Your support is critical for the continued success of the Big Red Bands. The phonathon was a great success; we raised over $31,619 for the Bands in two evenings of calling! As you know, Big Red Band Alumni are incredibly loyal, and your generosity has allowed the Bands to maintain a consistent level of performance. Last year, however, allowed us to look forward, with 2014-2015 annual gifts topping $100,000 for the first time ever. This was in large part due to Giving Day, which allowed us to shatter our previous record gift total by over $25,000.
What is Giving Day? It’s an opportunity to share stories, memories, and pictures with all your friends and fellow Band alumni. It’s a chance to reminisce via social media at your desk, in your home, or wherever you may be, and raise some much needed gifts for the Bands at the same time. The response to all the posts last year was overwhelmingly positive, and we look forward to an even stronger alumni presence this time around! Furthermore, we have even more to gain – there will be matching funds available throughout the day for the organization with the highest number of participants. Reach out to your friends and plan on sharing some memories – it really is the participation that counts! If you have some pictures and/or stories you’d like to share to the whole crowd, please email them to our Alumni Association Chair, Lowell Frank ’99, ’03, and they’ll go out on our Facebook and Twitter feeds throughout the day. Lowell can be reached at lhf3@cornell.edu.
The second-ever Giving Day will begin at 12:00 AM on Tuesday April 19th and last for 24 hours; if you will be making a gift to Cornell that day, please #remembertheband and allocate your donation to the Bands. To do so, select “Athletics” and write “Big Red Bands.” Be sure to check out our social media pages – we’ve gone through photo albums and archives to find some iconic band pictures and will be posting them throughout the day.
To celebrate, we will be streaming a concert live from Fischell Band Center! Be sure to tune in on the 19th at 7:30 P.M. and hear the Big Red Marching Band and the Big Red Pep Band play your favorite tunes. Instructions on how to watch will be coming soon in an email.
Thank you again for your continued support!
#remembertheband,
Kristen Rose Baxter ‘18 and Odalis Flores ‘19
Hey Band!
I’m Bethany Angeliu, and I’m proud to say that I will be Head Manager of the only REAL Marching Band in the Ivy League for 2016! These last two years I’ve been a member of the Trumpet section with a claim to fame of maintaining a special tradition at Columbia games. I’m studying Industrial and Labor Relations, but with all the time I spend between the Bands I sometimes feel like I could minor in Music! I’m excited to give my energy to organizing everything in store for the Band this year.
On Monday, March 7th we were saddened to learn about the passing of President Elizabeth Garrett. The Band appeared at a candlelight vigil the next evening, where a member of the Band spoke of President Garrett’s support of the Band and Cornell spirit, and we performed the Alma Mater, Chimes, and Evening Song to honor her memory. In the words of Michaela Olson ’16, “Beth is in every note and every melody and every song that the band plays to bring spirit and celebration to Cornell University. We are not only wishing her farewell, but inviting her to stay with us and inspire us as we work to making her vision a reality.”
Our spring season began with an exciting NEW event: we performed in the Horseheads, NY St. Patrick’s Day Parade! It was great to don our uniforms and represent Cornell in the greater community. We also helped kick off the 91st annual Hotel Ezra Cornell conference by taking Statler Hall by storm between classes. You’d think the Hotelies would be used to it by now…
Coming up later this month, we are excited to announce that the Band will be performing again for Giving Day on April 19th! After last year’s success, we’ll be on the live broadcast again performing from the Fischell Band Center. Be sure to tune in to the broadcast that evening to watch.
Aside from our preparations (already!) for the Fall season, April is bringing us many opportunities to play. Once again we will parade for prefrosh at Cornell Days and perform at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. We’re also participating in Cornell’s Bring Your Child to Work Day with an educational session for 8-12 year-olds – after all, you’re never too young to get excited about band! We’re also looking into our Bandsmen getting involved with Therapy Thru Music at retirement homes in the immediate Ithaca area.
