cornell.edu! We hope to see you at Reunion (June 5-8, check our events section!) and look forward to serving as your Alumni Relations Chairs in the fall!

Band Notes and pizza – the perfect way to spend Spring Break!

Sincerely,

Emily Miller ’16 and Anjum Malik ’16.

]]> http://brbaa.bigredbands.org/?feed=rss2&p=80 0 http://brbaa.bigredbands.org/?p=168 http://brbaa.bigredbands.org/?p=168#comments Fri, 11 Apr 2014 15:00:23 +0000 http://brbaa-wp.bigredbands.org/?p=168 As many of you reading this know, paper newsletters are becoming a thing of the past. For various reasons – most prominent among them a University-wide dropping of the practice – we have moved to fully electronic communications. With the rise of social media, there may be some questions about the what, when, and where of the Big Red Bands (the “why” is easy: because we say so).

We have devoted a large portion of the last two spring BRBAA Advisory Council meetings to developing a communications roadmap. The core of communications will be in a newly revamped (but not quite finished) website that will be located at brbaa.bigredbands.org. Bookmark it now! The bulk of the content will be newsletter articles, and they will arrive in large content uploads twice yearly, with smaller uploads at the beginning of football and hockey season. With that sort of (in)frequency, we know you won’t be starting each day looking at the site; as such, there will be a blast email from Cornell (similar to what you received during the building campaign) alerting you to what is available. The website will be mobile friendly, which I hope will at least in part address some people’s concern that a newsletter is the type of thing you read while in the bathroom (don’t deny it). There may be smaller content updates in between “issues,” and we’ll let you know via email when there may something of interest to you. One important obstacle we’re working on is how to adjust your communications settings with Cornell so that you get those emails – obviously, if you’re reading this there’s not a problem.

The website will be structured as scrolling articles with links to jump to whichever post interests you. We will also keep contact info for Alumni Association officers, student leaders, sports schedules, and other things that are important but relatively static. In essence, webpage = newsletter.

This brings us to social media, and it’s kind of a mess. Right now there are four Facebook sites, including Cornell Big Red Band, Cornell Big Red Pep Band, and Big Red Bands Alumni–Let’s Go Red.  This is in addition to section and other smaller group sites, which people are free to run as they see fit. We tried as best we could to minimize the number of destinations, but they serve different purposes. Starting with the easiest to address:  BRMB historian is, essentially, the 21^st century version of reprints. It’s an unfiltered photo dump of every picture of the band you can imagine. It is for the students, but feel free to poke around if you like. The two most important sites are Cornell Big Red Band and Cornell Big Red Pep Band, and they are “pages.” They are open to the public. The students update them regularly, with some input from the alumni officers. I strongly encourage you to like them, as this is where we will post official announcements (in addition to the blast emails). If you post here everybody else who likes the page may not get a notification (but you will when the administrators do). Lastly, there is Big Red Bands Alumni–Let’s Go Red. This was to be the victim of the bunch, but a small vocal group has protested. We’ll likely keep it around, but it will not be used in an official capacity. It is, in Facebook parlance, a “group,” meaning it is meant for frivolous discussion that everybody can see and contribute to. Clearly, this is an essential component of being a band alum, but please go ahead and like the two band pages as well. There’s also a LinkedIn group and two Twitter feeds (@BigRedMarchingB and @BigRedPepBand), but they are not as frequented now.

That addresses the “where” and the “when,” but not the “what,” and having a good communications system isn’t particularly helpful if your content is poor. Historically, Band Notes has almost entirely focused on the student experience. That will still be there, but what we hope to expand significantly is the kind of information that you care about as an alumni and supporter of the band that perhaps you didn’t as a student.  We are, after all, an alumni association, and you deserve to know what’s going on with a group that you have such a strong connection with. This means information on what big picture issues the band is facing, where your generous gifts are going, and how you can be involved. There should be something for everybody, whether you want to know what kind of music the band is playing (more Dr. Worm!) or how the band’s endowment is performing (charts and graphs!).  I think we did a good job with this at the fall BRBAA meeting, the presentation from which you can view here.

Most importantly, none of this is set in stone. The most important reason to have a clear communications system is so that you can chime in – let us know what you want to know! I hope this brings some clarity, and I’ll see you on the intertubes.

Lowell Frank ‘99
Chair, Big Red Bands Alumni Association

Below is a rough timeline of the band’s advising situation over the last 65 years or so that was discussed in the fall.  Most alumni from the last 25 years or so will be familiar with the two-headed system that was in place: a music advisor who worked on, well, music, and an Athletics staff member who served as an administrative advisor. Cornell was not immune to the recent recession, and both of these positions were impacted. The Assistant Director of Bands, who served as a conductor in the University wind groups as well as music advisor, was cut in 2009. Similarly, as Athletics staffing became stretched, the responsibilities associated with advising the band became unassigned.  At the time, Matt Coats was the band’s advisor in Athletics, and while he continued to handle field scheduling and other similar duties under his purview, the support that such a large student group requires was lacking.

