AUMB
War Eagle, Fly down the field, ever to conquer never to yield! Glory, glory to ole Auburn-A U B U R N! Word Up! The University Alma Mater! All these songs sit with you as an Auburn fan. Sometimes I catch myself going down the road or walking through the house and I’m humming our fight song, or spelling out Auburn while singing Glory. It’s something that has been drilled into my brain since before I can remember and something that gives me pride in Auburn. I have lived in the Opelika/Auburn area my entire life, so being an Auburn fan is something that I cherish very much because I know of the tradition that goes along with the fan base! Auburn isn’t just a school, it’s not just a football team, Auburn is a family!!
I’ve been thinking a lot here lately that our team has little to no heart this year and it kind of saddens me, but at the same time it’s a young team, they haven’t really found their place in the football world yet, etc…then at the LSU game last weekend, I realized that Auburn does have a heart and I, like some other people, just didn’t really think about it! The heart is a peculiar organ of the body. A lot of people can give away multiple pieces of their heart, they can love with all their heart, they can rejoice with their heart, they can be sad with their heart. The heart has a lot of different functions! Auburn’s heart is the AUMB aka The Auburn University Marching Band!
No matter if Auburn is losing, no matter if Auburn is winning, no matter if the game is tied, each and everyone of the kids, GTA’s, band staff members, and all the directors continuously cheer them on, try to make as much noise as they can when Auburn is on defense, and they attempt to keep the fan energy going! No matter what, they cheer with everything they have, play “Charge” at every first down, play Word UP because they know the fans (And Aubie) love it! They are the heart of the team and LOVE Auburn no matter what! They put in a great deal of time and sweat into the pre-game and half time shows because the band loves the fans and Auburn so much that they want to entertain as much as they can!
The band has done a great deal of things for the football team, for the fans, for themselves. Some Saturday mornings they are up at 5am to get ready to be at the band field at 6am to start practicing for the pre-game and half time show for the game that day to make sure everything is flawless! At away games, they have to get up early, eat breakfast, get on a bus, go to wherever they are going to practice, get back on the bus, eat lunch, get to where the team is playing, change into their uniforms, get their instruments, march into the stadium, get seated, play/cheer the entire game, leave the stadium, change again, get food, get on the bus, and quite possibly fall asleep on the bus on the way home, sometimes not getting home until after 2am!
The typical schedule for the band for an early home game is the following: get up at 4am, be at the field at 5am and warm up, begin practice at 6am until 8am! They then eat breakfast which is usually a Chickfila chicken biscuit, THEN they have to take their uniforms and their instruments and walk to the Coliseum to change into their uniforms, then they have to do Tiger Walk, then they have to do the Four Corners pep rally, then they get to go into the stadium. Then they have to get their plumes (the feather on top of their hat), put those on their hats, line up and march around the field. Then they have to set up for pre-game, do pre-game, pretty much run up into the stands to get ready, play/cheer the first half of the game, do half time, again run up into the stands, play/cheer the rest of the game, then they play a couple songs at the end, do the Alma Mater, then they get to walk back to the band field to where they parked (the tuba’s leave their instruments), get in their car and go home or whatever.
For away games: (I’ll do LSU) They get up at 5am! They eat breakfast on the bus on the way to wherever they are practicing, they practice for 2 hours, then they get on the bus and eat lunch, then after they get to the stadium they change, get their instruments, march into the stadium, get to where they are going to be sitting, then either band A or band B(pep band for away tiger walks) go do tiger walk, then they come back and get adjusted again, they get a 30 minute break to go to the bathroom and get something to eat/drink, then it’s time to play! Then they do half time, then they play and have to keep morale up (especially in away games), do the Alma Mater after the game, leave the stadium, change on the buses again, get their dinner, then usually fall asleep on the bus on the way home (some don’t though) and don’t get home until after 2am!
The reason I am writing this blog for the band is because I believe in them. Every time they run out on the field I get a lump in my throat because of what I know about them! They pump up the crowd, they get the energy to the right level, they make sure that we are ALL IN! The band works day in and day out to make sure that the Football team knows that we are there and that we are cheering them on. We are a family and the band makes sure that we know that! Well as a family we should take care of our own and it’s time that we as a family take care of our band. The band needs a band building out by the band field for numerous reasons: 1) so that the band won’t have to walk all the way to the Coliseum (which won’t be a building on campus after next year) to change into their uniforms. 2) The band needs a safe place to leave their instruments. 3) There needs to be a place where the entire marching band can practice on rainy days. 4) It just needs to happen! The band needs this building to be built!
I believe the Auburn family can help! I believe if we as the Auburn family can send Mr. Penny to the National Championship (and I’m not taking anything away from that), then we can come up with the money to give to the heart of our school! They need 11 million dollars to accomplish this. Let’s think about it this way. The football team just got a new practice facility built so that they didn’t have to practice in the rain, the basketball team got the Arena, the baseball team has Plainsman Park, the softball team has a nice softball field. The track team got their office building redone! I’m just saying if Auburn can do this, then we can get our band a new band building and it’s going to be up to us to get it done!
If you want to give to the band you can go to the website: band.auburn.edu! It has the instructions on how to donate to the band! I think if the Auburn family can be All In on this, then our band can have the facility that it needs to continue to be the Heart that this school needs!
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