They sprinkled the freshmen between returning band members. I got to the band building that first morning, found my nametag, took out my trumpet, and went outside to stand in a huge block, eight people across. Everyone who hoped to make the band - about 500 students - gathered a few days before classes started to practice music and marching before auditions on Sunday evening. I remember my first day of Notre Dame band camp freshman year so vividly. Learning by doing is a great way to learn. ( Note: My wife, a former high school water polo star goalie, upon finding out I was writing about marching band: 'Isn't this column supposed to be about sports?' Well, marching band is an athletic-ish endeavor and it's a big part of the college football experience, so I'm rolling with it.)ġ. There were also plenty of life lessons about what it means to be a part of a community. College sports are a strange and uniquely American obsession, but they allowed us to travel around the country, playing music for tens of thousands of people at a time. She (trombone) and I (trumpet) were both members of the marching band at the University of Notre Dame, though not at the same time and never in prehistoric costume.

I sent the clip to my younger sister right away, who had already seen it, of course, because we are both big-time marching band geeks. Unsurprisingly, the halftime show went viral. (Carichner seems to have a very good sense of humor in both band performance planning and media interviews.) 'Frankly, it costs more money just to feed the marching band than it does to outfit them in dinosaur costumes,' band director Christian Carichner told SB Nation. That's 60 costumes you see there at $50 a pop, for a grand total of $3,000 spent on the gag.

Notre dame victory march trumpet