President Skorton, an avid supporter of the band and First Night attendee, admires our new facility!

There were some stopgap solutions. We entered into an agreement with Ithaca College in which they would provide a graduate student to assist with music and performance aspects and we would financially support a proportional part of a graduate assistantship. Many of the administrative tasks, however, became fragmented. For budget issues, the students would turn to some combination of the Advisory Council and a handful of financial staff members at Cornell.  For travel, there was the Athletics travel office. Sue Detzer – herself reassigned to the ticket office – helped out in a variety of ways where she could. And on like this it went.

In 2011, through connections in other activities, the student leadership asked Mark McCarthy ’86 (a former bandie) if he would serve as advisor. Mark is a lecturer in Information Systems in the School of Hotel Administration and has devoted a significant amount of his professional time to mentoring students. He is a valuable resource and has done a great job as advisor. However, because they are University groups, the bands are required to have an advisor in the unit in which they reside (Athletics). Recently, Steve Caraher has stepped forward and will serve as the band’s official advisor. Steve is a Major Gifts Officer for Athletics and has been working hard to get to know the bands. While the details are not yet completely worked out, Mark will also remain as advisor; certainly the Big Red Bands are large enough that more support is not a bad thing.

As recently as a year or two ago, things looked bleak, and I’m extremely pleased with where we’re at now. However, things are not perfect. In addition to being relatively inexperienced, the graduate student from Ithaca College holds the advisor position for one year because of other obligations in their second year of studies. I have had discussions with the Dean of Students and the Music Department about a more permanent solution but there is nothing close. That being said, the business and mentoring support that the students deserve is in good hands with the Steve and Mark. Feel free to say hello to them the next time they are on campus, or drop them a line at smc358@cornell.edu and mrm10@cornell.edu.

Lowell Frank ‘99
Chair, Big Red Bands Alumni Association

Financial Operations Review

The bands have two primary sources of income: annual gifts to operations and payout from endowment. Throughout the course of a typical year, band alumni and supporters commit an average of about $60,000 in gifts to the organization. The majority of these gifts is donated directly to the bands’ operations, and is used within the year. In addition, the bands generate about another $40,000 in income from long-term investment payouts from the Cornell endowment.  The Bands spend about $80,000 each year on operations and $20,000 on reserve expenses, which is money set aside for long term purchases (such as uniforms, tubas, and percussion). The largest expense for both bands is travel, which, including playoffs, accounted for 55% of expenses in FY2013. At the end of each fiscal year, the bands typically break even, with any surplus saved to re-invest in endowment shares in the future.  These are very rough numbers.

FY2013

The summary of the Bands’ budget is shown below.

FY13 Income Summary Statement

FY 13 Expense Summary Statement

Long Term Performance

This first slide shows the value of the Bands’ endowment accounts over time.  This is a nice picture, but it is essentially meaningless as we only spend the payout from these accounts and don’t use the principle.

Long Term Investment Pool Year-End Value

The second slide shows our total share in the University’s long term investment pool (LTIP).  A large portion of this is from those initial “Second Century Fund” drives, but an equally large portion is from responsible budgeting and overages over many years.  Unfortunately, overages are harder to come by these days, but regardless, we have nearly doubled our number of shares.

We have not sold shares, but because we now put budget overages which are reserved for equipment acquisitions down the road here instead of leaving them in non-interest bearing accounts for 10 years, we will liquidate a relatively small number of shares when we purchase uniforms.  We will never, ever liquidate shares that people gave with the intention of establishing an endowment.  Ever.  We couldn’t if we wanted to.  It has to do with how various accounts are set up – we have a number of LTIP accounts – and some can NEVER be touched, which is good.

BRB LTIP Shares, 2000 – 2013

The next graph shows the payout per share, which is determined by the University Board of Trustees.

Payout per share, unadjusted for inflation

The last slide shows our gifts, expenses, and LTIP payout over time, all adjusted for inflation.  As you can see, BRB alumni are steady and reliable.  The one trend is that LTIP payout has increased, and that is a direct result of responsible management by the Alumni Association, as we have prudently re-invested in the LTIP.  Notably, this has occurred despite a flat (and at times declining) share payout.

Trends in gifts, expenses, and LTIP payout

 Brian Adelman ’09

Nick Janiga ’00

Lowell Frank ’99

We began the year by performing at the opening ceremony for the brand-new Computer Science building, Gates Hall. Much to the chagrin of the brass players (well, specifically, their frozen valves), the march from Fischell Band Center to Gates was done in single digit weather, but the performance was a rousing success, and added Gates Hall to the list of buildings that the Big Red Marching Band has paraded through. A rather successful January day!

In March, the Big Red Marching Band sprung back into action. We participated in the Be the Match Bone Marrow Donor Drive. Band members helped out by both aiding in running the drive, and also adding themselves to the registry. We managed to add 50 people to the registry—an enormous success! We also made a surprise appearance at the kickoff event for Hotel Ezra Cornell, and the sax section played a short concert at Cayuga Ridge Extended Care.

