Source: Frank Tracz, 785-532-3818, ftracz@k-state.edu
Pronoucer: Tracz is "trace"
News release prepared by: Andy Badeker, 785-532-6415, abadeker@k-state.edu
Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007
K-STATE MARCHING BAND TO FILL AHEARN FOR ANNUAL CONCERT NOV. 18
MANHATTAN -- The 330 members of Kansas State University's Pride of Wildcatland Marching Band will bring their rousing music and precision routines to K-State's Ahearn Field House at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18.
"It'll be about an hour long, and it will be loud," said Frank Tracz, K-State's director of bands. "Ahearn's a barn, and the kids love playing in there; for an hour they're rock stars."
The concert is free, but donations will be accepted to pay for rental of chairs and other equipment.
"It’s always a good crowd," Tracz said of the annual Ahearn tradition. "Parents and families should have the chance to see their kids after all the work they've put in through the year."
In addition to the musicians' roster of school songs and halftime and pregame music, the Classy Cats, the K-State color guard and twirlers also will demonstrate their skills. Everyone will be in uniform. The concert will be recorded for a CD to be released in February 2008.
At the concert, the name of this year's "most inspirational bandsperson" will be announced, an honor voted on by all band members.
Recipients of four Rod Funk scholarships also will be announced. Funk was a quiet but hard-working trombone player in the late 1970s who died of a heart defect, Tracz said. His friends and family endowed a fund that produces several $400 to $500 "silent leader" awards each year.
Band gear -- hats, shirts CDs, "all sorts of things" -- also will be available for purchase, Tracz said.