Section Leader — e-mail

Heather Williamson

Brown College 2010 Mathematics, Astrophysics I passionately love peanut butter.

A marching band with strings?

Are you kidding? ... What? You're serious?!

That's right. We're The MOB string section. We welcome any type of stringed instrument into our section with open arms. We currently have violins, violas and even a cello!

Now I know you might have major questions — how can a marching band have strings? How does a cello get around the field? Does the band even like having a string section?

Well, glad you asked. Because we are so different — that is, we're strings in a (non-)marching band (and we don't drool when we play) — we're actually the coolest section in the band. I bet when it comes down to it, we get the most attention. When The MOB appeared in photos for the newspaper, when The MOB played for the six o'clock news, and when The MOB made it on the MTV Rock n' Jock show, you know who they featured? Yeah, us! Because strings in a marching band is just that darn cool.

So what do we do with The MOB? Well, we run around on the field playing music and doing crazy things with the rest of them. Of course, as a string section, we have special needs and opportunities compared to the rest of The MOB. Think about it:

• The cello.
  How in the world does a cello player get around the field? Well, one of our cello players was inspired and made a cello marching harness out of spare percussion harness parts. (She also carries a quiver and stocks it full of bows.) Another cello player simply carried his cello around the field and smoothly rolled out a lawn chair to sit in when it was time to play.
• Featured performers.
  The string section is just so cool and unique, The MOB uses us to highlight special theatrical moments in the script. For example, the Communist show (otherwise known as The People's Halftime) found our section orchestrally arranged at the front of the field — a MOB string quintet starring us... in formal wear. We played music pieces like Firebird Finale and the introduction of Pictures at Exhibition. Dang! We were suave and oh so cool. And when we played Navy last year, we dressed up — as sailors.

Hopefully that answered most of your questions, or at least enticed your interest in the best section in the band. If you have any more questions of if you're thinking about joining us for a football (or basketball) game, e-mail the section leader, Heather, and she'll be more than happy to respond.

Search:

Sections Multimedia Scripts Forums Courses & Ensembles Contact Us

Member Login