Our much-anticipated Spring Concert is currently scheduled for April 23rd, this year on the newly renovated Commons in Downtown Ithaca! We’re hoping for clear skies and warm temperatures, which is looking more and more likely as the semester goes on.
Well, it might not be the Sesquicentennial anymore but the Band will still be an active presence on and around campus. I’m already looking forward to Homecoming (our first game!) and our trips to Harvard, Brown, and Columbia in the fall. We’re hoping to see you then if not sooner! And I’m excited to serve in a new way for the Big Red Marching Band this year.
Bethany Angeliu ‘18
Howdy, everybody! My name is Sergio Manuel Preciado (but please, call me “Serge”), and I’m the 2016 Drum Major. I’m a pre-med junior in CALS, majoring in Biological Sciences with a concentration in Molecular and Cell Biology. Before I switched to the arms, I played Alto Sax during the past three seasons and dabbled in Tenor Sax in the Pep Band. I was also a member of the show committee in 2014 and served as equipment chair and Saxophone co-section leader in 2015. I was raised in McAllen, Texas, where my love of air conditioning, Whataburger, and marching bands began.
Our first event was a solemn one. On March 7th, the band and the Cornell community were shocked to hear of the passing of President Elizabeth Garret. The next day a candlelight vigil was held on Ho Plaza to commemorate her life. Several Cornellians, including our own Michaela Olson ’16, spoke about Presidents Garret’s impact on the community. The band came together and performed the Alma Mater, Chimes, and Evening Song to close the ceremonies that evening. Although she was only our president for a short time, her enthusiasm for and interactions with the Big Red Bands will not be forgotten.
Following the vigil, our spring “season” started to kick off! We performed at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Horseheads, NY, the first time we’ve done so in recent history. The band paraded down Horseheads’ main street and played Davy, MYOC, and NCFS for the crowd (although some of us may have forgotten to wear green)! At our next event we helped the hotel students stage their annual coup of the Statler Hotel: Hotel Ezra Cornell, or HEC! HEC is a weekend-long event where the hotel students run the Statler Hotel, and we paraded through and concerted in the building to kick off the event. No hotelies were harmed in the making of this event, although we can’t say the same for one particular “Exit” sign.
That’s all I’ve got for now! Hopefully you’ll be seeing us soon, either in-person or digitally (#RememberTheBand)! Expect more updates from us in June, and don’t forget to tip your waitress.
Sergio “Serge” Preciado ’17
Hey everyone! My name is Elizabeth Martinson and I’m the Pep Band Manager for 2016. I am a junior history major and have loved band since the first time I visited campus. It has been a fun spring so far and I am grateful for all of the help I have received from Vincent Sheppard ’17 and Jason Hutzler ’16, our conductors. This is Vincent’s second semester in the position so it is safe to say he has been around the block a few times.
This spring we traveled to Clarkson and St. Lawrence, Quinnipiac and Princeton and lastly, Harvard and Dartmouth. The trips went well and the band enjoyed spending time in Boston with our alumni and the Harvard band. We also met a member of the Harvard men’s team who complimented us on our performance on Friday and told us he loved the energy we bring with songs such as Gary Glitter to begin the third period. Both the men’s and women’s hockey teams made it into the playoffs, but the women were unfortunately knocked out in two games by Clarkson, ending a late season winning streak of four games. The men’s games have been a little more rough with our first home win of the semester not coming until game one of the playoff series against Union.
Outside of hockey, we have enjoyed playing at men’s and women’s basketball games and even received some pizza from the women’s team coaches as a thank you. We are looking forward to the start of the lacrosse season. The first games we played at were March 12th against Columbia (women) and University of Virginia (men). As of March 6th, the women were 3-0 on the season, hopefully this trend continues throughout the spring.
