Baritone Awareness Week

This is a baritone

The baritone section is doing something pretty special this year.

Every year, the week before Homecoming is dubbed Baritone Awareness Week by the Blue Band baritones. They feel the baritone is an underrepresented instrument. Their goal is to make the whole world (or at least the Penn State population) aware that the baritone is a real instrument and not a baby tuba.

This year, Baritone Awareness Week (#BAW2013) is taking a different approach to bringing awareness to their instrument.

For every person that “attends” the Facebook event, the section will donate $.05 to THON, Penn State’s dance marathon benefiting pediatric cancer. This is a quick and easy way to help out THON as well as raise awareness for the baritone!

Do your part by going here and click that you are attending the event.

Note: there is not actual event, just a Facebook “event.”

PawCast with Dr. Bundy

Penn State World Campus did a great interview with our director, Dr. Bundy, about the workings of the Blue Band. Dr. Bundy talks with Richard Brungard, an academic adviser for the World Campus. The first half of the interview is about the experiences of a Blue Band member, like the audition process, the rehearsal schedule, and game day activities. After the brief “intermission” in the podcast, Dr. Bundy talks about some of his personal experiences with the band. My favorite was his story of an almost-disaster at the Rose Bowl.

 

 

Follow this link to listen to the podcast (Episode 13: March On, State) or read a transcription of the interview:

http://student.worldcampus.psu.edu/community/pawcast

Interview with Caleb Rebarchak

April 8, 2013

The Alumni Blue Band Association (ABBA) was started in 1962 to give Blue Band members the chance to stay involved after their

Caleb conducting at a football game as a Grad Assistant in 2010.

graduation. ABBA’s Staff Assistant is Caleb Rebarchak. Caleb marched in the Blue Band and was also a Graduate Assistant for the band in 2010 and 2011.

This conversation happened at the end of the interview when I realized I hadn’t asked him anything about his experience with the Blue Band.

Me: What did you play?

Caleb: I played saxophone.

Me: Tell me about your Blue Band experience.

Caleb: I marched for a year, in 2005. I was E2. When I was a grad student Alex Hesse was marching E2 both years. My friend Chris Ritter also marched E2 in the old pregame. I was the first year of the new pregame. It was fun! I still, even as a grad assistant, am excited to see the looks on the rookie member’s faces when they come out for pregame because I still got that rush. It wasn’t quite the same, but I still got that feeling being on the field as a graduate assistant, doing the slap-taps as the band is coming out on the field. It was exciting. Two stories I remember from undergrad, both from our bowl trip to the Orange Bowl. It was the first bowl in a number of years, 2005 was the comeback season. We were rehearsing in the evening, hadn’t done pregame for 5 weeks at that point. I had earned my pregame spot by the third week of the season by memorization and I kept forgetting a mark time 4 and I’d make a right turn and just go. That was the only time I’ve been called out from the ladder. He was at the top of the bleachers, “The saxophone player at the tip of the S, do you know what you’re doing?” “Yes, sir!”

Caleb as an undergrad in 2005

The other story that I would tell, I told the staff this when I was a grad assistant and Mr. Cree actually remembered it. A guide and I were eating dinner the day of the bowl game and the buses were parked between us and the stadium. A bunch of us were eating together. People would say they were throwing out trash and they wouldn’t come back. Eventually it was just the guide and I, and she said, “Caleb, I don’t know where everyone went. I think we better wrap up and go find everyone.” We get to the other side of the buses and we couldn’t hear parade order. We could see the sousas in back band marching about a quarter-mile away. We grabbed our saxophones and just ran. We were in front band. We just ran and ran and people were saying, “The band’s that way! Just keep going!” And we ran by the staff and got in our spots right before we went into the stadium.

Me: For the actual game?

Caleb: Ya, the band was about to go into the stadium entrance to get into the stadium when we got to our spots. Everyone was like, “Where were you guys?!” and we were like, “Why didn’t you get us?!” That was the game that was triple-overtime.

Me: Did you win?

Caleb: Oh ya. On a field goal. I actually have a picture of that last field goal. If you zoom in you can see where the ball is right before it

goes through the uprights. And Michael Robinson conducted the band afterwards. I had no voice after that. We got back to the hotel at 3 [am]. Marching was great, but the times that I really really love were my two years as a grad assistant here.