 In early April, the BRMB continued its annual participation in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. We formed a relay fundraising team and performed for other walkers/runners during the event. We’re always happy to continue to be a part of this fantastic community service opportunity! We will also be participating, for the first time, in a Cornell-wide Bring Your Child to Work Day. We will be holding an educational session for 8-12 year-olds, teaching them about the joys of marching band to get them excited to join band when they’re older.

This year, the band’s annual Spring Concert will be held on April 19^th at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market. Last year was the first time in recent years that the concert took place at the farmer’s market, and it was so successful that they asked us to come back this year!

We’re impossibly excited for the remainder of the spring semester and all of the chances to showcase the phenomenon that is the Big Red Marching Band. Naturally, we’re just as excited for this upcoming fall, which will feature trips to Harvard, Brown and Columbia (oh my!), and of course, Homecoming. We hope to see you all there!

Michaela Olson ’16 & Alex Settle ’16.

Homecoming was an unbelievable start to the semester! The dedication ceremony for the Fischell Band Center was such an important moment for the Big Red Bands and I am so honored to have taken part in that piece of band history. Although it literally rained on our parade, the band’s spirit was high and we were able to perform our Evolution of Rock show. Our victory over Bucknell also heralded the return of Cornell Victorious as the football team’s victory song, as well as a new tradition with the Football team singing along with the band.

A few weeks later, the band was lucky enough to travel to Montreal to play at an Allouettes game. We were able to perform the Evolution of Rock and Les Miserables shows, which featured several trumpet and horn soloists and trios. Watching the band perform one of my favorite shows in my four years with the Marching Band in front of 10,000 people is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

The second half of our season was just as eventful as the first. Our third show was the most difficult in my four years with the Marching Band. However, the band really rose to the occasion and did a phenomenal job with songs like Ascend and Reflections of Form, which are written in 5/4, 6/4 and 7/4. The band was also fortunate enough to be invited to play in Herald Square in New York City the night before we played at Princeton.

Students and alumni jam together at the Herald Square Concert in NYC, Fall 2013.

Seeing the band rock out in the middle of a huge crowd in New York City is one of my favorite memories from my time atop the ladder, and a tourist passing by told us that they could hear us from the top of the Empire State Building!

The last game against Penn was a fitting wrap up to the season! In addition to playing our Stevie Wonder Show and a postgame concert just as the sun set, the football game itself came down to Cornell blocking an extra point for the win!

In all, this season was everything that I could have hoped for as Drum Major. I truly loved every minute of my time atop the ladder and I am so excited for the new leadership of the Big Red Marching Band to continue the band’s legacy!

Steve Albanese ’14

The season started off with a bang, with First Night appearances by Coach Archer, President Skorton, and the band’s advisor Mark McCarthy. After a few weeks of rehearsing and getting to know the new members, we gathered with alumni for the dedication of the Fischell Band Center at Homecoming. I felt so fortunate to be able to help plan such a special moment in the band’s history. The band toughed out the torrential downpour until the end of the day, when we gave a very soggy post-game concert in our new facility.

My favorite band memory at Cornell was this year’s trip to Montreal, where we had the pleasure of performing at an Alouettes home game over fall break. Band members enjoyed the city on Sunday night, and got up early on Monday to rehearse on the CFL field. Although CFL fields are slightly different than the fields we are used to marching on, the band pulled off two show-stopping performances to a full football stadium. And, to my delight, we managed to get three full buses across the border in less than 30 minutes!

Another highlight of the season was playing a concert at Herald Square the night before the Princeton game. Seeing each band member having a blast while performing in the heart of New York City truly made the stress of planning the trip more than worth it.

We always tell new members about the fundamental conservation law of band: the time and effort that you put into the band equals the reward that you get out of it. After serving as Head Manager, I now know that this law doesn’t always hold. Every frantic email and sleepless night planning trips was rewarded tenfold any time I saw a band member having fun at a rehearsal or a performance. For me, band has always been 80% about the community and 20% about the music. Our instruments brought us together initially, but at the end of the day, we’re just a big, dysfunctional family.

Luckily, I don’t have to leave my band family just yet. I plan to stay at Cornell for another year to pursue an M.Eng in Mechanical Engineering. What I’m most excited about, though, is being around to see where the new leadership takes the band in 2014. Leading the band was such an amazing experience, and I hope Alex and Michaela have as much fun as I did!