We have also been approached to play at the Kendal Retirement Home, near the Ithaca mall, in late April. We will be playing there for an hour and getting to meet some of the residents afterwards. We have had a few new members join us this semester and they have thrown themselves in, coming to all the events they can. Feel free to reach out to me if you are visiting Ithaca and would like to join the band. My email is ejm295@cornell.edu.
–Elizabeth Martinson ‘17
Hey alumni!
I’m Vincent, a returning conductor this semester! It’s been such an honor to be re-elected by the band, and we’re on track to make this semester even more productive than the last. We have just added yet another piece from Student Arrangers’ Day last fall, and I’m so pleased that it is continuing to yield us positive results.
This semester saw the band travelling three times during the regular season, to North Country, Quinnipiac/Princeton, and Harvard/Dartmouth. The band was spectacular during the North Country trip, easily outcompeting the home teams’ fans in terms of team spirit and general volume. While Quinnipiac’s rink staff worked very hard to keep both the home and away bands quiet, Princeton was a dream as Hobey Baker Memorial Rink was packed with spirited Cornell alumni. We worked very well with the Princeton band to keep the energy up in an exciting game for Cornell, breaking a seven game streak of ties or losses.
As hockey and basketball winds down, the band is getting ready to once again brave the outdoors for lacrosse season. This will be an opportune time to test run some exciting new things before next season.
LGR,
Vincent Sheppard ‘17
Hi Alumni!
I’m Jason, one of the conductors for the Spring 2016 semester. This semester has been going great so far, and it looks to continue as we transition from hockey season to lacrosse. The band has been, as always, a fantastic part of the atmosphere every sporting event we have attended this semester. This was especially true in the first round of playoff hockey. The band provided much-needed energy to the Lynah Faithful before overtime against Union, where the Big Red secured a spot in the ECAC quarterfinals.
We’ve been trying a lot of new things this semester, including new songs and cheers like “Brooklyn” and “Uprising.” We are also trying new things in terms of events, playing a concert at Kendal Retirement Community and at a Big Red Baseball game against Harvard on April 2nd.
Being a Big Red Pep Band conductor has really brought a great new experience to my last semester at Cornell, and I’ve been so happy to be able to give back to the band in a new way. Band will be the thing I miss the most as I transition to medical school in Texas, but I’ve been so grateful to be a part of such a spectacular organization.
-Jason Hutzler ‘16
The Trumpets have continued their misbehavior and shenaniganry into the New Year. We continue to play fortisississississimo at all times. We are already getting psyched for the fall and the bounty of solos that come with it. We are also excited for the plethora of trumpets in new leadership: Pinto Smith ’17, section leader; Mary Amper ’18, SpinMaster (and showcomm), Bethany Angelieu ’18, Head Manager; Jeff Van ’19, Field Manager; Chris Sanchez ’19, Webmaster; Diana Herrera and Antony Gariolo ’19, Equipment Chairs; Zeyu Hu ’19, Publicity. We also want to wish all of our seniors the best as they go out and join the real world (ew).
The Clarinets have been keeping busy in the offseason! With two brand new section leaders, we’re very excited to be ringing in the new year! We’ve been trying out a few new events on the calendar, such as going ice skating together and watching the Oscars together. In marching news, we’ve continued to use last semester’s new parading move, Move JB, and we got to show off those moves during the Horseheads St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 12 and during Hotel Ezra Cornell on March 16. We’re also excited to be adding an entirely new apartment to Clarinet House for next year, giving us 4 new rooms, meaning that the entirety of 301 Cornell Street now belongs to the Clarinets! All in all, it’s shaping up to be a great semester, and we hope to see many of you on campus in both the Spring and the Fall!
The only real 8-mile-wide section in the Ivy League has been having a great time! The theme of this spring is “new,” as the Big Red Horns rang in the new year with our new section leaders, Snigdha Sharma ’18 and Sachi Koide ’18, as well as some exciting new events! We had our second annual Secret Valentines gift exchange in February, and we also got to march in a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Horseheads, NY. We’re already looking forward to the fall 2016 season, hoping to see the section continue to grow rapidly!
