Hi Alum
ni!
We’ve had quite a semester of pep band merriment. From recruitment to IC Football, we’ve done just about every kind of event a pep band can play at. This year’s Harvard Men’s Hockey game may have been one of the best hockey games I have ever attended! You really can’t beat a winning goal in the last 3 seconds of the game against our crimson menace. It’s moments like this that show just why Cornell hockey truly is the best.
Now that the basketball season has also started, the pep band is sure to be a lot busier. This year, we might even be lucky enough to make it to the Ivy League Tournament. For now, we’ll keep cheering on our teams in Newman.
This semester, we travelled to the other hill far above Cayuga’s waters to play at an Ithaca College football game. We cheered on the team as they defeated Union College in a 20-3 victory. Our wonderful conductors, Ryan Ronzoni ‘19 and Kevin Linsey ‘18, even arranged the IC Alma Mater for everyone to play during halftime of the game. Maybe we’ll return sometime soon to cheer on the Blue Bombers!
Our last event of this semester was a Women’s Hockey game in Lynah. Big Red beat Colgate 2-1 in an exciting matchup! During Red-White this semester, one of the women’s hockey players had to be taken to the hospital for a head injury, but luckily, there were no serious, long-lasting impacts. It was great to see her back on the ice for this game and to wrap up our semester of pep band.
You’ll be seeing even more of the pep band in the spring. We will be going to Colgate (1/20), Harvard and Dartmouth (1/26 and 1/27), Clarkson and St. Lawrence (2/9 and 2/10), and RPI and Union (2/23 and 2/24). Hopefully, we will have a few more playoff trips to add to this list as well!
As my term as pep band manager comes to an end, I want to say thank you to the band and all of you! I’ve loved having the opportunity to manage the pep and grow as a leader in this organization. Pep Band Manager has taught me many lessons and has given me so many memories that have made me cherish my time in the band that much more. I hope whoever follows after me will be able to have just as many exciting and memorable moments!
-Susan Eichhorn ‘18
Hey 
Alumni!
My name is Kevin Linsey and I am one of the Fall 2017 Pep Band Conductors. I am a senior in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and I have really enjoyed conducting the pep band this semester. Initially, I was a pep band-only member of the Big Red Bands my freshman year, playing the alto saxophone, before joining the BRMB my sophomore year, so it was the pep band that first helped me appreciate the fantastic music and Cornell spirit that we generate here in the Big Red Bands. As such, I wanted to serve in a major pep band leadership position to give back to the band that has given me so much.
This fall, Ryan and I took advantage of a somewhat light events schedule early on in the semester by holding a Student Arrangers’ Day, in which we encouraged student members to arrange possible new songs and cheers for the band. Throughout the summer and early part of the fall semester, we worked with students and gave them feedback on their arrangements, culminating in a two-hour rehearsal where we sight-read ten new pieces. We added several of the best pieces to the folder and have played them at events to a great reception from the crowd. This event was a massive success and I have to thank past conductors Vincent Sheppard ’17 and Emily Miller ’16 for pioneering the idea two years ago and helping us do it again this Fall!
We had several field hockey games early on in this semester and then we transitioned smoothly into men’s and women’s ice hockey season. We had the home game against Harvard, and conducting that thrilling game was the definitive highlight of my term as conductor so far. We also had the Madison Square Garden hockey game against Boston University, and my fellow conductor Ryan and I enjoyed the chance to lead the band at that amazing event! Basketball season just started up as well, and we’re excited to fill Newman Arena with our sound over the rest of the season. We also stopped by an Ithaca College football game on November 3rd , cheering on our fellow Ithacans to a 20-3 win over Union College. In between all this excitement, we recruited an awesome freshman class and look forward to welcoming marching band freshmen to pep band in the spring, when marching band winds down for the season. This semester has been the most fun I have had as a member of the Big Red Bands and I made memories that will last for a lifetime.
-Kevin Linsey ‘18
Hey Alumni!