Shelby Hulett ‘14

The Pep Band attended all of the home games for both the men’s and women’s hockey teams. We also made three regular season trips with the men’s hockey team to Harvard/Dartmouth, Yale/Brown and Princeton/Quinnipiac. We played a concert in downtown Boston during the Harvard/Dartmouth trip, thanks to coordination by Bri Olson ’07, and it was a pretty big success! It was a thrill to watch senior, Andy Iles tend goal all season long, and be named ECAC goaltender of the week at the end February. The team had a great 4 point weekend on the last trip of the regular season, with wins against both Quinnipiac and Princeton. The men’s hockey team won the Ivy League Title with the 4-1 win against Princeton. We’ve enjoyed playing for men’s and women’s basketball games at Newman as well throughout the semester. The university decided to hold a spring Club Fest event for the first time which we attended, and even managed to get some new membership and interest! The 2014-15 Pep Band Schedule looks really amazing too. Cornell will face off against Penn State in The Frozen Apple at New York’s Madison Square Garden Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 at 8 p.m. In 2015, the Pep Band will travel to Union and RPI on January 16 and 17, to Dartmouth and Harvard on February 14/15 and to Brown/Yale on February 27 and 28. We look forward to seeing you!

 Michelle Yanda ’15

Joshua Schupp conducts co-conductor Frank Gonzalez’s arrangement of “Radioactive” at the Harvard Game/Senior Night/Fancy Hockey!

The band plays the Alma in it’s full glory! Special guest appearances from alumni and past conductors!

Subscribe to the BRPB Historian on Youtube!

About five years ago, the band drill began to change drastically from the days of picture drill. We now write drill that focuses mainly on movement and geometrically interesting formations. Last year, Nick “Inky” Lamson ’14 and I started to push the band a little more with some harder drill and despite the expected objections, all the shows looked great.  This past season, Corey Chang ’15 and I chose even harder music and even more difficult drill.  However, the band continued to rise to the challenge, and the shows looked even better than last year’s.

Last year when we were writing our first show, the Latin Show, we found drill from when the band had performed Encantada many years ago.  One of the sets was the shape of a chili pepper, and the idea of making a shape like this seemed completely foreign to us.  We instead chose to go with an interesting geometric shape to start the show, and it turned out really well.  Since then, I’ve known that avoiding picture drill is always the right way to go.

I’m extremely grateful to those ShowComm Chairs of the past five years for blazing this trail for me and for future Show Committee Chairs.  I’m also very thankful to have been able to hold this position for two years, and even when band members gave me grief, I always found it extremely rewarding to see the band put on a great show that I created.

Hallie Klein ’14

The Big Red Band rocking it at the Hahvahd home game!

Fall 2013 Shows:

Alumni at Homecoming 2013:

Evolution of Rock: Elvis Medley, Hey Jude, Carry on My Wayward Son

Les Miserables: At the End of the Day, I Dreamed a Dream, On My Own/Do You Hear the People Sing?/ One Day More

Flight: Fanfare for the Third Planet, Ascend, Reflections of Form

Stevie Wonder: Signed, Sealed, Delivered; Sir Duke, Superstition

Hey alumni! The Big Red Flutes had an AMAZING 2013 season! This past year, we gave Cornell great press- performing our hot dance moves in Canada, at the Montreal Alouttes’ game, and New York City’s Herald Square! The Time Warp remains ever popular along with the newer “Gangnam Style” in Everybody’s Everything. Meanwhile, in Ithaca, we performed at Relay for Life, and had our Spring Concert at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market! Everywhere we go, we obtain a fan base. The best story this year was getting a bunch of tiny Princeton hecklers to like the BRMB, and Cornell, through our charm and wit!

The Clarinets this year had an eventful year. The section leader chair that has been passed down from section leader to section leader was rescued from the horror that is Barton Hall’s dumpster and was successfully passed down.  Things breaking was another theme: flip folders flew away and ligatures were replaced by rubber bands. On the plus side, we hosted sectionals: AND PEOPLE CAME! We continued a several year old tradition of watching Mean Girls and created a new one: yelling Leslie at anyone in games who screwed up in any capacity. Will that tradition stick? Who knows, but we had fun with it this year!

The Saxes had yet another excellent season. After wanting more for so long, we had an astounding FIFTY saxes at First Night (not counting our saxy drum major and head manager). This year, we added two new cheers to our repertoire: The Entertainer (Nick Webb ’16) and Anna Molly (Joey Fagnilli ’14). We also had our latest action (and fear) filled round of saxy assassins, featuring master assassins Monica “the face in the crowd” Jacobs (’14), Ben “the limerick life-ender” Siper (’17), and the eventual winner Cameron “two years in a row” Glass (’13).  Thanks saxes!

This past fall, the Color Guard proudly celebrated its 20th season.  Our shows featured a variety of equipment, including red, black and shimmering flags, rifles, and swing flags.  We enjoyed a couple of dance numbers, like our swing dance during the Elvis Medley and ballet during the Abstract show.  We brought theatrics to the Les Miserables show, during which several members portrayed characters like Eponine, Marius, and Jean Valjean during solos and features – and we were thrilled at the opportunity to perform this show in Montreal for the Canadian Football League.  We’re looking forward to more fun next season!