Me: Like when everyone was chanting your name, whatever game that was, we came back to the Blue Band Building after a game and everyone was chanting your name.

Caleb: That was when we marched the show I wrote.

Me: Oh ya! How did that feel?

The script Sinatra formation from the show that Caleb wrote.

Caleb: It was humbling. Ya. Dr. Bundy had put a lot of trust in a Graduate Assistant, who had never written a show all by himself, to write a show for a Big Ten band at a big football game. That in itself was very humbling. The fact that the band put up with me teaching that show, and it came together as well as it did. You guys worked hard. That was a testament to how hard you guys worked and I can’t say enough how much I appreciated that. It was a very special feeling. I just wrote it out, but you guys did it. You guys did the hard work. That script Sinatra formation was…  ya… that was cool.

We talked about ABBA at the beginning of the interview.

Caleb: I have some notes here about George Pyle, who has come back for a number of years. He’s 88 and it was cool to meet him in person last year. He’s the one who has been coming the longest [to Homecoming]. I don’t know what his record is, but it’s been a while that he’s been coming back. He’s still on the field he’s still walking and playing.

Me: What does he play?

Caleb: Trombone. It was really sweet and inspirational to see that.

Me: What is your role with ABBA?

Caleb: My role is Staff Assistant, that’s my official title. My role is a lot of secretarial duties. Homecoming is the biggest event of the year, obviously. That’s just a lot of people coming in… I came in to this position after stuff had been sent out for Homecoming and it was a trial-by-fire of figuring out what needs to go where so I greatly appreciated the grace that the alumns extended to me regarding how things were done and mistakes that were made and things that I did not do quickly enough. People helped out and stepped up. The Homecoming chair was really helpful too, making sure I was OK with what had to be done around here. Part of what I do for Homecoming is setting the block band and having done grad assistant duties for two years with the Blue Band, it wasn’t that different. It was kind of fun. The other big events that we have are a basketball game in December and Blue White is another big thing. Throughout the year there are Alumni Band performances, just like the Blue Band has off-season performances. There’s a chair person who’s in charge of that. I just make things run as smoothly as they can. Right now what we are doing is slowly making a transition to do more electronic stuff as far as registration for things. It’s talking with the technology person, Mark Poblete, and the President, Art Miley, how easy is this going to be, what needs to be collected, what is it going to look like if we do some of these events as online registrations. An alumn will email me saying they changed their address and I will make sure that gets noted. One of the things that I’m starting to do is, from the database of the ABBA members, I made a list of everyone who’s an Alumni Majorette and I’m going to be doing that with other instrument groups so it’s easier to communicate.

Caleb went on to describe how they are also trying to organize all of the memorabilia and historical items as well as create a new clothing order.

Another transition that the Alumni Blue Band Association is trying to make is to include members who had participated in Pride of the Lions Basketball Pep Band and the Fall Athletic Band that plays for volleyball games. Caleb said that in the past, the majority of the members in those pep bands were also in Blue Band so there was no need to make a distinction. Dr. Bundy and Professor Drane have helped to grow those groups and Caleb said that because of them, they are now the biggest they have ever been. The majority of the members are people outside of the Blue Band. ABBA is looking forward to getting those members involved and is forming a committee to make it happen. The addition of these members could mean more performances for ABBA.

Me: What are the benefits of being a member of ABBA?

Caleb: Well there are different levels of membership. There’s a Performing Membership which means you can perform at Homecoming. That’s the standard membership. Along with that there’s a Dual Performing Membership for families. There have been a lot of Blue Band couples over the years that join at that level. One of the things that has been more successful over the past years is the Returning Block Membership. Someone who was a member but then wasn’t for a number of years can join again at a reduced rate. We’ve had a great response from that this past season. We’ve had over 100 members who wanted to rejoin at that level. Those memberships all make you eligible to perform at Homecoming, which is the only event that we “restrict”. In order to march in the block you have to be a performing member. There’s also a Sustaining Membership where you get the newsletter but don’t always hear about events. You don’t get the chance to march in Homecoming but you still get updated.

Me: What are the requirements of being a member?

Caleb: You have to pay dues annually and we really want to get everyone involved. This is why Art Miley is forming all of these committees. We have people who want to help. We need a lot of help with Homecoming each year. We’ve been especially trying to involve younger members, graduates from the past 5 or 10 years. There is a year of free membership after you graduate, but we want to keep them involved and coming back.

