During the IU football season, junior Elise Masciale stays busy. As a horn player of the Marching Hundred, she performs before, during and after each home game, and attends at least one away game each season. On top of that, she is required to rehearse five days a week.
But when not marching during the football season, Masciale says members of the Marching Hundred have the option to audition for the Big Red Basketball Band, a much smaller pep band with a schedule and time commitment about as a different as—well, football and basketball.
Masciale says the Big Red Basketball Band rehearses only a couple times each semester, and is overall a much more relaxed time commitment than the Marching Hundred.
But beyond the time commitment, there are musical differences, as well, she says.
“We have a couple of overlapping songs between the two bands, but the music changes a lot,” she says.
She says part of the reason for the music change is that the Big Red Basketball Band can’t necessarily perform during the middle of each basketball play, as it would be able to do at a much louder football game.
“The energy is really different, and the feeling is really different,” she says.
According to the Big Red Basketball Band’s Web site, there are 100 members of the basketball pep band. And during this year’s football season, Masciale says there were 283 members of the Marching Hundred.
But while size may affect the overall energy and scale of the different bands' performances, Masciale says the basic role of each band stays the same throughout both the football and basketball seasons.
“In both cases," she says, “We are louder versions of cheerleaders.”
