Editor's Note: The story has been updated from its original version to reflect a grammatical error.
Encouraging non-music majors to come and play music, the campus band is looking to build on its already high involvement.
With meets one night a week, the band consists of 100 students and no audition is required.
"We are here to make music and get a break from other academic studies," Charlie Greggerson, assistant director, said.
Campus band was started to give musicians who go to Ball State a place to play their instruments of choice, Greggerson said.
"We want to see as many musicians come through these doors just to play," he said. "We don't expect them to be music majors or be experts."
Melanie Blevins, sophomore journalism major, transferred to Ball State this year. Blevins loves music, but picked journalism over music as her major because she enjoys writing for people more than writing music.
However, being new to Ball State, Blevins wanted to become involved in extracurricular activities that would allow her to play music and make new friends. She became involved in campus band and marching band.
Blevins believes that campus band is more relaxing than marching band.
"I like campus band because it is not as physically strenuous," she said.
Blevins plays the trumpet. When she picked the trumpet in grade school, she thought it wouldn't be hard to learn since it only has three keys. However, she realized it was not easy and ended up appreciating the instrument more than she thought she would.
"I actually ended up falling in love with it due to the fact that it is so powerful," Blevins said.
The trumpet is not the only instrument that Blevins plays, she also plays the piano and the guitar in her free time. She has been playing the guitar for eight years and the piano for six.
Blevins said campus band gives the students the opportunity to play more than one type of genre. Her favorite types of music to play are modern rock and classic rock.
Blevins plans on being a part of the band for her remaining time at Ball State. She also plans to play music for the rest of her life.
For a long time, junior Katie Stergar planned on music performance as her major, but she decided not to after taking a music theory class because she had to write music to a song just by listening to it. Now she finds herself doing that all the time.
"It ruined the joy I had for playing," Stergar said. "It wasn't fun and became work."
She ended up choosing natural resources as her major instead because she said she never gets tired of looking up information about the environment.
Stergar initially wanted to join marching band, but she fractured her knee this summer and could not.
"I decided to join campus band when I realized it was a band that I would still be physically able to do," she said.
Stergar's primary instrument is the flute. She has been playing it for 10 to 11 years.
Even though the rehearsals are long and the students have to keep good posture, Stergar said the band is an escape from everyday life. It allows her to get her mind off problems and refresh.
"It is a meditative experience because it brings you back to yourself," she said.
She plans on staying with the campus band for the next two years. She also wants to encourage other non-music majors that play instruments to come and join and said it's a great stepping stone for students who played instruments in high school, but have not played in a while.
"It helps get back into the swing of things," Stergar said.
The band is preparing for their concert in the Sursa Performance Hall on Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. A total of six pieces are being rehearsed for the concert.
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