This past season, the Trumpets continued our long-standing tradition of marching, sounding, and looking excellent.  We got an awesome (though small) class of new members in both the marching and pep bands, and they all look forward to continuing the tradition of trumpet awesomeness.  Soloists this season included Buddy Holly, ’14, Inky Lamson, ’14, Schwegger Holmes, ’15, Luigi Widom, ’16, and Michaela Olson, ’16.  The trumpets would also like to congratulate Michaela on being elected Drum Major, and Michelle Yanda (via skype), ’15 for being elected Pep Band Manager.  The bands are very lucky to have these trumpet ladies as their leaders!

Welcome to the Horns! We’re that awkward section laughing at our own jokes and galloping past you during parades. The horn section may be small but we’re making up for it in Pep Band with attendance; it is not a rare occurrence for the horns to be one of the larger sections at an event! The horn section is also beginning to recruit more Y-chromosomes, including two male section leaders. Come hang out with us and see for yourself why we’re so awesome!

Being a Big Red Bone is always rewarding, but it’s never more rewarding than during Grand Bonecoming. Every third year, any Bone alumni who can possibly make it find their way to Ithaca to celebrate Cornell and, above all, the Bones.  Bones from nearly every class between ’90 and ’17 attended Grand Bonecoming. After watching both a 17-year-old girl and 40-year-old man complete the Pinesburger challenge, or perhaps while watching a group of alumni from the 90s giggle like little kids at Cards Against Humanity, one thing is clear: though the Bones change a lot over the years, we never stop being a family. Somehow we Bones always have things in common, regardless of what age or walk of life we are, and no matter how much they change, the Bones will always be family.

2013 was surely a year of glory for the Tuba Section. Recruiting a near record 5 new members (4 spectacular freshmen and an especially hipster transfer student), this year was definitely a big one; even requiring us to borrow tubas from Ithaca High School for homecoming to accommodate alumni. All our underclassmen grew as musicians and students (we even can almost pinwheel now!). Thanks to our seniors, Brock Mendoza and Julia Buffinton (recovering clarinet), who were indispensable in making this year’s successes possible. We could not be more excited for next year as Josh Reichler ’16 takes the reins as Section Liaison. Thanks for the amazing time!

The Drum Line is too cool to be in Band Notes!

The Fischells speaking at the Dedication Ceremony of the Fischell Band Center, Fall 2013.

Just Got Hitched: Tom Pasniewski ’98 married Katie Dankleff on June 8, 2013 on a farm just outside Lincoln, Nebraska near her hometown. A graduate of the University of Nebraska and a lifelong fan of Nebraska’s “Big Red,” Katie found the transition to rooting for Cornell to be an easy one and shares Tom’s interest in Cornell athletics. After spending the last 15 years entrenched in the Cornell alumni scene around Boston, Tom relocated with Katie to Lawrence, Kansas in the summer of 2013 to be closer to Katie’s family. Tom will miss the ease of attending Cornell athletic and other alumni events that life on the east coast afforded.

Another special day was March 22 which marked the marriage of Samantha Spindel ’08 and ’09 (flute) and Justin Musaffi ’08 (trumpet). The happy couple were married in Bethesda, MD with the wedding party including Trevor Goff ’08 (trumpet) and many other bandies in attendance. Near the end of the reception, all alums gathered to sing the alma mater. Dr. Spindel and Dr. Musaffi’s wedding was also featured in the NY Times and can be read here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/fashion/weddings/a-mystery-writers-ulterior-motive.html

Big Red Drum Majors, past and present, pose on the ladder during Homecoming, Fall 2013.

BRMB – The Next Generation: The classes of the ‘90s are creating the next generation of Big Red Bandies.  Johnny Chan ’97 welcomed son Ryan Desmond on February 15. Ryan joins big brother Julian in the Chan clan. Meantime, also on February 15, Kevin Wise ’94 welcomed another daughter, Allison Rose, making Emilie a big sister.

Moving up in the World: Jeff Anbinder ’94 writes “Only a few months after starting a new fundraising job with Seton Hall University in October, 2013, I was recruited by the American Civil Liberties Union to make another change. As of March 24, 2014, I’m now on the Leadership Gifts staff of the ACLU, back in Manhattan (financial district). I’ll be working with major donors and prospects in the DC/VA/MD area, small parts of the south and Midwest, and large parts of the southwest and California.”

Riding High: Stephen Jessup ’02, MS ’06, PhD ’11 is putting his degrees to good use.  “I have been teaching meteorology as a Visiting Assistant Professor since August at SUNY Brockport, and I will be staying here as an Assistant Professor on the tenure track.”

Many congratulations to our Band Alumni and all the best for the future! We always love hearing from our Big Red Marching Band Family so please don’t hesitate to share any news from your lives (marriage, kids, new job, dream house, etc.) with us.

The outgoing Class of 2014 and our incoming bunch of new band alumni at Nonsectarian, Fall 2013.

