Downstairs in Loker Commons, alumni and students alike camped out waiting for their turn. Some passed the time checking e-mail while taking in parts of the playoff game between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins, but most remained bunkered in the Loker classrooms making necessary last minute preparations.

As Gross wrapped up his narration and the wind ensemble finished its final piece, a thunderous beat of drums rose from the floor below the stage. Band members began ascending the steps up to the main platform, pouring onto the stage in a measured fashion. More and more took to the stairs until the stage was completely full. The alumni and students crammed closer together in order to fit everyone in, a feat that was made more difficult by the presence of bulky instruments such as tubas and drums.

The band broke into the Harvard Medley and proceeded to go through all of Harvard’s traditional fight songs, from “Harvardiana” to “Fight Fiercely” to “Gridiron King” with a different alum conducting each piece. Current student conductor Josh Rissmiller ’06 was the last to take the podium, as he was given the honor of leading the band’s staple piece—“Ten Thousand Men of Harvard.”

“If there is an anthem of the band, that’s it,” Rissmiller said. “It just tugs at your heartstrings a bit.”

At the conclusion of the concert, the band members young and old made their way back down to Loker for a reception, giving many old friends a chance to catch up.

“They really enjoy being back,” Band Manager Matt Katcher said. “We’ve seen a lot of groups getting back together and a lot of people who have kept these ties over the years.”

DEW, SUNRISE AND THE HARVARD BAND

It’s Saturday at 6:45 a.m., but as most of the Harvard world sleeps, the band scurries around its 74 Mount Auburn Street home, loading equipment into trucks and tuning their instruments.

“It’s too early,” Horn joked.

“Where’s my coffee?” mused Evelyn Tate ’74.

There aren’t too many people that would be happy with a pre-dawn wakeup call on a Saturday, but the band is all smiles as it prepares to take to the streets in its customary march to the stadium.

For the alums, the memories of marches past came rushing back.

“We used to block up near the freshman dorms starting at Greenough and wake everybody up,” Tate said as she glanced down the empty thoroughfare. “This isn’t as much fun, because there aren’t that many people around.”

A thunderous beat of drums breaks the silence of the still morning. After a quick warm up, the band marches out into Mt. Auburn Street and blasts its traditional fight songs, surely violating several Cambridge noise ordinances and providing a bit of a shock to heavy-eyed residents of Lowell and Claverly.

Does the band have any qualms about serving as a de facto 7:15 wakeup call for a portion of the Harvard population?