Me: How do you become a candidate to be elected for the board?

Caleb: You indicate that with your membership and there’s a Nominations and Elections chairperson. Whenever elections come up, emails are sent out and people can express their interest in running and give a short bio. We email that out to the membership. This year we’ve been using Election Buddy as our tool which has gone pretty well. If anyone is looking for an elections-facilitating website, use electionbuddy.com!

Caleb says there’s a chance he might volunteer for another season of assisting the Blue Band. He said that he had never known a group of students for more than two years, so coming back for the final year of the rookie class he started with would be a special experience.

Interview with Karen Walk, Part 2

In the last part of our interview, Karen explains what her job is like, teaches me some shorthand, and gives some really great advice.

Blue Band Staff Assistant Karen Walk at her desk in the Blue Band Building

Me: The Blue Band Office used to be in Chambers. How was working there?

Karen: Well, it’s the whole adage of “you don’t miss what you never had.” You didn’t know any better, so you worked with what you had. We knew we were cramped, we knew it was inconvenient to go across the street to the Music Building for off-season instrument storage. We knew it was even more inconvenient to have the trailers. We knew it was inconvenient, but it was what was there. It was what you worked with. We didn’t have a very good truck, and we just dealt with it. But Chambers itself, the College of Education, was fine. Art Ed and Music Ed were all over there with me at the time so it was nice work-wise, but what the Blue Band didn’t have was really inconvenient. Dr. Diehl had a huge office, Dr. Bundy had a pretty small office, and we all had to go to the School of Music for everything because we didn’t have any storage space in ChambersBuilding at all.

Me: Ya, I know my dad had to keep his uniform in his dorm room.

Karen: That’s right, you were issued a uniform on audition day and you kept it. That’s why the garment bags went by the wayside because they would be dragged across fields. The garment bags were a real issue back then. Even in your dad’s day, it was probably less numbers. So you figure by the time I was there in ’87 it had grown to 250 I think. So the more members you had, the more instruments you had and the more uniforms you had, the less the storage space became because you were getting more and more and more. So it was tough as I look back, it felt tough, but at the time you just did it.

Me: So working here has been a lot more convenient?

Karen: Ya! You look back and you think, “How did we do it?” It’s sort of like you look back and think how did the people who lived in the Depression live in the Depression? You didn’t have this and you didn’t have that and you got an orange for Christmas. Nobody had new clothes. My mom always said, “We didn’t know what we didn’t have. That’s all we knew!” So it’s that feeling. But being here, it’s all about the use of time. We don’t have to take time in the summers to unload the trailers, and we don’t have to take time to clean a shack that we had over there. We don’t have to take time to cram all that stuff in Room 3 in the Music Building. It just flows better. Everything flows better. The physical library, look at that. Square footage, the room we had in Chambers building was probably comparable square footage, but you didn’t have a library system. You had file cabinets sitting on top of file cabinets and you’d crawl on a table to get to a drawer and that file cabinet would tip! So convenience-wise, it just works smoother. We have an archive room, an AV room, things have a home. You know where everything is.

Me: Describe a typical day in your job during a Blue Band season.

Karen: Well, a typical day is coming in and constantly trying to be one step ahead. So it’s always thinking ahead. Is it a travel week, is it a home week, is it an away week? And what needs to be done in today’s rehearsal that’s going to accomplish the most to get towards the goal of what’s going on for that week. What does Dr. Bundy need today? Do we need to gather anything travel or business-wise, or is it just doing office stuff and I don’t need anything on the field. Is it a guide/squad leader day? Are there special charts that need to be done today? Are we playing music where we need to be sure that the contracts and licenses are done and ready? Do I need to give the librarians something that they need on the field? So it’s constant communication.

A typical day is trying to be one step ahead to make sure each officer knows what they need to do to help the director, what I need to do, what the grad students need to do. A typical day is organization. It’s so variable, it’s hard to give a typical day because it all depends if it’s an away week, a travel week, a home week, an off week, an audition week, a camp week, a performance like Bandorama week. It’s so variable that a typical day doesn’t really exist, except that it’s busy. Are we in basketball season yet? Are we in volleyball season yet? Is Dr. Bundy teaching Music Ed classes in addition to trying to do Blue Band? Is Greg [Drane] teaching Music classes? Is it an away week for the whole band? Is it an away week for a pep band? So no two days are never alike, that’s why when they ask me to write my job description and write a daily thing up, how do I start? How do I tackle it, how do I cover it? You have to refine and ask the question, what’s a typical day like in a full-band away week? Then you can refine a little more.

