Bass Drum Journal

Staff Turnover at Harvard-yAle 2023

by | Nov 18, 2023 | Community, Events, News, People

Why is brass the best section?

I’ve played brass my whole life. I started with the trumpet when I was little, holding an instrument that was almost as big as my ambitions. Three years later, I moved to flugelhorn, and not long after that, I switched again, this time to euphonium. Apparently, I like instruments that require a lot of air and a lot of stubbornness. I grew up going to music schools where you had to earn your place. Competition was present even in the air we breathed. Every chair, every solo, every performance mattered, and everyone was constantly trying to prove themselves. It was intense, but it also taught me to love the challenge of music and the feeling of working hard to make something beautiful. 

Brass, however, was always a very male-dominated section. That meant I not only had to fight to reach the same level as everyone else, but I also had to prove that I deserved to be there in the first place. Sometimes, some comments made me feel like I didn’t belong in brass, like it wasn’t meant for girls. I heard things that made me question whether I should continue at all. But in the end, the joy of playing always won. I kept practicing, kept showing up, and kept choosing brass. 

In my last year of music school, I won a contest to play as the soloist with the band. It was one of the proudest moments in my musical career. But even then, some people asked if I really deserved it. How could others have lost against me—a girl? Even after all the effort, people still thought that maybe I didn’t quite belong in brass. 

That’s why the Harvard University Band Brass Section is so special to me.

HUB brass is genuinely the first music group where I, as a woman brass player, have felt completely included as just another member of the section. No distinction has ever been made between any of the players in brass. No assumptions, no questioning, no “exceptions.” Just musicians playing together and having fun. And that will continue to be the spirit of this section. 

Beyond that, brass is simply the most fun section in the band. Everyone knows the party doesn’t really start until brass joins. If there’s a loud chord to blast, a dramatic entrance, or a moment that needs a little extra energy, we are always ready. We are the section that brings the sound, the enthusiasm, and sometimes the chaos (the good kind). 



Our cut traditions are obviously the best—no debate there. And the fact that so many student conductors come from the brass section has to mean something. Maybe it’s the confidence that comes from playing instruments that can shake the room, or maybe it’s just that brass players like to be heard. Either way, we somehow always end up at the center of the action.



But what really makes brass the best section isn’t just the volume, the traditions, or the reputation. It’s the people. Brass players have a special kind of camaraderie. We celebrate each other’s successes, laugh through mistakes, and support each other both in and outside of rehearsal. There’s something about sharing stands, breaths, and ridiculous inside jokes that turns a group of musicians into a family. 

So, to answer the question: brass is the best section because it goes beyond anything people imagine when they think about music. It’s not just about the notes we play — it’s about the community we build around them.



HUB brass is the family I am most proud to be a part of. 

And if you ever need proof that brass is the best section… just listen for the loudest, happiest sound in the band room.



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Staff Inauguration with Ginger Ale
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Who is capable of making a 3-5 hour journey into a painstaking 8-hour drive, being two hours late to their own concert at the Harvard Club of NYC? None other than the Harvard University Band.

Now let’s be clear, our tardiness was not our fault. I don’t think there was a single person in that bus that would’ve chosen to leave upstate New York, go down through New Jersey, wait for hours in the Lincoln Tunnel, just to trudge through Times Square on a Friday night. But it’s also not like I had a frame of reference about what this weekend would look like.

A first-year’s experience at Harvard-yAle, especially when it’s an away game, is one truly like no other: wondering what “The Game” is referring to when you haven’t watched a football game all season, starting to understand why your professor wrote “yAle (BOO!)” on that day’s lecture slides, and a new, undying hatred for a school whose mascot is a misunderstood dog breed. Harvard-yAle becomes an especially unique experience for the first-year students in the Harvard University Band, I being one of them.

Harvard-yAle is special in the Band’s calendar, not only marking the last game of football season, but marking the last game with the current roster of staff. The Game is preceded by a nerve-wracking period of interviews and forums to decide the new junior and senior staff, so Harvard-yAle is a moment of celebration unlike any other celebration that a Harvard student experiences.

Don’t get me wrong, The Game was indeed stressful. I found out that weekend that the Band must be cursed when it comes to transportation, because we were late twice that weekend, once to the Harvard Club of NYC, and once to the actual yAle Bowl for field rehearsal. We did not have three of our five new senior staff members because they were sick with COVID, one of them being our announcer for our halftime show. The word “beginning” becomes the most difficult word in the world to pronounce when you’re announcing for the first time at the biggest game of the football season, I’ll tell you that much.

But, the end of our halftime show meant it was time for the Band’s Harvard-yAle traditions, which Prop Crew prepared for after field rehearsal, when they went to buy plenty of Ginger Ale. Senior staff predecessors (much love to Kyle, Travis, Justin, and Ja’Karri) emptied the bottles on their successors, some of which were less physical and more so in our hearts. As the Band chanted the names of each of the items that each member of senior staff needed for their roles, and as many of us became drenched (and eventually frozen) with zero-sugar soda, all the stress of that season melted away.

I stood next to the new Manager and the new Stud-Con after turnover, because it was too crowded to get back to my seat. I stood in front of the Band, with the battle for the Ivy League championship happening right behind me, under some bright sunshine on a 20°F day. Between each deafening cadence, the two-millisecond preparation we got before we were supposed to play, and the chilling gusts of wind that didn’t feel cold anymore, all that I was thinking in my head was:

To many years more (and hopefully a win during my time here).

The Band welcomes the new 2023-2024 members of Senior Staff:

  • Ja’Karri Pierre ‘25, Manager
  • Sylvia Whittaker-Traw ‘26, Drill Master
  • Oziel Flores ‘25, Student Conductor
  • Blake Bernhardt ‘26, Drum Major
  • Nora Penni ‘26, Schneider

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