The Big Red Tubae have a lot going on this semester! Two of our outstanding Newbas, Will Hernandez and Chelsea Sanders, have stepped up to replace our dear comrade, Jordan Silver, as Uniform Chairs in the BRMB. Will is also pulling double duty as Pep Band Treasurer! Beyond that, we have cemented Taco Tuesday as a section tradition as dear to us as the Shirtless Rehearsal. We look forward to the myriad of musical events this semester has in store, as well as seizing the means of production from the bourgeoisie!
The Big Red Flutes are having a wonderful spring semester. We continued the traditions of cooking baking and Anti-Valentine’s Day throughout the semester. We are continuing to try to have weekly dinners and sporadic movie nights. Overall, we are looking forward to a lovely end of the year and the beginning of more marching events, filled with friends and flove.
Da Bones are having a pretty chill semester! We retained many of our new members this year and even picked up a new tone for pep band! We’re eagerly hoping that we match our amazing numbers next marching season! We had a really fun BoneRush, with trips to Dino, the Syracuse Mall, and the Pines. We have a couple of underbones currently working on some new bone cheers for next year and can’t wait to try them out over the spring. An underbone also arranged a song for marching band that we will hopefully play next season. We’re also very excited for Grand Bonecoming next semester and hope to see a lot of bone alums over that weekend!
The Saxes are jumping back into the school year. We started the semester with a very competitive board game night. The location? Sax House of course! For a refresher on the greatest place on earth, check out sax.house, a domain that the big red saxes proudly own and update. Other events we’ve had include a Superbowl (or Superb Owl) event and a celebration of Pi day. In other news, many saxes are being written into a story that describes the epic saga of the Hawaiian zombie apocalypse which is currently occurring in a parallel universe. Our section is also leading the charge in creating a marching jazz band.
The Colorguard is movi
ng up in the only real Marching Band in the Ivy League. Spectators at this year’s St Patrick’s Day Parade in Horseheads, NY saw the Guard marching at the front of the Big Red Band, instead of our usual “save the prettiest section for last” approach. We were lead by our newly elected leaders, captain Odile Maurelli ’17 (last season’s co-captain) and co-captain Lauren Russo ’18 (our baton twirler who has switched to spinning flags full-time). Guard has also gone international with two of our members, Suzannah Bretz ’17 and Amanda Morrison ’17, sending us love during their semester in Europe. Though we cry at the idea of losing our two seniors, Rachel Langey ’16 and Sarah Acre ’16, we’re excitedly looking forward to having new Guard babies next semester.
As usual, the drumline is too cool to be in BandNotes!
My first interaction with the Big Red Marching Band came in the spring of 2001. I was an incoming football recruit attending the spring football game. I was with my Dad prior to the game in the Cornell bookstore. I had turned down the chance to play at Harvard a few months earlier, despite a strong connection to the school and community pressure to attend. I knew Cornell was the place for me, but on that spring day in 2001 the Big Red Band completely confirmed it. My Dad and I were standing in the bookstore (it was probably also during Cornell Days) when suddenly the Band stormed through the doors and marched through the store playing Davy. I was hooked!
As a player I loved “The Schoellkopf March” as I refer to it – the pregame tradition of the marching band playing and leading the football team to the field prior to the game. As an assistant coach I developed tremendous respect for the countless hours they band members play on game days, the travel to away games, and the late Tuesday night practices during the season. And now as the head coach I am so thankful to the Big Red Band for the intense loyal support they show our team through some tough years as we build a championship program.
In my opinion you are the greatest symbol of or university. Like our academic colleges, you are many different parts (instruments and flags) with different skill sets, that when brought together you create something inspirational and outstanding. Thank you to members past and present, for your time, tremendous talent, and support of Cornell University!
