Mike Marinakis has been practicing on his 35-pound instrument several hours a week for the annual parade and Battle of the Bands. (Debbie Aldridge/UC Davis)
Sousaphone player puckers up for all-day band marathon on Saturday
Mike Marinakis, a second-year chemical engineering major, is toughening up his lip and hoisting his sousaphone across campus in preparation for Picnic Day, the biggest event in the school year for the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh.
On this anticipated occasion, the band members will not only march at the head of a parade, will but defend their home turf in a grueling intercollegiate Battle of the Bands — which last year continued for an epic 12 hours.
In preparation for the big day, Band-uh rehearsals have been bumped up from two to eight hours a week The first half of each practice is spent reviewing the band's performance songs in depth, while the second half is reserved for brushing up on music in the 120-item folder. The plan is to build an impressive repertoire that will be unleashed at the Battle of the Bands on the banks of the Arboretum Waterway.
While residents sleep…
The band's Picnic Day typically begins around 5 a.m. While the residents of Davis sleep, the band members don uniforms, rehearse one last time and march to take their places bright and early at the head of the parade. They start at 10 a.m. with a Cal Aggie Band-uh Street Show, and begin marching down the street at 10:10 a.m.
The band actually goes through the parade route twice. First they lead the pack in classic blue and gold Aggie uniforms. Then, the students double back to the route start, while changing into the characteristic, button-covered Maverick hats and dress-down clothes. They close the parade as the last act at 11:30 a.m.
After a break, the Band-uh marches to Lake Spafford on the Arboretum Wateray at 3 p.m. to join in a traditional competition known as Battle of the Bands. A handful of California universities take turns playing songs without repeating any. Last year, UC Davis competed against Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC San Diego and Humboldt State University.
"You're blowing a lot of air through there. … Your goal in sousaphone is basically to play as loud as you can."
Sousaphone player Mike Marinakis
All-band jamming sessions
During the "battle," competing bands are allowed to join in if the performing band plays a song they know. The most extreme example of this all-band jamming occurs during the Stanford song "Beginnings," when drummers from all the bands circle together to each play a solo. The other sections split up in a similar fashion and play the melody while racing over the lawn and through the crowd of spectators. The antics of this single song can last as long as 45 minutes.
A mere three quarters of an hour pales, however, in comparison to the entire battle duration. After about 10 songs each, the various schools usually throw in the towel by playing their fight song, the Aggies claim victory or declare a truce, and everyone goes off to enjoy the after-the-battle party.
Last year, the tradition went haywire. About the agreed-upon 9 p.m. finish time, Humboldt refused to play its fight song until the Aggies caved first.
The Aggies were forced to prove themselves the old-fashioned way. As Marinakis says, "We don't lose battles." But doing so was no easy feat.
"It's really hard to continue to make music when you're just trying to get your lips to go," he says, explaining that after such a long time of playing, "you can't even feel them."
Tired and cold, the Davis band forged on into the early morning, countering the rival school's dwindling two-cent melodies with complex arrangements instead of relaxing and celebrating as they had hoped, Marinakis says.
Alumni join the battle
When word reached the Davis band alumni that their alma mater's band was still battling, they grabbed horns and came charging to the lake to join in the fight. Together, Aggies past and present finally sent the Humboldt Axes packing at 3 in the morning.
While such stamina is remarkable for every section of the band, it's especially impressive for those who tackle the sousaphone, a hefty wrap-around relative of the tuba.
"Sousaphones are the bass of the band," Marinakis says. "If we're not there, you don't have a background — or a backbone."
After playing similar instruments, Marinakis was drawn to the sousaphone three years ago, initially thinking it "looked easy." Unlike a saxophone or clarinet, the sousaphone only has three valves. But while they lack intricate fingering, sousaphones tip the scales in sheer mass, weighing 35 pounds. As Marinakis soon discovered, "You have to be pretty tough to play the sousaphone."
For the Band-uh, the band season is up and rolling seven months before Picnic Day, beginning with the weeklong summer band retreat. Here, the freshmen learn the ropes, the band prepares for the year ahead — and sousaphone players earn their stripes.
Callous of honor
"During that week, you're in so much pain," Marinakis says. "You do whatever you can not to have [the instrument] on your shoulder!" But after a week of sweating under 35 pounds of metal, sousaphone players build up a " huge bump" on their shoulder — a sort of callous of honor.
Carrying the sousaphone is only part of the battle — this instrument demands toughness simply to be played. "You're blowing a lot of air through there," Marinakis says. "You build up your lung capacity as you play. Your goal in sousaphone is basically to play as loud as you can."
Observers note that the musicians seem to dance while they play. These swinging, choreographed "horn-movements" have been passed down for years, in order to "spice up" their routines and "help put on a good show," Marinakis says.
The overall attitude toward band participation is pretty relaxed even though the band has an extensive schedule. It travels throughout the state, accompanies the football and basketball teams out of state and performs at various campus events. As long as each section is always represented, Marinakis explains, the student players have the flexibility to attend events when they can, since the idea is to have fun.
This loose approach works because the Aggie Band is truly enthusiastic about making music for other people to enjoy, he says. "Being in band is a hard place to be shy. The people are outgoing, love performing and will try to draw you out of your shell."
Though Marinakis' lip was swollen to twice its normal size by the end of the Battle of the Bands last year, he still considered the event to be fun and rewarding.
His one hope for the upcoming Picnic Day? "That the battle doesn't run quite so long this year."