Me: That sounds like so much work!!

Is it hard to see members come into the band and grow and then see them leave again?

Karen: It’s horrible. Horrible. (pause) And it’s me next. You get attached. (She motions at Caleb Rebarchak sitting at his desk) There sits one of them. But he came back. I really get attached, and I have to keep remembering that they leave and they get to come back and do Homecoming. I never have to say goodbye. Someone will say “We’re coming in, this is the last day we’re here, we’re coming in.” I don’t come. I couldn’t come back. It’s hard, it’s really hard. Like, I said goodbye to PJ [Maierhofer], but once she comes back a little bit then it’s ok because Matt [Freeman]’s here. Matt insisted that I go to his [Feature Twirler] audition. He said, “This is my last audition,” and I sat over there and watched his last audition and while [some of the majorettes] cried during his audition, I held my composure. I’m ok with this because Matt’s going to come back. I’m not quite done yet and Matt’s going to come back. It’s really hard. I’m trying not to let them know that it’s me next saying goodbye.

Me: Well you’re still going to come back too.

Karen: Yes, I’ve said Homecoming will always be there. I just know I can always come back and walk in the doors and see everybody. I keep telling Heather [Bean] think about this! Next year when you want me to help with features, I don’t have to worry about the back-end job stuff. I can do whatever you want me to! So that’s how we’re getting past it. It’s nice when they do come back. I always say don’t say goodbye, say I’ll see you later.

Me: That’s a great way of looking at it.

On a lighter note, I saw that you were using shorthand during a meeting. I think that’s so fantastic! When did you learn to do that?

Karen: Oh it’s so antiquated and there are probably a handful of girls left that do it. I had two full years. My junior year you started with one course level and we started with, say, 20 in our class. But it was really a vocational thing, a business vocational thing, when I was still in high school. You got to take Shorthand 2 when you were a senior. By the time we were seniors I think there were maybe… 12 of us stuck with it? Small world, the girl that’s at the School of Music now, the administrative assistant to the director of the School of Music, her sister was in my Shorthand 2 class. I still use it. Dr. Diehl did a lot of dictating. It was before it was easier to sit down at a computer and compose and edit as you went. Dr. Bundy composes and edits as she goes, it’s easier for him. But if he’s in a hurry or he’ll say “Can you take this down?” I’ll still use it. It’s a lost art. I made my daughter take it. Twenty years later I made her take it. She didn’t catch on to it as much and really didn’t like it as much. I made her take level two and it was the same thing. I graduated in ’78 she graduated in ’98, they quit offering it in ’99. I don’t know if they offer it in business school or not.

Me: I feel that with all the new technology, like you said, it’s so much easier to get on the computer.

Karen: I explain it to people it’s like learning a different language. If you can learn Spanish or German or French or whatever. Because it is by sound, you learn shorthand by sound. You spell phonetically.

At this point Karen showed me the notations for different sounds and wrote what my name would be in shorthand

With shorthand you had to take business English. You had to be a really good speller, it made you learn good spelling. Because “gentlemen” became “jm”. A lot of letters written back then with “gentlemen”. It was fine if you could learn “jm” but when you had to go and type it up, did you know how to spell the word “gentlemen”? So we had an intense two years of business English, of proper spelling and such.

Me: My final question for you: Do you have any advice for Blue Band members on how they can make the most of their experience?

Karen: You know I don’t know that I’d have advice for making the most out of it because I feel like with band kids, they already know how to do that. Just being a musician and having the drive to come to college and put that much time into it, you already know that you’re making the most of something. My advice more to band students that I try to give subtly, and I don’t have a lot of kids coming to me for advice, but the good old-fashioned thing, treat others how you want to be treated and you get what you give. To make the most out of something to me goes with that. If you give 100% you’re going to get 100%. If you give niceness to somebody you’re going to get niceness from somebody. If you give happiness around you, you’re going to get it. It’s just nothing more than that. And to make the most out of something… That’s the only thing I tell my daughter over and over again. You get what you give in this life. There’s lots of nice sayings out there, lots of things that really are profound, but for me it’s as simple as that. If you give in your job, then you’re gonna get back! In some way, it may not be monetary. You know I’ve worked hard here and this isn’t the highest paying staff assistant job on this campus. I could’ve gone on, I could have gone a lot of other places and made more money, but that wasn’t what I wanted to get back. I chose to get other things back. Working hard gave me those things, but it’s really really simple to make the most of something by giving.

