GET TO KNOW THE BLUE THUNDER MARCHING BAND
SPORTS & REC
The dedication of the members and director is unmatched Autum Robertson | Sports Reporter | sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu
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n Sept. 5, 1987, the Keith Stein Blue Thunder marching band took the field for the first time to perform at a home opener for the Boise State Broncos. The group is named after Keith and Catherine Stein of Boise State, who donated $250,000 in 1986 to establish the marching band. While the band may have grown in size and the uniforms might have changed since then, the spirit and pride of Blue Thunder still resonates through each and every member. Minutes before every kickoff, the Blue Thunder marching band can be heard pumping themselves up before marching onto the field to perform for the football team and their fans. The 200-member crew contains a vast variety of musicians and majors. Get to know the loud and proud staff and members, including band director Joe Tornello and members Katelyn Schuettke and Nicolette Guerin. Joe Tornello Joseph Tornello has an education background in music. He has a bachelor and master of Arts from Virginia Tech and Jacksonville State University in Alabama. He later got his doctorate in wind-band conducting from the University of Kentucky. Tornello found himself in Boise and now takes on the busy role of the band director. “Anything musically related is what I’m responsible for making sure happens for the band,” Tornello said. “I write a large majority of the drill that the band performs on the field, which is fairly time consuming. Basically steering things that need to happen for the program.” Occasionally, graduate students in the band are given the opportunity to write the drills. Tornello will often hold an open meeting in January or February that allows members to throw out fun concept ideas for the show. Since Tornello came to Boise in 2011, the band has grown from around 130
members to its current 200. Tornello sees how much the students work with band and school, and he couldn’t be happier with the performances and the band’s cumulative 3.0 GPA. “I see what they’re doing everyday,” Tornello said. “In some cases, students don’t realize what they can do collectively. Seeing the hard work and the successful performances is pretty rewarding.” Not only does he direct and oversee Blue Thunder and all the pep bands, Tornello is the chapter sponsor for the band’s fraternity Kappa Kappa Si, and he teaches a campus band class in both fall and spring. Tornello has two children of his own, who he said love seeing the band during the Bronco Walk on game day. He is also skilled at playing multiple instruments. “Depending on what you consider playing, I’m fairly proficient on all the brass. Percussion is my main instrument and the woodwinds I’m okay, if I would sit down and practice it,” Tornello said. Tornello’s personal philosophy is to please everyone in the stadium at least once each year. Katelyn Schuettke Katelyn Schuettke is a junior piccolo player, majoring in physics with an astrophysics emphasis, and she dreams of working for NASA. In Schuettke’s sixth year of school, she picked up a flute for the first time and never put it down again. That was until she decided to march at Boise State, where they march piccolo instead of the flute. She didn’t have any marching band experience before college, but she soon learned how fun and family oriented band could be. Being a physics major puts a lot of stress on Schuettke, so band is her getaway. “The best part for me is all the friends,” Schuettke said. “With my major I get stressed, but with band it’s a different kind of stress. It’s hard physical work; it helps
with de-stressing. It’s a different kind of stress, but it’s relaxing.” As a member, she is required to begin preparation five hours before the actual game. The day consists of getting dressed in their uniform and preparing over and over again for all of the game performances. Like the football team, right before the band storms the field, each section does something to get themselves pumped.
“In the tunnel before we run on before pregame, every instrument section has their own way to pump themselves up.” -
ton in band camp and rehearsals, but when we travel it’s all band all the time. We get to concentrate on us and go have fun with band kids.” There are plenty of stereotypes associated with band students. Guerin said the one she hears the most is that all band members are music majors. “I think a lot of people think we’re in the Morrison Center all the time, and all we do is band, but I’m definitely not that,” Guerin said. “I do band, I’m a section leader and I love it, but my career is not band.” She joked that she’s much better at her major than playing her instrument. The Blue Thunder’s next home performance is during halftime Saturday, Oct. 6 when Boise State football plays San Diego State University.
Katelyn Schuettke, junior piccolo player
“In the tunnel before we run on before pregame, every instrument section has their own way to pump themselves up,” Schuettke said. “We do this piccolo song that goes like, ‘show us how you piccolo.’ We get really pumped up for that. It gets really intense and everyone’s so excited.” Schuettke said she would never trade being on the field for game day. Nicolette Guerin Nicolette Guerin is a senior trumpet section leader. She is majoring in engineering with an applied math minor and has a goal of working at Aerospace. She first started playing trumpet in the fifth grade. Guerin is also a member of the pep band, volleyball band and Kappa Kappa Si. Guerin loves all the friendships she has made being in the band. Spending time with the band is one of her favorite parts. “I really love traveling with the band. It’s so much fun,” Guerin said. “We bond a
Photo by Ximena Bustillo.
OCTOBER 2, 2018
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