Let me start by saying I was in the Clarkson Pep Band for 4 great years.
We had a fantastic time and looked forward to road trips.  We always seemed
to play better in front of a hostile audience.  However, when we did travel
to the home of another band our director always worked out who would play
at what times with the other director...and we honored that.
 
Even though we were banned from Vermont, we continued to go...without
instruments (it was part of the traditional RPI/UVM trip).  We knew the
NC$$ rules about noisemakers and made as much noise as humanly possible
without the instruments.  Quite a few people wished we had had the
instruments...at least then there would have been some order to the noise.
 
St. Lawrence only allows 25 Clarkson Pep Band members in.  I remember this
as I was never allowed to go as you just can't hear a flute over those
obnoxiously loud trumpets.  :)
 
At one point, Yale wanted to ban us from a playoff game.  Our arena director
called the ECAC, the ECAC called Yale and said that in the spirit of playoffs
we would be allowed to bring our band and we could bring as many as we
wanted.
 
The trends I have seen in bands is disappointing.  We always saw ourselves
as having a friendly rivalry with the other band, but there was the common
theme of music and hockey that made it fun.  Yes, we had some fantastic
parties with the Cornell band.  I also remember combining the bands and
playing common music together.  If I remember, when Clarkson and Cornell
combined between periods in the Garden one year, we managed to get a
standing ovation from some of the crowd.  It was fun.  I don't like
seeing the hate that appears to have developed between bands just
because they go to a different school.  We may have hated Cornell's
hockey team, but their band was a lot of fun to play with and party with.
The same was true with RPI and Brown (when they came up).
 
I have a lot of fond memories of the band.  Of the Clarkson friends I
keep in touch with, most were in the band.  We also made other friends
at other schools.  It was worth it.  However, if things continue to go
the way the trends seem to indicate, I wouldn't blame arenas for banning
visiting bands.  There is no reason why a band should move in and take
over.  They are guestson courtesy.s home...that home and those fans need
to be treated with common
 
I may get flamed for this, but I can certainly understand Union's desire
to ban bands if other bands act obnoxiously...I think some bands I've seen
need to take this as a warning and clean up their acts on the road.
 
Beth Weise
Clarkson '88
RPI '90 (and '94?)