My name Ryan Ronzoni and I am one of the Fall 2017 Pep Band Conductors. I am a junior in CALS and majoring in Environmental Science and Sustainability. This semester has been really awesome for the pep band! We have had a lot of events, and hockey is doing amazing! We started off 6-0 with an incredible last second win against Harvard to keep the undefeated streak alive. I must say that was probably the most exciting sports game I have ever been to. On top of that, this year we played BU for MSG and we won! Playing at MSG is always a great experience and beating BU made this year even better.
This year was also really great in terms of attendance for the pep band. Rehearsals were always full, and we had great turnouts for all of our events this semester. I think the allure of getting into hockey games, with our team being so good this semester, definitely helped attendance. But I also think we were able to do a pretty good job getting people excited for pep band! We had student arrangers day where we were able to add several new pieces to the folder (Thanks Emily Miller and Vincent Sheppard for the help!), and we tried to make rehearsals more interesting by having things like scatter rehearsals. Overall I was really impressed (and happy!) about the excitement we had in pep band this year!
I am really excited to see where the band goes in the future. We were able to get a lot of committed freshman and the future looks bright! I am so thankful that I have had this opportunity to conduct the Big Red Pep Band. Working with Kevin and Susan has been and pleasure and I am definitely going to miss it. Thank you to all the past and present members of the Pep Band, looking forward to the future!
-Ryan Ronzoni ’19
The Flutes have had a great fall semester! We’ve added several new members to our ranks, meaning that all three are safe and secure (#neverforgetrankA). Thank you to all of the alumni who have visited us at football games; the only thing sweeter that your baked goods is getting to see you all again! When not at band, we’ve tried to keep social through events like Taco Tuesday dinners, movie nights, and CTB trips. All the flute traditions have been kept alive; most recently, boxer decorating night meant that all the flutes will be finding glitter in their clothes for the next several weeks, which really should be our natural state. We can’t wait to see what next year brings for the flutes!
The Clarinets have had very busy fall semester. With the new freshman class we nearly doubled in size and we have also added a few new horn moves to the concert songs. Our second cook-off was a blast and we also found time for making pies and carving pumpkins. Even without any games left we’re still going strong with secret santa and our final section dinner coming up. As always we’re sad to say goodbye to our seniors and we thank them for all the time they’ve put in!
The Saxes have had an incredible fall semester, and can’t wait to finish the season strong. We welcomed a committed group of new members this August and have had the pleasure of “Thriller dancing” throughout the Northeast on our trips. Between teaching other saxes how to ice skate, gathering for minty cocoa during breaks at rehearsal, climbing trees at Princeton, or playing mafia and assassins, the saxes have had lots of fun! We want to thank our seniors for their dedication and love for the last four years, and are excited to see where life brings them!
The Trumpets have gained a great group of new members and have continued to add members throughout the fall. We’re teaching a lot of people how to play trumpet at pep band rehearsals! Despite the occasional mishap (Davy for Trumpets four times, whoops), the section has sounded amazing. Just listen back to Spot Ellert-Beck ‘20 in his solo in Elton John’s Your Song. We’ve brought back old trumpet cheers like Monday Night Football and introduced new ones like The Office Theme and Gondor from Lord of the Rings. The return of alumni outside of Homecoming, including Woj ‘07, has brought fun times and a revival of The Worm in Doctor Worm. Thanks to trumpets Chris Sanchez ‘20 for his dedicated work as ShowComm, even if the trumpet seniors complained about all the dancing, and Molly Bergin ‘19 for killin it as Field Manager. Off the field we’ve seen many section dinners and chill times at Haus, sometimes with an accordion or guitar. In some ways the section is constantly changing, but in other ways it stays the same. Lastly, thanks to trumpets young and old for making this year what it was for the trumpet seniors. It’s been a memorable fall.
The horn section almost doubled this semester! Although we gained 5 new members, 3 of our seniors marched their last show this year. It’ll be hard to say goodbye to the wonderful Snigdha, Sachi, and Kristen Rose. When we’re not in a section huddle or putting on temporary tattoos, many of the horns play in pep band and other musical ensembles. Although we’re still a houseless section, we’re as tight as can be.
