Marching band to perform at Fresno State half-time show

Sean Carter

November 19, 2009

Few people ever march into a football stadium filled with 30,000 fans and experience the exhilarating thrill of field level seats. However, this Saturday the FC marching band will perform a half-time show with 2,000 other band and flag participants at Bulldog Stadium during the Louisiana Tech game, Nov. 21.

California State University, Fresno, and 25 other high schools, ranging from South San Francisco High School to John C Fremont High School in Los Angeles will all perform at the game. The half-time show will include Don’t Stop Believin’, Lights and Separate Ways, all by Journey, along with a halftime show arranged by Alan Moffett.

As a former Fresno State Marching Band percussionist, Cameron Yassaman, assistant FC band director, says the event will be beneficial as well as enjoyable.

“They will experience what’s it like to play at a big football game, playing for thousands of fans,” Yassaman said. “This will be a lot of fun and probably make a lot of kids want to continue playing and go on to play in college.”

Despite Yassaman’s positive outlook, some feel the event is not in line with what the band hopes to accomplish at the moment.

“I think it’s good that we are trying new things and being more active but this is one event I think we really should have skipped,” alto saxophone player, Jacob Balderas, ’11, said. “I don’t think our band is prepared for this Saturday because we are all focused on Christmas music and for the Fresno State thing, we have to be able to play the music well and have it memorized.”

Although band director Michael Ogdon says the music presents an obstacle, Band Day was a prior commitment which he chooses to keep.

“The challenge for this will be the same as for the parades,” Ogdon said. “We set the standard and then we achieve the standard, but we sometimes don’t achieve it until the very last moment. It comes down to depending on something greater than ourselves to find strength.”

The wind players for each band will stay together during the performance, but the drum lines will combine with the Bulldog drummers. As the FC percussion comprises of five players, only the two snare drummers, Matthew Adams, ’13, and Sydney Carlson, ’11 , will be able to stay with one another. Carlson has some anxiety towards Band Day, but says it will be a useful learning experience.

“I’m excited but I’m also nervous because I will be with a bunch of snare drummers that I don’t know,” Carlson said. “I think it will be very beneficial to the drum line because they will be able to play with more experienced players.”