Band marches inside for annual fall concert

The Ohio State Marching Band will be celebrating Buckeye spirit off the field at their annual fall concert in Wexner Center’s Mershon Auditorium at 3 p.m. Sunday.

“The Best Damn Band in the Land” will perform a wide variety of music including Buckeye fight songs, selections from past half-time shows, as well as songs prepared specifically for their indoor concerts.

“There’s music for everyone,” Director Jon Woods said. “There’s everything from pop music to classical music.”

The brunt of the concert will feature shows the band has performed during half time at The ‘Shoe.

The first half of the show will include songs from the “Top Gun” show, the “Gloria Estefan” show, the “Benny Goodman” show and the “TV Land” show.

The second half will include the “Classical Thunder” show and the “Grammys” show, and they will end with Buckeye football favorites such as “Hang On Sloopy” and “Across the Field.”

The band will feature Byron Rooker, lead saxophonist of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra, during a clarinet solo in the “Benny Goodman” show, as well as professional singer Kristen Eubanks in “As Time Goes By” from the “Grammys” show.

Within the band are cheer groups, small ensembles that represent different sections of the band, which will perform two-minute cheers in between sets. The groups include Trumpet Cheers, Trombone Cheers and Baritone Cheers.

“[Every instrument has] a unique arrangement of familiar songs that they play,” said Holly Lewis, a mellophone player and senior in music education. “There are only about six to 10 people in each group, so we all have a chance to shine.”

Although they will not march Script Ohio, TBDBITL will nonetheless face challenges in adjusting to an indoor setting.

“Acoustically, that’s the ultimate [challenge], to be able to play indoors,” Woods said. “We have to make sure we adjust the volume of the band accordingly so that the sound is very good and it’s not overwhelming indoors.”

Woods is excited the band will get to play in Mershon Auditorium, making a brief escape from the commotion of The ‘Shoe.

“The subtleties sometimes get lost on the football field in terms of the nuances of the music that we play,” Woods said. “The band does some of its very best musical playing when we’re indoors and people can hear the subtleties we work on to make the sound as good as possible.”

The show at Mershon Auditorium is expected to be the musical peak of the season because the band will have performed two previous indoor shows on Wednesday and Friday, Woods said.

Woods has been the director of TBDBITL for 25 years and has been involved with the band for 35 years.

“We work so hard to accomplish one goal: to be the best damn band in the land,” Lewis said. “We have been working and rehearsing since the end of June and each performance is a reward for everything we have been working towards.”

Tickets for the show at Mershon Auditorium are $15 in advance and $20 the day of the show, and can be purchased by calling 614-292-3535.

Kenny Greer/The Lantern