AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
The college football national championship is tomorrow, so we wanted to catch up with the students who will take to the field and shine in the spotlight.
HALLE KEENE: My name is Halle Keene. I'm studying economics and Spanish, and I'm a senior at the University of Notre Dame.
CLAYTON CALLENDER: I am Clayton Callender. I'm a third year at Ohio State, and I am studying economics.
RASCOE: And no, they're not on the football team. They're in the marching bands.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MARCHING BAND'S "BUCKEYE BATTLE CRY")
RASCOE: Keene is the president of Notre Dame's Band of the Fighting Irish, where she also plays clarinet. Callender is the drum major for The Ohio State University Marching Band.
CALLENDER: I'm the guy who wears the big tall hat and does the backbend in pregame, comes down the ramp. I do a lot of twirling and performing, just kind of all over the place and trying to entertain the crowd.
RASCOE: Both bands will perform at halftime in front of 70,000 fans and millions more watching at home. But Callender and Keene say they're not letting the pressure get to them.
KEENE: It really is helpful that you're doing it alongside 300 of your closest friends. Like with any performance, it really is just you have to turn those nerves into excitement.
CALLENDER: When the pressure is the highest, you're just going to fall back on your preparation and your practice. So we prepare very, very hard, very seriously. Because of that, whenever the lights are the brightest, and everyone's looking at us, then you just go back to what you know.
RASCOE: Pressure and big crowds are nothing new for Keene and Callender. Both Notre Dame and Ohio State play in stadiums that seat over 80,000 fans. And when it comes to making fans rock, both bands know what it takes. Play those classics.
KEENE: My personal favorite would probably be this one song that we do called "Celtic Chant."
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BAND OF THE FIGHTING IRISH'S "CELTIC CHANT")
KEENE: And it almost sounds like a war chant. We make the shape of a leprechaun while marching down the field. And Notre Dame Stadium, we start kind of at the far end for this song. And then, by the time we finish it, we're right in front of the student section. And so I just love playing that because you really feel the energy from the crowd around you.
RASCOE: At Ohio State, turns out it's the state of Ohio's official rock song, the 1965 classic by the McCoys - "Hang On Sloopy."
(SOUNDBITE OF THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY MARCHING BAND'S "HANG ON SLOOPY")
CALLENDER: I think "Hang On Sloopy" really gets the crowd going. They, you know, get the O-H-I-O chant. And I love twirling to "Hang On Sloopy," performing to "Hang On Sloopy." It's a great, great song. Everybody loves it. So that's probably my favorite one.
RASCOE: Now, those songs get the crowds going. But for these two, they have their own favorite moments. Keene says hers is right before kickoff when the heart rate goes up, and it's almost showtime.
KEENE: Especially before a big game, especially before a night game where you're running out to lights and a stadium full of 80,000 or however many people. It's just there's so much adrenaline. It's so exciting, and you really, really feel like you're a huge part of the experience.
RASCOE: Callender's favorite moment?
CALLENDER: I would say dotting the I.
RASCOE: It's The Ohio State University, after all, and the band is famous for its marching formations when the band moves across the field to create shapes and letters. Their most famous is "Script Ohio," when band members are in constant motion, all coming together to spell O-H-I-O in cursive. And yeah, someone needs to dot that I.
CALLENDER: Not only is it something that I've always wanted to do, but it's a different sousaphone player every time when we dot the I. And so I get to lead out somebody else and allow them to live out their lifelong dream as a sousaphone player of dotting the I. So it's kind of just - it's very special for me to be able to be a part of somebody else's dream, not just my own.
RASCOE: Hold up now. Halle Keene says Notre Dame also has game when it comes to making shapes.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BAND OF THE FIGHTING IRISH'S "NOTRE DAME VICTORY MARCH - FIGHT SONG")
KEENE: And the Notre Dame band will group up in teams of four that are ranks. And so you're kind of - you know your spot on the field because there's this system with all these numbers and where you're supposed to go, and you're just following three other people who play the same instrument as you.
RASCOE: But Ohio state's approach is more individual, says Callender.
CALLENDER: When you're making complex formations, everybody has a different thing to do. You're not following anybody, so everybody needs to know exactly where they go, not where anybody else goes. There's 192 people that need to all be in sync.
RASCOE: Matter who wins the game tomorrow, both band members have reason to celebrate.
KEENE: Genuinely just rooting for my team. No matter what happens, I'm just really excited to be there in that environment. Certainly, this is going to be like no other.
CALLENDER: I've been a part of some big games. I don't think there's anything like the national championship game, so I'm just really excited to be able to go and see what the pinnacle of college football really feels like.
RASCOE: That's Clayton Callender of The Ohio State University and Halle Keene of the University of Notre Dame. You can catch them both performing during tomorrow's college football national championship halftime show.
(SOUNDBITE OF UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME BAND OF THE FIGHTING IRISH'S "NOTRE DAME VICTORY MARCH - FIGHT SONG") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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