Penn Band performs at Disney over break

This winter break, Penn Band traveled more than 1,000 miles to embark on a performance journey very different from Penn’s sporting events.

On Jan. 6, 35 members of the Penn Band played at Walt Disney World Resort as part of the Disney Performing Arts Program. This is their sixth time performing there.

“We’re the honorable cast of Disney World,” said College seniors Lauren Mendoza and Kylie Murrin. Murrin is a drum major in the Penn Band, and Mendoza held the position previously..

During their five-day stay, members of the band visited all four main parks of the resort and got to see the backstage areas.

Mendoza, who is also the 2014 president of Penn Band, was among those responsible for planning the trip. “Road trips foster a lot of great memories. For Disney, we wanted to travel as a group because we had done that in the past,” she said. “Two years ago we played on a cruise at the Bahamas,” she added.

The songs the band played at Disney included “Time Warp,” “Since U Been Gone” and “Bad Romance.” Murrin emphasized that the band played songs that both showcased their talent as a group and excited the audience. She stressed, though, that personal preferences of the band members are a factor as well.

“We serve the audience — that’s a great goal of ours — but we also serve ourselves. We want make sure that our members are having a great time in the band,” she said.

For Penn Band Director Greer Cheeseman, who has been in the band for over four decades, the Disney performance was just another pleasant trip with the group. “It is a great opportunity to have a great time together, and it is just another one of the great memories that we’re going to have as a group.”

For him, although the culture of the campus changes, the band remains the same. Just as when he was a member of the band, students now are still having a great time playing music together.

The group also ran into Penn students and alumni during their performance at Disney.

“When we were performing there, an old alumni came to us and told us, ‘Oh, I knew that song when I went to Penn, and that was really special to hear,’” current Penn Band President and Nursing junior Dana Rosenberg said.

“Penn is everywhere along with the Penn Band,” Murrin added.

For many of the Penn Band members, the band has become more than an extracurricular. “We really are a really tight-knit group, and the members of the band hang out together all the time. The band is like a family, and that’s how we view it,” Mendoza said.

In the new semester, Penn Band is just as committed. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, though students were given the day off, most members chose to practice as a group anyway.

“Everybody there volunteered their time because they wanted to be there,” Murrin said.

Even beyond their own personal commitment, the band as a whole values giving back to the community, Rosenberg emphasized. “We see ourselves as a service-centered group as much as a performing arts group. We try to be there for everything we can be, and we don’t charge for any of our performances,” she said. “We do everything because we want to, and we pride ourselves on that,” she added.

Continuing with the band’s tradition of producing an album every four years, they will release a new album sometime this year. They hope the audience of the album will feel the culture and dynamic of the band through the music. “Hopefully, if you look into it, you feel like you’re the part of the band,” Murrin said.

“I just hope we can be the best we can be,” Rosenberg said.

A previous version of this article stated that Lauren Mendoza is a current drum major in the Penn Band. Mendoza actually held the position in previous years.

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