Click here to read the original article

Club Spotlight: Big Red Bands Alumni Association

At Homecoming, alumni of the Big Red Marching Band and Big Red Pep Band will gather for a big celebration: the dedication of a new practice facility behind Schoellkopf Crescent on Kite Hill. It was launched with a lead gift from former members David Fischell ’75, PhD ’80, and Sarah Thole Fischell ’78, MEN ’79, whose children were also in the band. The new facility will offer more practice and storage space—and move the bands out of their home of more than fifty years, a cramped room in Barton Hall.

The Big Red Bands Alumni Association (BRBAA) is almost done raising the $1 million it needed to build the facility— a major milestone in that organization’s history, which has long worked to provide financial support for both bands. The Alumni Association was founded in the early Eighties out of financial need for the marching band. “When I was a freshman in 1978, the music department told us that within three years they would stop financial support of the band,” says Stacey Hunt Montalto ’82. “For the next two years we tried all sorts of fundraising options, but it wasn’t enough.” When Montalto was elected student head manager in her junior year—and facing the band’s potential dissolution—she took a huge step. Gathering all the financial data she could find, she presented her case to the Department of Athletics as to why it should support the band. “They had a limited budget, but they were able to give us money, and we became associated with Athletics,” Montalto recalls. “We were also very lucky because the assistant in that office was Georgian Leonard, who loved the band and took us under her wing. For the next two decades, she would do whatever she could to support the band. It was all out of the goodness of her heart.”

But the Athletics funding wasn’t enough. Luckily, former drum major Dwight “Duke” Vicks II ’54, MBA ’57, entered the picture. His daughter, Cathy Vicks ’80, was serving as drum major during Montalto’s freshman year; son Dwight III ’84, MBA ’91, would eventually become drum major himself. Vicks saw the desperate times the band was facing and rallied his classmates. With the aim of providing ongoing financial support, the Big Red Bands Alumni Association was founded in 1982, with Vicks as president and Montalto as vice president. With Leonard’s help, BRBAA began to work with students to hold phonathons, reaching out to alumni to ask them to support the band. “It was probably the first time a student group pitched its alumni for a major financial undertaking,” Montalto says. “To this day, the students still do it. And they know that once they leave the band, they will be expected to support the band the same way, so there is a natural evolution and financial support has grown.”

However, BRBAA knew that phonathons would cover only annual operating expenses and not long-term needs such as instrument and uniform replenishment. So in the mid-Eighties, it created an endowment fund. Chaired by Vicks, the successful campaign was launched with a 1989 Carnegie Hall concert celebrating the retirement of the band’s longtime music advisor, Marice Stith.

BRBAA has also taken on an advisory role, helping to guide the student leadership of both bands. “There’s an important part of BRBAA that is almost as valuable as the financial aspects,” says current president Lowell Frank ’99, MD ’03, “and that’s the empowerment of the student leadership— whether it’s offering advice and experience, providing continuity over the years, or serving as a liaison between University units. It’s challenging at times, because our involvement will morph each year as different students are elected to leadership positions, but preserving the student-run nature of the band is very important.”

In addition, BRBAA helps make sure that alumni are connected with the band and to each other. Since 1981, former members have been invited to play on the field at halftime of the Homecoming game. BRBAA also hosts get-togethers at road games or when the pep band travels. “We’re trying to adapt our communications strategy to get information out to our alumni and supporters in a more timely manner, through an evolving Web presence and social media,” says Frank. “We are also cultivating our relationships within the University to improve communication on campus, and we’re working on more long-term financial planning.”

While the band has come a long way—from its original status within ROTC to the admittance of women in 1971 to the new facility on Kite Hill— there is nostalgia for times past. But alumni know things need to change. “Many of us will miss Barton Hall; small, cramped, under-ventilated quarters do lead to a lot of bonding,” says Frank. “Still, many of us alumni are a little bit jealous of their fantastic space and the larger symbolic role it can play for the students. Their time, dedication, spirit, and sweat do matter to Cornell— and they should know that the work they do is appreciated.”

The Big Red Bands facility dedication is set for 11:30 a.m. on the Saturday of Homecoming.

Use the links below to download and print your part ahead of time and save some time on the morning of the game. Note that the piece will start with an 8-bar intro by the trumpets and percussion before the beginning of the piece.

Flute / Piccolo

Clarinet

Alto Sax

Tenor Sax

Horn

1st Trumpet

2nd Trumpet

3rd Trumpet

1st Trombone

2nd Trombone

Tuba

Bells / Xylophone

Thank you to all who joined us for Reunion!

Join the Big Red Band for Homecoming 2013, September 20-21!

Come join friends old and new during this year’s Homecoming Weekend! This Homecoming is more special than ever as we officially unveil the new Big Red Bands facility. As a cooperative effort of the Cornell community and the Big Red Band’s large alumni network, this state-of the art, LEEDS approved building will be in full operation for our Homecoming festivities.

