The Spartan Marching Band has a long history, having reached its 145th year, the band has been around even longer than the football team. Being part of the band is basically like being adopted by a second family, as band president John Owens describes it. 

“My favorite part of being at MSU (and) being a Spartan is just being in this band,” said Owens . “It really becomes a family, a lot of my time is spent, even if it's not in rehearsal, ... hanging out with my band friends. Even just thinking about band is one of the things I do most often at MSU.” 

The band sends out its acceptance letters July 1, along with all of the sheet music they want the new band members to know before their first practice. Practice starts 10 days before classes begin. This year it starts on August 24. 

Those who make it into the band and show up to their first practice have a whole new set of expectations to meet. 

“My expectations are for them to immediately come in and use their talent and not be shy. They’ve got to shine their light,” Madden said. “But that’s hard when you (are) new to an organization, so our organization really welcomes new people to come in and contribute right away.” 

Because new band members are chosen in July, they are expected to use the time between their acceptance and the first day of practice to work on and learn the material so they will be ready when August 24 rolls around. Once the school year starts, they have practice every weekday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in preparation for walking into Spartan Stadium for their first performance. 

“The first time I played was the first pre-game we played Boise State,” said Owens. “All I could remember in the tunnel was just 'don’t mess up, don’t mess up, don’t mess up' and all these people, and then as soon as you get out of the tunnel and into the stadium and everyone’s 'ahhhhh,' it’s crazy and you don’t really have time to think about it until the first time you stop moving on the field.”