Me: That is fantastic advice. Thank you so much for your time!

Some Advice

Three years ago, I came to Penn State for one reason: to play my trumpet in the Blue Band. There was no negotiating.  I didn’t even apply to another school. It literally was Penn State or nothing.

After receiving my acceptance letter, I got to work. I played the trumpet throughout elementary, middle, and high school. To be quite honest, I didn’t enjoy it until I got to college. I liked playing — don’t get me wrong — but I hated practicing. I knew that had to change if I wanted to make the Blue Band, so I started early. I worked very hard over the next few months to perfect a solo, brush up on my scales, and strengthen my sight-reading skills. Then the worst happened… my family decided to go on vacation the week before I had to audition. How could this happen? How would I ever keep my lip strength up? Oh, I knew I would die if I didn’t make it. Actually shrivel up and die.

I didn’t though. I made it through the music audition process without too many tears. Then the next challenge was marching. I once attempted a three-quarter turn on my driveway and ended up with a bloody knee, so anything had to be better than that. Somehow, I made it through the long, dusty day. At the end of the night, us prospective rookies sat shivering on the practice field, awaiting our fate. Dr. Bundy assured us that the names were read in random order before he announced the sections. Finally, he got to the trumpets. Of course, I convinced myself that I was cut even before he read my name.

I made the band and became a part of the Great 68. Auditioning for the Blue Band was the best decision I could have made for my college experience.

The Blue Band gives you ready-made friends when you come to campus. Before the other freshman have checked in, you’ve already learned our trademark drill. You’ve been spending time with an energetic, accepting community long before you’ve even met your roommate.

Blue Band makes you budget your time. It takes a lot of time and hard work during the semester, but it is possible. The band is filled with everyone from music majors to engineers. All of our majors are challenging, but we are able to do our work and come to practice.

Blue Band lets you do something amazing. Few people get to be a part of the Blue Band and march with our uniform on. We travel. We play extra gigs. We do some really, really cool stuff.

Whenever I meet a prospective student who is interested in auditioning, I always give the same advice. Try out. Even if you think that you want to wait until your sophomore year (I always hear the argument that the student wants to have a year to settle in), try out. Don’t miss an opportunity to be a part of this amazing band that gives so many memories and opportunities.

Becky Guldin and her family at Homecoming

I always knew that I wanted to be in the Blue Band. My parents marched next to each other. My sisters were both in the band and so were my uncles. I’m the seventh person in my family to be a Blue Band trumpet and I could not be happier with my experience. I am currently serving my second term as the vice president for the band and will be heading into my senior year in just a few short months. As someone who sadly has already started counting down — “This is my last Blue Band Banquet before my senior year!” *tears* — don’t miss out!

Carpe the heck out of the diem!

—Becky Guldin

When I was a P-Rookie…

I’m pretty sure there are only two reasons I came to Penn State: Creamery ice cream and the Penn State Blue Band.

I’ve heard about the band ever since I was little. My dad, Penn State Class of 1984, marched sousaphone and would talk about his experiences all the time. He’d laugh at the shenanigans that he and the other sousas got into (things that they would never be able to get away with now) and he’d reminisce about the bowl games he marched in.

His stories always made me think that he had such a great time in college, so when it came time for me to pick which schools I wanted to apply to, Penn State was a no-brainer. When I was accepted to University Park, I knew right away that I was going to live in State College for the next four years and, fingers crossed, I would also be in the Blue Band.

I knew that I had to work really hard that summer. My dad kept warning me that if I didn’t practice, I was going to be really disappointed if my audition didn’t go well. I sight-read new pieces every week and I’m pretty sure I practiced more than I ever had for any band I had been in previously. I also watched Making the Blue Band about 46 times that summer. I had a crazy thought that if I could memorize as much of it as I could, I would feel less stressed about the audition process.

