Practice makes perfect. Yet the Ball State Varsity Band has only had four rehearsals to perfect their concert music. In fact, the amount of time they have to prepare changes each year with the ending of the football season.
That's because the BSU Varsity Band is really just the marching band, sitting down.
"If we say the marching band people don't understand because we're usually outside," assistant director Christian Zembower said.
Due to the lack of practice time, the band will be performing a variety of simple music on Wednesday at Emens Auditorium. Zembower said that the performance includes "light, novelty" pieces that were easier to learn in the short time. The band will be dressed in full uniform, minus the hats, playing songs like "Funiculi, Funicula," an Italian song arranged by Philip Lang.
The program will also include two holiday pieces, one of which is called "A Fantasy of Carols." At the end, the band will be directed by its three drum majors through the "Victory March," the "Alma Matter" and the fight song.
"It's how we end the semester, in a fitting way," Zembower said. "We end our concert with the tunes that everyone knows are associated with us."
Apart from the drum majors and Zembower, director Joseph Scagnoli and two graduate assistants organize the band. This concert has been going on since Scagnoli came to BSU, around twenty years ago.
"When you have 180 students, there's a lot of sound and bodies," Zembower said.
He expects some parents and other music students from the department to come to the concert. He also hopes the "general" crowd of people who follow the band through the season will join the audience.
"It's free for anybody," Zembower said. "We don't ever charge because we know that not as many people would come then."
The "Pride of Mid-America" Varsity Band will be performing tonight at Emens Auditorium at 7:30.
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