Join the band on Saturday, September 20, as the Big Red take on the Bucknell Bisons. Come witness and participate in Big Red Bands history, as we dedicate the new Big Red Bands facility behind the Schoellkopf Crescent. The schedule for game day is as follows:

9:45 AM – Morning rehearsal begins on Alumni Field
10:20 AM – Alumni join rehearsal for drill write-in
10:40 AM – Morning rehearsal ends
11:30 AM – Big Red Bands facility dedication ceremony
12:00 PM – Alumni luncheon
1:00 PM – Step off to Ho Plaza
1:15 PM – Concert on Ho Plaza, in front of Cornell Store
1:45 PM – Step off to Kite Hill
2:00 PM – Concert on Kite Hill
2:25 PM – Step off to Schoellkopf Field for the pre-game show
2:45 PM – Pre-game show
3:00 PM – Kickoff against Bucknell

The Big Red Bands Alumni Association has reserved blocks at several local hotels. These rooms are going fast, so book now!

Hotels

Country Inn and Suites
1100 Danby Road
(607) 256-1100
Rate: $179/night, under the name HOMECOMING 2013
Deadline: September 1

Marriott Courtyard
29 Thornwood Drive
(607) 330-1000
Rate: $229/night, under the name BIG RED BANDS
Deadline: August 20

Ramada Inn
2310 N. Triphammer Road
(607) 257-3100
Rate: $149.95/night, under the name BIG RED BANDS
Deadline: August 23

We look forward to meeting you during Homecoming!

Anita Mbogoni ’15 and Kevin Milian ’15
2013 Big Red Marching Band Alumni Relations Chairs

More details will be made available in the weeks ahead, but make sure you’re there for the dedication and luncheon celebration, on Saturday, September 20, beginning at 11:30am.

Look for registration information via email soon, but in the meantime, don’t forget to book your hotel rooms. We’ve reserved blocks at several local hotels, but they’ll go fast, so book now.

Hotels

Country Inn and Suites
1100 Danby Road
(607) 256-1100
Rate: $179/night, under the name HOMECOMING 2013
Deadline: September 1

Marriott Courtyard
29 Thornwood Drive
(607) 330-1000
Rate: $229/night, under the name BIG RED BANDS
Deadline: August 20

Ramada Inn
2310 N. Triphammer Road
(607) 257-3100
Rate: $149.95/night, under the name BIG RED BANDS
Deadline: August 23

Well, it’s that time of year again: final exams are done, dorm rooms are all packed up, and another senior class will soon move on to bigger and better things out in the real world (or at graduate school). It seems like just yesterday it was August, and we were welcoming the Class of 2016 to our ranks; now, as another academic year draws to a close, we are looking forward to our big move into the new Big Red Bands facility on Kite Hill at the end of May, and to Reunion Weekend (June 6-9, 2013).

And now, presenting your 2013 Alumni Relations Chairs:

Hello! My name is Anita Mbogoni ’15, and I hail from Queens, NY. I am a biology and society major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with minors in inequality studies, science and technology studies, and music. In addition to Alumni Relations Chair, I’m very excited to serve as Clarinet Section Leader this year. The band has had an overwhelmingly positive impact on my Cornell experience thus far, and I eagerly await another year of great music and wonderful memories with the only REAL marching band in the Ivy League!

My name is Kevin Milian ’15 and I come from Guatemala City, Guatemala. I am a communications major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with a minor in archaeology. Being in the marching band for the past two years has been a blast. I brought in the freshman Class of 2016 as Publicity Chair and now I get to work with the other side of the coin–our large alumni network. As the band moves to our new facility, I anticipate a new “golden age” for our band, and I’m excited to be a part of it. Here’s to a great new semester! Let’s Go Red!

As a way to reduce our carbon footprint, we are getting rid of paper issues and going green. We hope you enjoy this first digital issue of the Band Notes! If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to write to either of us. You can reach Anita at aam93@cornell.edu and Kevin at kjm259@cornell.edu. We look forward to meeting you all in the coming months!

Your faithful Alumni Relations Chairs,

Anita Mbogoni ‘15 and Kevin Milian ‘15

Before I continue, I want to thank our outgoing Chair of the past four years, Eva Chiamulera ’97. While the day-to-day operations of the Bands are quite appropriately the responsibility of the student leaders, Eva has worked hard behind the scenes over the past few years to assist them in their endeavors. Eva put in countless hours in between meetings to allow the Band to thrive despite some difficult transitions. So if I may… aardvark Eva!

I’d like to lay out my priorities for the Big Red Bands Alumni Association for the next two years.

First and foremost, we will streamline communications with all of our alumni. Our listserv, BRBAA-L, is long defunct, Facebook doesn’t reach everybody, and print newsletters carry issues of timeliness as well as cost. Over the next four months, we will develop a strategy for keeping you informed of what is important in the Big Red Band universe. And most importantly, we will let you know what that strategy isso that you know where and when to expect updates. While it is an intermediate step, this electronic newsletter is a large part of how we intend to keep in touch with you moving forward.

