Band Alumni Reunion 2012

As an enthusiastic member of the Bruin Marching Band and avid collector of all things having to do with UCLA history, one of the football games I look forward to the most at the Rose Bowl is Band Alumni Reunion Day (BAR).  As you probably already know, once every two years past marching band members come from far and wide (greatest distance awards have gone to alums from Korea and the Netherlands!) to relive their college band days.  One of the reasons BAR is so successful is because the Psi and the Epsilon Kappa chapters of KKPsi and TBS at UCLA work on overdrive the weeks preceding the grand day, doing everything from stuffing envelopes with music to calling lists upon lists (in very tiny font) of alumni for confirmations.  Spearheaded jointly by our respective chapters’ alumni officers and band staff, we succeeded in hosting over 200 alumni this year!  Although BAR involves a lot of planning and man-hours, or shall we say brother-and-sister-hours, every phone call is worth it when we get to meet all the awesome past marching band members.  It is so interesting to hear their stories about what has changed in the band and, surprisingly, how much has stayed the same.  Some of our pep tune arrangements are multiple decades old!  Woah! 
I personally got to bond with an alumni female snare drummer and was amazed at her story.  She joined band her senior year of college because that was the first year that females were allowed in the UCLA marching band!  I remember her saying that joining band was one of the best decisions of her life.  Hearing her fond memories of her only year in band made me pause and appreciate that I get to have four years of band with all my sisters and brothers.  I can’t wait for the day that I get to attend BAR as an alum!

Keri Downs, 
Epsilon Kappa Secretary