The bones are loving life as always this semester! Our freshmen are beyond incredible and we’ve even recruited 6 to live in the house next year. We’re blessed as a section. We had loads of fun at bonecoming and we’re hoping to see all of your lovely and not so lovely faces again soon (come visit pls). Other than that we’ve kept up with dress-like-another-bone night, night of the unknown bone, Hawaii 5-0, and the other traditions in our repertoire of bad ingenious ideas. Additionally, we’ve had pumpkin carving, movie nights, and video game nights for section bonding, and they’ve gone without a hitch. We’ve added a few bone cheers we found in our archives back into the folders, and they’re sounding great. Now we’re wrapping up this year and we’re looking forward to bone caroling, bone christmas and to continue not sucking. We’re still the dominant presence in the pep band and that’s not gonna stop anytime soon. We can’t wait for bonerush. Come and visit!!
The Tubae have had a fabulous 2017 season! We’ve welcomed four newbas: Alex, Becky, Ely, and Juan! This season, we kind of did the Tuba 500. We also won the annual band paper drive: after collecting 1720 sheets of paper, we won our very own 3 gallon tub of bavarian raspberry fudge ice cream. Thank you to our seniors for a great season. And congratulations to Zachary Brothers, our 2018 fearless leader!
The guard has had a great semester! From bursting out of volcanoes to dying in the name of Homecoming, we have traveled all over the field this semester. Every show had something unique, like a solo by Toni Sassano ’19, Emma Downey ’21 cutting the band’s chandelier, and Becca Rodell ’19 leading the rifle line a record of three times! We also managed to elect a new captain, Tara van Nieuwstadt ’20, and a new co-captain, Marlaina Gehret ’20. Also, congrats to newly elected Publicity co-chair Emily Grigg ’21, Social co-chairs Toni Sassano ’19 and Rachel Bradley ‘21, Guard co-Captain Marlaina Gehret ’20, Guard Captain Tara van Nieuwstadt ’20, and BRMB Head Manager Becca Rodell ’19! The Color Guard takeover of the band has begun This upcoming year is sure to be full of fun times and good memories.
As usual, percussion is too cool for BandNotes, but here’s a cute photo of them.
When NYC/Connecticut area band alumni heard that the student Pep Band wouldn’t be able to travel for the Quinnipiac University Men’s Hockey game due to local Ithaca area performance duties, alums sprang into action to offer support. Adam Drenkard, Adara Alston, Ali Rodriguez Healy, Andrew Distler, Cameron Glass, Chris Parkin, Danny Parkin, Dave Kelly, Dave Samuels, Emily Isenstein, Evan Holmes, Kathryn Abbott, Kim Gillece, Kim Salsbury, Kyle Preston, Liz Orelup, Louis Widom, Michael Lee, Michael Rosencrantz, Nick Janiga, Peggy Salsbury, Rich Hovorka, Scott Southard and Will Milne were deputized by the Pep Band as official members for November 3rd. The crew dusted off/dug out their Pep Band shirts, scrounged music and instruments and reported for duty at TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, Connecticut.
Under the direction of alumni conductor Adam Drenkard, alumni manager Nick Janiga, and alumni assistant manager Kathryn Abbott, the Pep Band cheered the team to a 2-1 victory. A good time was had by all!
Jen Fischell tuba ’13 with bridesmaids Sarah Johnson tuba ’11 and Jess Kelley tuba ’12.
Jen Fischell tuba ’13 and Ed Cormany PhD ’13 were married on Saturday, October 7th, 2017. The happy couple first met in 2010 at Cornell. Many BRB alumni were among their family and friends in attendance celebrating with them!
Left to right: Kate Wawro trumpet ’16, Geb Bastian tuba ’16, Josh Reichler ’16, groom Jason Green, bride Katie Shaw ’16, Alex “Simba” Schord horn ’16, Emily Isenstein horn/flute ’16, Emily Miller tone/flute ’16, Carolyn Maskin sax ’16, Christian Dauphinais sax ’16, Jordan Silver tuba ’16, Steve Salerno horn ’16, Louis “Luigi” Widom trumpet ’16
On October 7th, Katie Shaw horn ’16 married her high school sweetheart Jason Green (a former member of UNH Bands) surrounded by friends, family, and CU bandies. This perfect day was topped off with a rousing sing-a-long to Davy as news of football’s victory over Harvard reached the wedding partiers!
