Students clutching a variety of instruments including piccolos, drums and trombones can be seen practicing on LaFollette Field every Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon.
Caroline Hand, the new associate director of bands, towers above the rehearsing musicians, conducting them from a ladder.
“Welcome to band class,” she says.
As the associate director of bands, Hand manages Ball State’s marching band, the Pride of Mid-America. She also directs symphony band and teaches music education courses.
The band has been without an associate director since the Spring Semester of 2014 when Shawn Vondran left. Thomas Keck served as interim director last year.
Hand joined Ball State this summer after completing her doctorate at the University of Minnesota, where she was the music director of the Maroon Campus Band.
Hand’s goals for her first year aren't too specific yet.
“We are going to sound good, we are going to look good and we are going to be entertaining to the athletic crowd and whoever needs to be entertained,” she said.
She would like to discover how students feel and in what direction they want the organization to go, and then make decisions based on that, she said.
Ball State’s marching band contains over 200 members, according to its website, and Hand as been doing prep work with the musicians since July.
“I feel honored that they’ve let me be part of the organization,” she said.
Grace Havlin, a senior elementary education major, has been involved with the marching band since she was a freshman.
When she heard there would be a new director this year, she was a little nervous because band is important to her.
“It’s kind of where I’ve found my community,” she said.
Other members like Terry Miller share a similar connection with marching band. This will be Miller’s fifth year in the band. He was involved all four years of undergrad and decided to come back this year as a graduate student.
“I think the bond and the relationship you make is why people keep coming back to marching band,” he said.
Despite initial reservations, Havlin thinks Hand is doing a phenomenal job.
“She is very positive, very upbeat, knows what she is doing and communicates very well,” she said.
On Sept. 3, the band played its first home football game under Hand's direction.
She mostly stood back as she saw her band's hard work come to fruition. During the pre-game show, however, Hand proudly guided the band through the alma mater song.
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