Second, we will develop and cultivate relationships with key stakeholders in the band. This includes traditional associations (Athletics, Music) but also underutilized resources (Alumni Affairs, Student and Academic Services). By doing this, we hope to maintain the important stature of the Bands to Cornell, both on campus and beyond, and position ourselves to best empower the student leaders.

Third, we will continue the BRBAA’s strong tradition of long-term financial planning and fiscal responsibility for the Bands. The bands have never wavered in their support for Cornell, for example, by traveling to FIVE different NCAA tournaments in a given spring semester. Of course, this requires careful planning and allocation of resources, and we will do our best to ensure that opportunities for Band members to have better experiences are only limited by how far the teams go!

Moving forward, we hope to inform you, our loyal alumni, on what is going on with the Big Red Marching Band and the Big Red Pep Band. What I ask of you is to let me know what you want to know! Are you interested in how we’re using your generous gifts? Are you wondering how the band functions in the ever-changing Cornell landscape? Or do you want to see some pictures of the students in action and know if they’re still playing <fill in your favorite song here&rt;? Please feel free to reach out to Marching Band Head Manager Shelby Hulett, Drum Major Steve Albanese, Pep Band Manager Nick Lamson, or our wonderful Alumni Relations chairs, Kevin Milian and Anita Mbogoni. I want to hear from you, too – you can reach me at lhf3@cornell.edu.

Whether you follow the Bands’ exploits closely, attend a football or hockey game once a year, or anything in between, your support is what allows the great traditions that we all enjoyed to continue and for new ones to develop. In many ways, you are helping the same Big Red Band spirit and personality that we all loved in our college years positively influence many generations of bandies as well as amuse, entertain, and excite audiences in Ithaca and beyond.

Enthusiastically Yours,

Lowell Frank ’99, M.D. ’03
Chair, Big Red Bands Alumni association

Over the past two years we have had the unique opportunity to hone our leadership skills while having the privilege of interacting with past, present, and future members of the BRMB. While our first year was spent mostly figuring things out, we felt that in the second year we were able to implement some changes that have helped the band become a better organization. Although we will be sad not to have the BRMB in our daily lives this upcoming fall (why is there no marching band in the real world?), we know we are leaving it in good hands. We were so excited to help with the development of the plans for the new band facility and look forward to attending future reunions and homecomings in this new space. Even though the basement of Barton will always hold a special place in our hearts (and perhaps our lungs), we’re glad to see the visions of many past and present members being put into action in the new band facility. We are excited for the many opportunities this move will afford the band for interaction with the community, in addition to the fancy new doors and storage spaces.

This summer, when Jess ventures around the globe to teach in India and Jen takes her ruby slippers on down to Columbia University (not to be confused with Colombia, the Latin American country) to earn a master’s degree in secondary education, we will both be far from Cornell and the group of friends that we have been so fortunate to make through our participation in the marching band. The past two years have been an unforgettable experience and we are both so glad to have had the chance to lead the BRMB. Without the band, we would both be much different (probably more sane) people, and we feel so special to have been able to impact and be impacted by the only REAL marching band in the Ivy League.

In the words of our illustrious advisor, Mark, “Peace, Love, and Happiness.”

Jess Reno ’13 and Jen Goforth ‘13

In retrospect, the thought of not fitting into band is ridiculous, and that’s what makes it so special. The one thing that the Big Red Band does better than any other organization on campus is making every person feel welcome. Coming into a big school like Cornell, it’s easy to get lost. Band snags you from your parents on registration day, immediately immersing you in a group of 200 people who want to meet you.

Throughout the fall, I was just taken aback by how genuinely friendly these people were. I wasn’t that involved in band socially until October, but once I became more involved it was as if I had been there the whole time. My band friends became good friends and I no longer felt merely welcome, I felt wanted. Likewise, I wanted to get more involved in band, so I ran for Pep Band secretary.

When spring semester came, it all started to feel real. In the fall I was still a freshman who knew next to nothing about anything. But due to the Pep Band being split across several simultaneous events during particularly busy weekends, I found myself playing snare and rolling off for Davy at men’s hockey playoff games and actually having responsibility in the band. Though scary at first, it made me really understand what being in the band means.

As the year went on, my band friends became my best friends who I knew I could count on. When my housing situation for sophomore year got complicated, it was the residents of the tuba-sax house that helped me out. I go to pep band events all week and yet somehow I’m still not sick of it by rehearsal on Monday. Band is my life now and I couldn’t be happier about it. There isn’t an organization quite like it anywhere else.

But of course, it is the traditions that hold us together and make us who we are, and for that we must thank the alumni. The great, friendly people who made me feel welcome would not be here if they hadn’t been treated just as well when they entered the band. I was afraid of marching but the second I saw just how the Big Red Band marches, I knew there was nothing to be afraid of, and while we scream our heads off and dance up Tower Road, I know that somebody a long way back decided that it would be a good idea, and for that we say thank you.

As freshman year rolls into a close, I know that my four years far above Cayuga’s waters will be much better than I ever could have expected, thanks to the Big Red Bands.

Alex Settle ‘16