She said yes!
Dustin Tiedemann sax ‘13 and Amanda Quain flute ‘13 got engaged in January in Ithaca, and celebrated by watching Cornell lose to Harvard in hockey that night. They’ll be getting married in Ithaca July 2018.
Newly engaged!
Frances Lu flute ’12 and John Flanagan horn ’15 got engaged on October 30th, 2017. While currently preoccupied with work, painting, and cello lessons, they will start planning the wedding eventually. Both currently live in Boston, MA.
May 2017 CAM Magazine, with Baron von Ezra marked with a red star.
Marc Weissman bone ’88 recently celebrated 5 years as a Technical Librarian at the Derby, CT Public Library. Last December he was blessed with the arrival of his 1st great niece, Jordyn Miriam Falk. There’s also a celebrity in the family: his pup Baron von Ezra was featured in the May 2017 Cornell Alumni Magazine.
Katie, right, at the tailgate concert in Philly, with friend Hallie Klein clarinet ’14, left.
Katie Callaghan flute ’14 is a fourth year med student at Stony Brook Medical School. She is currently interviewing for pediatrics residencies, and was happy to see the band at the Cornell-Penn game before her Philly interview!
Big sister Emily.
This year Caitlin (Kehoe) Hart flute/trumpet ’07 ’08 gave birth to her second baby girl, Julia Elizabeth. Julia joins big sister Emily, who is pictured at left practicing for BRMB auditions.
Please RSVP using the form at the bottom of this page or by following this link!
Friday October 20, 2017
- 6:40 PM: Performance at Fireworks and Laser Lights Show, Schoellkopf Field: This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:00. More info here!
Saturday October 21, 2017
- 10:00 AM: Annual Big Red Bands Alumni Association meeting in the Fischell Band Center: Come and get an update on what’s going on in with the Marching and Pep Bands, have some CTB, and offer your ideas. We hope this new time (and location) will make it easier for alumni coming in on Friday evening.
- 11:00 AM: Rehearsal on Alumni Field: Come join us as we rehearse this year’s Homecoming song, JCS. Music can be picked up prior to rehearsal at the Fischell Band Center. We can’t guarantee instruments for everybody – availability is limited – but we’ll share what we have. Contact our section leaders with any questions about instruments.
- 11:30 AM: Alumni Tailgate: Food! Fun! Enough said. If you want to parade with the band, we’ll be stepping off to parade the team at 12:30 and stepping off to concert on Ho Plaza at 1:00.
- 1:45 PM: Marching Band concert on Kite Hill: Rock out to your favorite tunes.
- 3:00 PM: Football game kickoff: Purchase your tickets at CornellBigRed.com or call 607-255-4247. As always, alumni are welcome to storm the field at halftime to perform the Homecoming song with us! After the game ends we’ll return to the Fischell Band Center for a post-game concert.
- 5:45 PM: Red-White Hockey report time, Fischell Band Center: Red-White Hockey is one of the most popular traditions in the Big Red Pep Band. Each year, the men’s and women’s hockey teams take to the ice in a scrimmage game by splitting up into two teams- red and white. To keep this competitive spirit alive in the band, we split up into the red and white bands! We heckle each other, we play off against each other, and we try to prove that our band is the superior band. Alumni are traditionally part of the white band. Red-White Hockey will likely overlap with the Marching Band’s post-game concert – feel free to leave the concert early to go to Lynah, or to stay through the concert and be a little late to Lynah. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM in Lynah Rink.
Please reach out with any questions! We can’t wait to see you back on the hill.
Your Alumni Relations Chairs,
Kristen Rose Baxter ’17.5, krb96@cornell.edu
Julia Klopfer ’20, jek325@cornell.edu
Hey alumni!
The Marching Band is gearing up for their first game of the season this coming Saturday September 23rd at Yale! We’ll be hosting an Alumni Tailgate before the game from 11 AM-1PM, and we’d love to see you. We’ll be in Lot A – see the attached map for details. Please RSVP by following this link and direct any questions to Emily Isenstein ’16 at eli7@cornell.edu.
