Band Battles Muddy Classroom

By Leroy Bridges
Sports Editor

Imagine learning in a classroom flooded with water, caked with mud and littered with holes.
It sounds like a joke, but it's reality for the Purdue All-American Marching Band.
Five days a week, the band has to practice and students are expected to earn credit for learning. But the practice field across from Hillenbrand Hall is in "awful" condition, according to Pam Nave, jeopardizing the band's learning, performance and safety.
"That field is a classroom and when it is in this kind of shape, it's a problem," said Nave, associate professor of bands.
For several years, the field's condition has been a problem. Because of extensive use of the field, the ground is worn down and when it rains, large puddles form. The puddles lead to mud and much, which make marching difficult, according to Adam Horton, a senior in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
"There are huge holes and trenches, which makes it difficult while playing," Horton said. "A lot of us are careful, but we'll slip and fall anyway.
"We know we are going to get muddy."
This year, the condition is worsening and Kent Shoults, buisness manager for the band, is concerned people don't realize the importance of fa quality field.
"If you go over to some of the engineering classrooms, is there standing water on the floor and how long will it be there?" Shoults said. "Everyone recognizes how important the marching band is when it come to going to games and bowls, but I don't think people make the connection that this is their classroom and they can't get in it."
In an effort to alert people of the field's condition, band members have created a shirt that will be worn for the first time at the Oct. 20 rehearsal. The back of the shirt reads "Mud or grass, our band kicks butt."
"A lot of people read stories about Ross-Ade Stadium's field and the three other fields the team has, but no one knows about our field's condition," Horton said. "We pay fees and we are a class and our field is a problem."
In addition, the field's muddy condition has caused injury and costly damage to instruments. According to Nave, several weeks ago a snare drummer tripped into a hole that formed around a sprinkler head. The result was a sprained ankle, a muddy uniform and damage to a $900 drum.
"It is a concern because A: You have one of the best Big Ten bands marching in mud," Shoults said. "And B: You are having people get hurt.
"You are talking uniform expense, instrument expense and injury expense."
Financial limitations also hinder any long-term solution, such as an artifical surface with drainage.
"There's no easy solution in place," Shoults said. "It's going to take a major renovation. But the lack of money for that renovation is the problem."
According to Shoults, the band department hasn't officially asked the University for help and as of Oct. 17 the University hasn't extended any financial support.
"It's not any different than any other project," Shoults said. "As far as the University stepping up and saying, 'Here's X number of dollars.' I am not aware that that's happened.'"
The short-term solution is an alternate practice site which has been provided by the Recreational Sports Center on the intramural fields. If not for the RSC's ability to loan the band a field, Shoults doesn't know what the band would be doing.
"Luckily, our relationship with (RSC director) Howard Taylor is positive," Shoults said. "Otherwise, we would be in an even worse situation."

Published in the Purdue Exponent on Oct. 18, 2006