After a two-day road trip to Pennsylvania with all of my dorm stuff, school supplies, and anxious thoughts, I stayed at my grandparent’s house before traveling to State College for auditions. I remember lying awake that night going through my piece and trying to recall everything I could from the Making the Blue Band documentary. With all my anxiety and nervousness I don’t think I fell asleep until about two hours before I had to get up.

When we got to the Blue Band Building, I stood in line for registration and to sign up for an audition time. The line seemed to take forever, there were so many people auditioning. I talked with some fellow auditionees and started to get more excited about all the people I was going to meet in the next two days, regardless if I made the band or not.

Later on, my parents helped me carry all of my belongings up to my room in South Halls and all I could think of was my upcoming music audition. We ate lunch at Highway Pizza and did some last-minute shopping at Wal-Mart before the inevitable came. My parents dropped me off at the Blue Band Building and my Mom cried as I tried to hold back my own tears. They drove off and I walked into the Blue Band Building to begin my college career.

I picked out one of the mellophones that were lined up in the rehearsal room and began to warm up. I was so worried that I was going to bust my lip before I went into my audition so I tried to play as little as possible without being too unprepared. At this point I either knew my stuff or I didn’t.

I was a shaking bundle of nerves as I waited outside the uniform room where my music audition was going to take place. That nervousness bled into my audition and I played the whole piece vibrato because I was still shaking. After finishing the sight-reading portion, I was convinced that I wasn’t going to make the band. I was sure that I didn’t play the piece up to standard.

I was alone in my dorm room that night because my roommate hadn’t moved in yet. I was trying to get some sleep before marching auditions the next day but I was too excited to doze off. The marching auditions were what I was looking forward to the most.

I woke up insanely early the next morning to get breakfast and make the long trek up to the rehearsal field. I made a nametag with my instrument in one corner and “P. Rookie” in the other corner. We were all Prospective Rookies.

Looking back, I really have no idea why I was so excited for marching auditions because it was one of the most grueling days of my life. I wasn’t used to the marching style, the humidity, or the amount of physical work we did. At the end of each segment I felt like I was going to fall over but I did my best to keep a smile on my face.

That night was pretty cold for a summer night. We were all sunburned from being out on the field all day and the night air felt great on our burned skin. Our task that night was to play a fight song while marching with proper high-step technique. It felt so awkward and unnatural, I had no idea how anyone could actually do it, especially in front of 100,000 people in Beaver Stadium.

After demonstrating our skills, all the P. Rookies sat in a block waiting for our fate. If our name was called, we made the band. The block was dead silent as Dr. Bundy began reading off the names.

When he came to the mellophone section, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. What would I do if I didn’t make the band? That’s what I came to Penn State for! How would my dad react? Would he be disappointed? I stared at a blade of grass trying not to concentrate on the knots in my stomach.

“Mixer.”

Dr. Bundy had called my name.

I had no idea how to react. All my built-up anxiety and tension was immediately released and I was able to actually breathe for the first time in half an hour.

All my hard work had finally paid off!

That rookie season was hard work, but one of the most memorable seasons that I’ve had. I met and became friends with the people who were in Making the Blue Band and I felt like I was meeting royalty. I marched in Beaver Stadium for the first game of the season against Youngstown State. I didn’t play a single note the whole entire pregame.

The audition experience may have been pretty stressful and scary, but all of the staff and guides made it something I’ll remember forever. Maybe one day I’ll tell my stories to my kids and they’ll get inspired to audition for The Pennsylvania State Blue Band like I did.

—Katie Mixer

Interview with Karen Walk, Part 1

As many people know, this season was Karen Walk’s last season as the Blue Band’s staff assistant. She has acted as the “Blue Band Mom” for 26 years and has been a smiling face at the front desk since the construction of the Blue Band Building. While everyone in the band knows and loves Karen, some might not know how she came to be where she is now. I sat down with Karen at her desk in the Blue Band Building on March 28. What started as a list of a few predetermined questions turned into a brand new insight into the life of everyone’s favorite staff member.

Me: So Karen, where are you from?

Karen: A small town, Howard, which is just north of University Park, about 20-25 minutes. A small town, a very small town. I went to a small school, Bald Eagle, also just north of here. I graduated in ’78.