Our current Reunion schedule is as follows:
Friday June 9th
- 6:15pm – Performance at class of ’92 walk to dinner (Marching Band)
- 7:00pm – Performance at class of ’87 walk to dinner (Marching Band)
Saturday June 10th
- 11:30-1:00pm – Reunion Luncheon (both bands)
- 3:00pm – Performance at Fun in the Sun (Marching Band)
- 7:00pm – Performance at class of ’97 dinner (Pep Band)
Want to come to the luncheon or play with us at any of our performances? Great, use the form below to let us know! We’ll get in touch again closer to Reunion with more details.
The Big Red Bands Advisory Council had its first meeting of the 2017-2018 term on February 25, 2017. In attendance were the new advisory council membership and the 2017 student leadership. As is typical, the meeting focused on financial stewardship of the Bands, with additional focus on advice and guidance for the Band leaders. We reviewed this past fall’s Sy Katz parade – the first where the Alumni Association had an outsized role in its planning and organization – and developed a list of what should be maintained and what can be improved upon in November 2018. Fortunately, there was broad consensus that it went fantastically, despite Drum Major Serge Preciado nearly having a heart attack when we had to add a few unscheduled blocks to the parade to beat the traffic!
Over the past few years, you’ve heard lots of positive news about gifts to the Band – YOUR gifts to the Bands. From previous fundraising totals in the $55-65K range, we now target approximately $100K as our annual goal. It would be easy to credit the addition of Giving Day (#remembertheband) for this change, but it’s thanks to the people to make those gifts: It takes dedicated alumni to give a second gift after the phonathon, to give if they haven’t done so in a while, or to increase their annual contribution if they are able. This generosity has allowed the band to continue to thrive despite seemingly never-ending new financial challenges. Over the past few years, the University has shifted to a new budget model that includes pushing out facility charges to individual units instead of covering these charges centrally. Of course, this expense is compounded by costs associated with having a beautiful new building, such as the Band’s insurance (384% increase due to the new building), security expenses ($1100 annually for security cameras), utilities (projected to be $25k per year, but this year an additional $8k due solely to a leaky toilet that was not identified for several months). Additionally, travel costs continue to increase. Fall 2016 travel was 27% more expensive than Fall 2015, a very material rise that is expected to continue due to limited bus availability on busy Cornell sports weekends. Further, there are always new annual expenses that we feel are worthwhile (or necessary) investments to optimize student well being. Most notably, you may be aware that despite the rising stock market, Cornell had a particularly poor performance of its endowment: You can read about this here and here. Having weathered the recession reasonably well, we were looking forward to reaping the rewards of a larger return (the payout is based on a three-year rolling average of the endowment performance). While our budgeting models will allow the Bands to operate, we were looking forward to the excesses that, alas, will not exist.
As mentioned in our last writing, David and Sarah Fischell have set up a utilities and operation endowment that will be fully funded in three more years. We are especially thankful for this after their already demonstrating their transformative leadership with the Fischell Band Center (to say nothing of their insightful contributions to its design and recent enhancements).
Details of the 2016 fiscal year finances can be found here. At the end of the 2017 fiscal year we will be providing an update on the BRBAA webpage. Our total expenses for the year appear to be an 18% increase from FY 2016. We hope that our loyal alumni will continue to show the support through end-of-the-fiscal-year contributions that have allowed us to not only meet past expense increases but also generate a small boost to the band’s reserves. On behalf of all the students, the Alumni Association leadership wants to thank each and every one of our supportive donors for helping to make the marching and pep bands the best bands in the Ivy League!
On a more somber note, you may have heard that Cayuga’s Waiters have been permanently dismissed from campus due to hazing activities. While there have been no “incidents” of late from the student side, we think this is an important development. Certainly current students don’t engage in anything close to what was described in the Daily Sun, but we all know that some Band traditions do not appear benign to observers, and at times, to students in the Bands. Recent student leadership has done a commendable job in drafting and enforcing a code of conduct, and this news really drives home the point that there are no sacred cows.
One new initiative that was raised at the last Annual Meeting was the addition of networking and mentorship opportunities between BRB alumni and students (or older alumni and younger alumni). For example, former Head Manager Emily Isenstein ’16 joined Alumni Association Chair Lowell Frank ‘99 MD ‘03 to observe his pediatric cardiology practice in Washington, DC. Not all networking and mentorship needs to be in person; if you have expertise in a certain field and would be willing to speak with interested students over email or on the phone, that would be great too. Certainly other career mentorship exists throughout Cornell, but there is something about the shared experience of being in the Band that may make these particularly useful. Please contact Emily Isenstein ‘16 at eli7@cornell.edu if you are interested in talking to young alumni or current Band members!
Typically, we have our annual Alumni Association meeting on the Friday of Homecoming immediately following the Advisory Council meeting. However, to allow as many people as possible to attend, we are considering moving it to Saturday morning after rehearsal – breakfast provided! We know that many of you are either on your way to Ithaca on Friday afternoon or are making plans with friends. We’d love to have as many attendees as possible to give you all an update and to get feedback on how you’d like the Alumni Association to work; please let me know if you think this is worth a try. Either way, mark off October 20-22 on your calendars!
Until then, please feel free to contact the Alumni Association or the student leadership with questions or concerns. And as always, thanks for your generous support that allows a new generation of Cornellians to have an amazing Big Red Band experience!
Chair: Lowell Frank ’99, M.D. ’03
Vice Chair: Brian Adelman ’09
Treasurer: Adam Mangano Drenkard ’11
Resource Chair: Nick Janiga ’00
Hey Alumni! 
My name is Kathleen Won, and I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to be Head Manager of the Big Red Marching Band in 2017! I am a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, double majoring in Government and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. I have been a member of the Flute section for two years and was Section Leader last fall semester. I am incredibly excited to lead the Band with Jeff, our new Drum Major, and the rest of Bandstaph this year and to make this experience as wonderful for others as it has been for me thus far.
Our spring season kicked off early in the semester with an event to celebrate the gift to the SC Johnson College of Business. The event was a success and helped spread the Band’s image, and we received praise from Fisk Johnson himself.
The middle of March was truly when the Band was able to begin its spring semester though, with Giving Day and Hotel Ezra Cornell in the same week. Giving Day was over a month earlier this year, on March 14th, and we worked hard to improve the quality of the livestream so that alumni and everyone else watching could enjoy our songs in crisp quality. Members of band braved the winter storm that gave Cornell it’s first snow day in two decades, which just goes to show how much everyone cares about this organization. Following that, we performed for the Hotel Ezra Cornell conference, trying something new with a performance for their evening gala over the weekend.
April was a busy month for the Band, starting off with three dates for Cornell Days, where we paraded and performed in warmer weather and spread Cornell spirit to the Cornell community and incoming students. We also participated again in Cornell’s Bring A Child to Work Day with an educational session for young students.
Spring concert was be April 22nd, at the Farmer’s Market! The weather cooperated and we had a bright and sunny day to play by the water and make some lasting memories.
Although there is still a long ways to go before our Fall season, I am anticipating an exciting time for Band. Homecoming is late this year on October 21st, but around that we are traveling to Yale, Princeton, and Penn(sucks). We are also looking into Pro games to play at, and hopefully, if all works out, we’ll be pulling out our passports for a trip to Canada.
All in all, I couldn’t be more excited for the months to come. I just love band so much, and I’m so happy to be able to give back. I’m looking forward to an incredible year!
- Kathleen Won ’19
Hello Alumni!
My name is Jeff Crosby, your 2017 Drum Major! I am a junior Psychology major preparing to attend law school after graduation. Some of you may remember reading about me from my positions as 2015 Alumni Relations Chair and Fall 2016 Pep Band Conductor. My roots are from the saxophone section, but I still play as a member of the bone section in Pep Band. I have had an amazing experience in band so far, and I’m so excited to serve as Drum Major for this upcoming year!