GO BIG RED!
David Archer ’05
The Roger J. Weiss ’61
Head Coach of Football
We need your help with these mystery photos! Who are these people, and what’s the story? Email us at krb96@cornell.edu and of42@cornell.edu to tell us and we’ll publish your response!
1992
“The top photo (Aardvark off of Olin), the bandie to the far left is Fred Archer ’94.”
- Nicole (Vantuno) Wagner ’94
“That photo on Olin Library is of the tuba section. I believe the two Aardvarkers are Greg Carlson ’93 and me. The others, from left to right, are Avi Agarwal ’95, can’t tell who this is, Adam Reeve ’96, Eric Smith ’94 and Ralph Ciotti ‘95.”
- Thomas P. LaFalce, Jr. ’94
1992
“The second photo of the trumpets, bottom row with blue jacket sleeves is Jason Moore ’94. I’m sorry I don’t know more names off the top of my head, or stories behind the photos. Fun to see though, thanks for sharing!”
- Nicole (Vantuno) Wagner ’94
1995
1997
1990
“I wasn’t around this particular year, but in 80′s one of the fraternities ran a charity fundraiser called “Ugly Man on Campus”. The Tubas would campaigned as a section, play some Tuba tunes, and shake their instruments which were filled with coins and the audience would respond by throwing more money into their bells. The winner of the Ugly Man on Campus contest was determined by how much each raised. The Tuba section always did well.”
– Kurt, Bone 1980 – 1985
1993
“The Tic/Tac/Toe from ’93 has Chris Stuhlmiller in the middle (her married name). She used to live in Cleveland with her husband Chris (also a BRB alum.)”
– Kevin Stark, clarinet ’91
1958
“In the photo from 1958 the gentleman on the left is William Campbell, the director of bands for many years including ’47-‘52 when I was a clarinetist-member of both the Big Red Band and the Concert Band. He appears to be laying down the law to his companion, but I have no idea what it was about . He was a pretty gentle and congenial person.”
- John Wootton, Class of ‘51
“In the 1958 photo, that is Prof. William Campbell on the left, head Band Director, pretending to chew out Henry Romersa who was just hired to be the new assistant director in charge of formations. Maybe someone stepped out of line or didn’t do 8 steps to 5 yards? The sign in the background was used for taking pictures of each of the band members along with Prof. Campbell to send to the students’ local newspapers. I vaguely remember seeing that photo when it first came out. Lots of water under the bridge since then!! (or should I say ‘over the falls’?)”
-Bob Hoyler, clarinet, EE ’63 (started in Fall 1958 on 5-year engineering program)
“I’m probably the 4,328th person to ID this pic. It’s “Mr. C,” and “Mr. R,” more specifically Professor William Campbell (Left), head of the band program and Director of the Concert Band — and Chairman of the Music Department — and Professor Henry Romersa (Right), Director of the Rep Band and the Big Red Dancing Turkeys.”
- Tom Atwood ’63 1/2
“I very much enjoyed the picture in the latest BRB Notes of Professors Campbell and Romersa from 1958, the year I arrived at Cornell. They were talented taskmasters. They knew how to work us and make us love them at the same time.”
- Marc A. Gerber ’62
1973
1942-1943
1989
“In the 1989 photo, the guy holding the orange sign looks like Doug Onsi.”
- Joshua Abelson
“From left to right: dersk, Marc Goldman, Jon (whose last name I’ve forgotten), Marshall Kohen, Doug Onsi all class of 90. Jon was the head field manager and was super stressed out, so we had a small “We appreciate Jon” rally to cheer him up.”
- dersk, bone
1984
“You’ve got Dana Gerrard in two of the photos – one as an alum (with the crazy trombone thing) and with the apple and his Tuba-Partner-In-Crime Cliff Strat.”
