Contact: Maridith Geuder
Some 200 potential future students will join Mississippi State's Famous Maroon Band for a special Sept. 18 "Shake, Rattle and Roll" halftime show.
Part of the university's annual High School Band Day, the massed performance takes place during the Bulldogs' football game with the University of Maine Black Bears.
Assistant director Craig Aarhus said the MSU Bands staff will rehearse with the visiting groups during the morning in preparation for the 6 p.m. kickoff at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. The non-conference contest is not being televised.
"This is a great way to both promote our band program to high school students around Mississippi and to let them experience a university athletic event firsthand," Aarhus said.
The nearly 500-strong assemblage also will include the MSU Alumni Band. In addition to the signature Elvis Presley rock 'n' roll number that gives the program its title, the show also will feature the Famous Maroon Band in a selection of Latin jazz tunes.
Band director Elva Kay Lance, an MSU and FMB alumna, said the campus marching company was formed in 1902 and garnered the "Famous Maroon" moniker in the 1930s. Students in any academic major may audition to become a member of the group, which this year numbers about 250, she added.
"High School Band Day is one of the special events we all look forward to each year," she said.
For more information about MSU High School Band Day, contact Lance at (662) 325-2713.