The Marching Band was very busy at the start of the year when we were asked to do a surprise performance at the SC Johnson College of Business donation presentation and celebration in late January. Many bandsmen came and performed with us for this special occasion. The Johnson family was very happy and the guests were overwhelmed with the support that the marching band students showed at the ceremony. We were even featured on the Cornell University cover photo for a few days!
On March 14, (PI DAY!), the Marching Band and Pep Band had a very successful Giving Day Concert! Even though the university was closed and classes were cancelled for two days, our bandsmen braved through the winter weather to put on an amazing concert for alumni, family, and friends. The performance was excellent and we hope you enjoyed it. If you want to see the video, check it out on our BRMB Historian Youtube page!
Due to the bad winter weather, the first day of HEC was cancelled which meant the Marching Band was unable to do our annual small concert and march through Statler Hall. To make up for it, we did another surprise performance during the Hotel Ezra Cornell Banquet. We performed Cornell spirit songs, Pinball Wizard, and the Alma Mater for many alumni and donors. It was a great event!
During the past few weeks, we also held our first new music rehearsal. I am so excited for our plans for the shows next fall. We will be featuring some cool purchased arrangements as well as BRMB student arrangements. We are planning for a very diverse showcase of music including modern songs and hit classics! There is even going to be some bandsmen dancing, so get excited for that! For our Homecoming show on October 21, the homecoming song will be JCS!
We had many other events this spring including Cornell Days, service events, and our annual Spring Concert on April 22! We are having a very busy spring, but we are also actively preparing to welcome the Class of 2021 this August.
I look forward to seeing you in the future at our performances, reunion, and homecoming! Thank you for your continued support of the BRMB!
-Jeff Crosby ‘18
Hi Alumni!
My name is Susan Eichhorn, and I am happy to introduce myself as the 2017 Pep Band Manager. Outside of band, I am a junior from Long Island, NY, who studies Biological Sciences in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Within band, I am a member of the clarinet section and have previously served the bands as ShowComm as well as Pep Band Historian. I’ve always loved being a member of Pep Band, and although the position has been challenging at times, it has been a great way to give back to the organization. Lucky for me, my conductors, Alex Fernandez ’19 and Snigdha Sharma ’18, have made my life all the easier with their awesome conducting and their infectious passion and enthusiasm for the Pep Band!
The Men’s Hockey team has had quite a season this year! During our regular season run, we had two trips to Union/RPI and SLU/Clarkson. Both of these trips were filled with a lot of winning and good times. In our first home game of the semester, the Clarkson Pep Band came over to our side of the rink and played a few songs with us as a super band. The amount of support we’ve received from hockey fans and parents has been overwhelming! After our game at Clarkson, David Angello, father of sophomore player Anthony, provided the Pep Band with pizza for the bus ride home. Additionally, Bill Gillam, father of our hero Mitch Gillam, asked the Pep Band seniors to play at a special event for the hockey parents- many of which gave the Pep Band a special shoutout! Men’s Hockey finished their season in 3rd place, and after a week off, came back stronger and better than ever, defeating Clarkson in Quarterfinals. The Big Red had a great showing at Lake Placid for ECAC Finals, our first time back since 2014, making it to the Championship Game! Next, we were on the road again, this time to Manchester, NH to take on UMass Lowell. Unfortunately, our boys didn’t have as much luck, but the rest of the band had a great time cheering on our team and making our first appearance as the Cornell Pep Band at SNHU Arena.
Women’s Hockey has also found a lot of success this season, ending as Ivy League Champions! After finishing in 3rd place in ECAC standings, they beat Colgate in Quarterfinals and moved on to ECAC Finals and NCAA Quarterfinals. They continued making us proud to cheer them on all season and really showed the power of Big Red!
Next up for the Pep Band was lacrosse season. Recently, weather has prevented us from attending the first few games this season, but we are ready to get back out there (quite literally), and cheer on our lacrosse teams! This year, we also want to try to make it to more baseball games for the Big Red. As long as the weather decides to cooperate, you can look forward to seeing a lot more of the Pep Band outside, working on our tans and supporting our teams.
If you’re ever back in Ithaca and are interested in visiting and playing with the pep band, please feel free to reach out! My email is sme63@cornell.edu.
-Susan Eichhorn ‘18