- Stacey Montalto
“The main people in the picture are likely alumni. The white painter’s cap was passed out to alumni in my day. This trombone hung out in the back or on top of a cabinet in the old Band Room in Barton Hall. This picture was taken in the Band Room and was likely taken during Homecoming weekend during the morning rehearsal as there are coffee cups in this picture. I tried it once. It sounded awful. I don’t know who owned it or what became of it. I’m wondering if this is from slightly before 1984 as I don’t recognize the people in the picture – even in the background. It is possible the guy in the background on the far left with beard might be Rich Gordon ’85, a former pep band directory and clarinet.”
- John van Gelder ‘87, Baritone Horn
“I believe this was at taken at Homecoming with an Alumnus trying out the “Turkey-bone”. This multiple slide/valved/Bell instrument sat atop the lockers for most the season, but traditionally was taken out and played by the senior trombone player for the last home game of the season. Unfortunately I don’t recognize the player in the photo.”
- Kurt, Bone 1980 – 1985
2000
circa 1976-1980
“Dana and Cliff – the heart and soul of the Tuba section, in either ’78 or ’79. No two people wreaked more havoc on the drum major and other responsible bandies than these two. This may have been the beginning of the ‘Ugly’ era of the tuba section. I only spent one year in their section, but still have the scars, both physical and mental, to prove it. I still laugh out loud when I remember watching and sometimes participating in their antics. “Tea for Tubas” solo anyone? Good times.”
- Stephan Roy
“You’ve got Dana Gerrard in two of the photos – one as an alum (with the crazy trombone thing) and with the apple and his Tuba-Partner-In-Crime Cliff Strat.”
- Stacey Montalto
“Brings back memories (I can almost remember the player with the “unknown bandsman”, a variation of the “unknown comic” from the TV game show “The Gong Show” where the comedian wore the paper bag over his head.”
- Kurt, Bone 1980 – 1985
2004
“From left to right, the people are: Michael “Deuce” Borzcik ’05, Nathan Olson ’05, Ben Johnson ’04, Tori Ball ’05, Joel Villanueva, Jason Scott ’04, and Bri Olson ’07. They are all trumpets, and Tori was the drum major at the time. We had found a bunch of old uniforms in the back room of the old band room, and so they decided to all try them on. I am not 100% sure, but I think they were all old drum major uniforms. There isn’t really much more of a story than that, but it was cool to see all the different types of uniforms that the band had used in the past.”
- Jeremy Kerman ’06
June 9th-12th: Reunion!
September 24th: Homecoming! vs Yale
October 8th: Away @ Harvard (with an appearance at Quincy Market)
October 15th: Home vs Sacred Heart
October 22nd: Away @ Brown
October 29th: Home vs Princeton
November 5th: Home vs Dartmouth
November 12th: Away @ Columbia
November 19th: Home vs Penn (SUCKS)
Reunion info
A reception will be held on Saturday, June 11th from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm at Fischell Band Center. Stay tuned for more details!
Homecoming Hotel Block Info
Hotel: Best Western University Inn
Address: 1020 Ellis Hollow Road
Phone number: 607-272-6100
Rate: $189/night+tax (rate applies to the night of September 23rd and September 24th)
No minimum number of nights required.
Block size: 20 rooms
Expiration Date: the rooms in this block will be held until August 23, 2016.
Instructions: Call the hotel and request the “Cornell Big Red Band Alumni” rate when making reservations.
2016 Bandstaph
Head Manager:
Drum Major:
Head Field Manager
Treasurer:
Show Committee Chairs
Alumni Relations Chairs:
Uniform Chairs:
Equipment Chairs:
Head Librarians:
Publicity Chairs:
Historians:
Fundraising Chairs:
Secretary:
Social Chairs:
Webmaster:
2016 Pep Band Board
Pep Band Manager:
Conductors (Spring 2016):
Treasurer:
Secretary:
Librarians:
Historian:
Equipment Chair:
Fundraising Chair:
Social Chairs:
Webmaster: