Cara Arnoldi is set to lead an executive board with 315 student members, plus being a double-major and graduate student at the same time in a new role as the Blue Band’s captain after serving as the organization’s president.

Hailing from Chalfont, Pennsylvania, Arnoldi is a fourth-year student with a passion for the baritone. We sat down with Arnoldi to learn more about her role.

Onward State: What sparked your passion for music?

Cara Arnoldi: We’re a whole musical affair family. I started out on piano, but I came across baritone in fourth grade and have been playing it ever since.

OS: What made you choose Penn State?

CA: My parents. My parents are both former Blue Banders. My older sister is a Blue Bander, and my younger sister just joined this year.

OS: How does student leadership in the Blue Band work?

CA: There are different levels. First, you have your regular old student leaders who work within the different sections. Your squad leaders, usually in a group of four for drill instruction. Then you have guides, two for every rank, basically like your section leader, in charge of pregame information and all of that stuff.

You also have music section leaders who lead music sectionals. They help us learn our music and help us prepare our music. Then, for drumline and for the majorettes, they have captains, who are kind of like their section leader, but they have a different title.

We also have our officer board. Our officer board has the following positions: president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and historian, which is our eboard. Then we have librarians, two PR chairs, a tech chair, and a recruitment chair.

I just concluded my term as president up until March 1.

OS: Can you walk us through the Blue Band gameday routine for home football games?

CA: We’re there at the crack of dawn if it’s a noon game. Our call time is 6:30 a.m. for noon games. We rehearse from 6:45 to 8:15 a.m., then we have our gameday sub and get dressed. They usually have a few members go out for the president’s tailgate and the team walk. Those people are randomly selected and change every week.

Then we’ll step off the parade and go do the pregame show, sit in the stands, halftime show, perform from the stands, and that’s our day. For 3:30 p.m. games, we get there at like 8:30 a.m., and for [late] games like 7 p.m. or later, it’s around 12:30 or 1 p.m.

If it’s an earlier game, we can rehearse on the grass at the IM Fields because nobody is tailgating at 6:30 a.m., though you’d be surprised by the end of our rehearsal, people are lined up to park and set up. And then for the later games, we rehearse in Holuba [Hall], which is where the football team practices.

OS: How does traveling for away games work?

CA: For the Blue Band, we’ll travel to one away game on the regular schedule. Last year, it was the West Virginia game. If we’re lucky, we get an additional game that we can go there and back quickly, like Maryland. In years past, we’ve also done Ohio State and Auburn.

We do have a few pep bands that are selected based on leadership and seniority. I’ve gotten to go on a few because I have been on the officer board for the past three years, and also a squad leader for the last three years as well. Those are typically between 15 to 20 student members. We only go to a few, like USC and Wisconsin, last year. Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan, Rutgers, etc., are all other places we’ve gone. It’s usually in the Big Ten.

When it comes to basketball and hockey, that is reserved for the Pride of the Lions pep band, which is separate from the Blue Band. So Blue Band is officially for the football team, and Pride of the Lions is for other sports. Even though they are both similar and have similar faces, not everybody is in both.

For example, there are a lot of student members who are not in Blue Band but decide to do Pride of the Lions in the fall because it is less of a commitment. You do basketball, volleyball, etc., whereas the Blue Band only goes to football games.

In the spring, a lot of Blue Band members will switch over to Pride of the Lions so they can do hockey, basketball, etc. If those teams make national tournaments or the Big Ten Tournament, the band will travel with them, but they don’t travel with them for regular season [away] games.

I’m in the Blue Band predominantly, and I have done hockey for my freshman, sophomore, and junior year, but I didn’t do it this year.

OS: Is the Blue Band directly connected to the athletic department?

CA: Dr. Drane, [Director of Penn State Athletic Bands], answers to the College of Arts and Architecture in addition to Athletics. So we, actually, it’s interesting, have a foot in both doors. In regards to funding, I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly how we are funded, but we do have, under the Alumni Blue Band Association, otherwise known as ABA, and the Floating Lions Fund.

When it comes to traveling, I’m pretty sure that it’s up to Athletics.

OS: What impact do you think the Blue Band has on Penn State and the community?

CA: The first thing that comes to mind — Carson, our drum major, has said in a different article – we provide the soundtrack to gameday. When you think of college football, you don’t just think about the team. You also think about the fans, cheerleaders, and the Blue Band as part of the gameday experience.

When it comes to me, I think the Blue Band itself brings a huge legacy to the rest of the Penn State community. For example, ABA is one of the largest alumni associations within Penn State. I mean, every homecoming, you have hundreds of alumni come back and play at the homecoming game before we get on for pregame. This is pretty amazing because I marched with my entire family last homecoming. It was a very cool experience.

The Blue Band itself is an ambassador for the entire university. When you think of Penn State, you are going to think of the football team and gameday experience. At the end of the day, Blue Band is a part of that experience. When you hear the alma mater, you are hearing the Blue Band. It is like an underlying part of Penn State culture that isn’t necessarily brought up all the time, but is critical to the everyday things that you are seeing at Penn State.

The biggest thing I like to throw out there is that we demonstrate how much legacy is pervasive in all Penn State culture.

OS: What is your favorite Blue Band song/tune?

CA: Personally, I love Line 68, a.k.a. the Floating Lion Stroll, just because I think that drill is great.

But playing-wise wise I love Swag Surfing because nothing gets the crowd going like Swag Surfing. It’s one of our fan tunes and my favorite stand tune.

OS: Per Onward State tradition, if you could be any dinosaur, which would you be and why?

CA: So I looked this up because I don’t know how to pronounce it. It’s called a Parasaurolophus. I love it.