By Lynn Hatter
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wfsu/local-wfsu-884531.mp3
Tallahassee, FL – The Florida A&M Marching 100 is preparing to perform at the Super Bowl for the pre-game show. Though the band has performed at the sporting event four times, members say it never gets old.
At a chilly practice session, it was dark and 42-degrees as band members shivered in their ski hats, sweatpants, sweaters, and tennis shoes. The field was illuminated by giant overhead floodlights. The practice times have changed to night as the band starts its rehearsal.
"A lot of bands don't get to do the Super Bowl, and the fact that they just keep calling us back, that tells us something, because each year countless bands do Battle of the Bands. Inaugurals, they have more than one band there. We weren't the only band there. But the Super Bowl, they only pick one band. When they want a band, they call a band, and recently, they've been calling us," said Jonathan Boyce, the Assistant Head Drum Major for the Marching 100.
Boyce already has one Super Bowl performance under his belt -- the 2007 halftime show with Prince. Now, he's working toward his second.
"This Super Bowl is different because it's my first time doing a pregame show. This is all Marching 100. We aren't going to be accompanying someone else. So it's our chance to show the crowd what all we do."
This will mark the band's fifth appearance at the Big Game, and there are several veterans among the band members. That doesn't lessen the intensity of the practice, nor does it mean those students are any less excited.
For first time super-bowlers like Freshmen Brandon Brown, Ashlee Hill and Alyssa Rose, they can't wait.
"Everyone is telling us, oh it's another performance. Just do what you do," said Brown.
Hill is just happy for the experience, saying, "I am looking forward to going back home. I am not a sports fanatic, but I have always wanted to perform in it I just can't wait. I'm ecstatic."
Rose agrees, saying, "I have heard from my upperclassmen that it's a lot of fun, and even though you put a lot of work into it, it's so worth it."
Out on the field, it's dance routine time. The moves being executed now are a far cry from what the final performance will be as the Marching 100 go back to the basics. The drum majors call out the movements on a megaphone, "Five, six, five-six-seven-eight step kick, right left, drop, lean, slide up!"
The sousaphones begin to play the bass line to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal." As the band continues to go through their steps, the bright tweets and chirps of clarinets and saxophones and piccolos chime in next.
Of course in Miami, it'll be a lot warmer. The tempo will be a lot faster, and there will be more than just band members packing the stadium.