UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 2, Page 6                                
September 10, 1992                                             
Marching Band to strut its stuff in season opener              
                                                               
     Come on along, come on along--It's the Blue Hen Marching Band.  
     Come on along, come on along--It's the best band in the land!   
                                                                     
     The biggest band sound in the history of Delaware will be heard 
this season as the more than 200 members, the most ever, of the      
University's Marching Band step out in style Saturday into Delaware  
Stadium.                                                             
     Led by three drum majors-John Bell, Patty Hearson and Michelle  
Watson-the ensemble will feature 40 silks and twirlers in front, with
the rest musicians-including 40 percussionists.                      
     A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes on for that magic eight    
minutes of show time at games as well as concerts and in band        
festivals. The two responsible are Alan Hamant, director, who handles
the musical aspects, and Mark Alexander, associate director, who does
everything from outfitting the band to making travel arrangements.   
     Practice, including a three-day band camp over Labor Day weekend,  
starts as soon as the semester begins, and it's intense, according to
Hamant. After an orientation, the band practices marching. Music is  
rehearsed indoors and recorded. Next is more marching to the recorded
music, and finally, the band marches while playing.                  
     "It's difficult to march, read music and play all at the same   
time. It's like simultaneously being in the orchestra and the chorus 
line in a musical. Furthermore, the Blue Hens have a larger repertoire        
than most college marching bands," Hamant said.                      
     "Band members have to be enthusiastic to work as hard as they do
for one or no academic credit," Alexander said, "but there is a sense
of exhilaration when you play for a crowd of 20,000."                
     There are some Blue Hen traditions associated with the band. For
example, the sousaphone and tuba players turn up here, there and     
everywhere in the stadium, "bozoing" the Blue Hen, Navy's goat or    
other mascots. Other band sections will probably perform this way as 
well this year.                                                      
     Another tradition is serenading the president and his guests at    
the president's home on Kent Way before boarding the buses to the    
stadium.                                                             
     This year the band will march through campus before the         
Homecoming pep rally and walking-units parade, gathering students as 
they go for the event. Festivities are scheduled to begin on Friday, 
Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. on the North Mall between Brown and Harter halls,  
bordered by Main Street and Delaware Avenue.                         
     The band will be on stage within and out of stadiums. A New     
England tour is scheduled the weekend of Oct. 3. For the third time, 
the band will play in Boston's Quincy Market.                        
     "The band marches down the center, and the crowd parts to let   
them through, and then they do a concert. It generates a lot of      
excitement, and afterward, it seems as if there are always a few     
alumni who are amazed to see us and come up to chat," Hamant said.   
     After Boston, the band will go to New Hampshire for the football   
game, followed by an appearance at the Mathuen High School Band      
Competition in Massachusetts. The band then will have a few hours of R        
& R in Mystic, Conn., on Sunday.                                     
     Two local tours are planned for Oct. 10 and 17 when, after the  
football games, the band will appear at four band festivals. "It's a 
tribute to the band's members that they set the tone for these and   
always get a standing ovation," Hamant said.                         
     The band disbands after the last game, but some players continue
to perform as a pep band for basketball games.                       
     What are the 1992 "specials?" One is the scheduled performances 
of the "1812 Overture," with the University of New Hampshire band and
the University of Massachusetts band. There may be some other        
surprises, involving bagpipes, Alexander said.                       
     Alexander, a band alumnus from his Delaware student days, said he        
has missed only one football game in the five years he has been at the        
University. That was the day he married his wife, Cara, who is in    
charge of the silks.                                                 
     But since he couldn't come to the band, the band came to him. He   
chartered buses, and the Blue Hens serenaded the wedding party and   
guests at the close of the ceremony.                                 
                                        -Sue Swyers Moncure