Me: When did you start working for Penn State?

Karen: I left High School June of ’78, went on my school’s band trip, that year it was to Disney. We left the week we graduated and while I was in Disney I got the call, did I want a job. It started one week after high school graduation. I was one of the few in my class… Many knew that they were going to go on to college, but of those who had done a vocational-type thing, I was one of the few that had a job. And I knew right away that I was coming here to work.

Me: What did you play in the band?

Karen: Trumpet. Ya, I was a trumpet player.

Me: Do you still keep it up?

Karen: People want me to, but I wasn’t ever a really good musician. I don’t sight-read very well and I never really learned theory of music. I can play and I can still pick up a horn, but I just don’t sound that great. Now, they want me to play in church. There’s a group of musicians that play in church, and I have one of our horns here, at home, that I borrowed. Just to pick it up though… I was never a great musician and it’s not that I’m not interested; I just don’t think I’m very good. So I don’t try very hard. My little godson comes up, he’s a trumpet player. We were playing the other day and I heard he told his mom (he doesn’t know that I know this) but he told his mom, “She’s a little rusty.” That I am. A little rusty. My husband’s a piano player and plays all the time, he’s an excellent sight reader, he can pick up a piece and just play, play, play. I am in church choir so I’ve gotten better at picking up reading music better, but the playing part… I mean you set it down for 35 years after graduation…

We picked up those instruments, what. Fourth grade? And I stuck with it. We were committed. Mom and Dad both said if we buy you this horn, you’re going to do it for the duration. We’re not going to take no for an answer. So we knew, my sister and I both (she played flute). We had a junior high marching band then, a junior high concert band. Then when we got to Senior High, really, believe it or not, it’s hard to say this, but I hated football band. I hated football band! I felt so lost out there in the field! I don’t know if it was because we didn’t have instruction, but I remember knowing that I couldn’t give it up, Mom’s not going to let me. So I tried out for cheerleading. So I played concert band in winter and the spring and did cheerleading in the fall.

Me: What a good solution!

Karen: And I signed my mom’s name to a permission slip to try out for cheerleading. Guess what? I made cheerleading! I can’t do football band anymore! But I’ll still be in concert band. So who knew I’d end up here with a marching band, where everyone loves marching band.

Me: So how did you start with the Blue Band?

Karen: When I started at Penn State in ’78 I was in the College of Ag. I had actually done what would be called today an internship. But it wasn’t called an internship then, it was called “on the job training.” I did on-the-job training as a business student, and the business teachers would place us. My whole class got placed into real professional businesses for two weeks and you went there instead of school for two weeks as seniors. You had to be there at 8 and you worked ‘til 5. You did everything as though you were the employee there. And you kinda got to pick where you wanted. A lot of the girls in my classes picked banks. They thought they were going to really interesting places, like the Philatelic Society or the Cancer Society, and I think they went to places based on what the office did instead of overall where would you want to work someday. A few of us picked Penn State. There was a program in the College of Ag where they always took advantage of these on-the-job trainees, and I got placed in the College of Ag. Five years earlier it was where my sister had been placed, so they chose me based on my sister having been there. My sister was actually hired there, in that particular job, and then five years later when I came along, she had moved to the Dean’s office in the College of Ag and opened that up again. Since she wasn’t there I was allowed to go there, I wouldn’t have been able to go with a relative [already working there]. So I got to go there and they didn’t have a job opening at the time, but based on all of that, there was a job opening in the College of Ag, which I accepted. That’s how I knew so early that I was going to have a job. I stayed there and did some bookkeeping there and I was in that college for 9 years. Then I happened to see the Blue Band job offering. At that time there was not email and internet, it was a piece of paper stuck on a bulletin board, and I was in charge of putting those notices on the bulletin board in the building. So up the job went and I thought, oh that sounds interesting, so I put my name in for it. It was harder at that time going from college to college because they would always hire within a college first, and to go outside the college was unheard of. I thought I had to wait my turn, that they had to interview everyone in Intercollegiate Athletics before I would here if I would even be interviewed. I got an interview right away, it turns out no one applied for it. Dr. Diehl ended up hiring me, and that was April of ’87. Next month I’ll finish 26 years [with the band].

Me: That’s pretty impressive!

Karen: Ya, it’s been good. I always say it’s the variety. It’s a huge variety