The Ohio State University Marching Band has earned a reputation as an exclusive club.
With 228 members and only 195 official halftime marchers, the band has become something of a dream job for members of high school marching bands across the country.
Former Avon High School student Chase Sprenger has made that dream come true.
Sprenger, currently a freshman at OSU and who plays trumpet, recently learned that he is one of the few freshmen joining this year’s edition of the band.
“I was in a group of four guys who worked together all summer. I was the only one who made it,” he said. “It’s almost like I can’t believe it, because this is just a dream, and this dream has actually come true.”
The band’s audition process will last all summer, Sprenger said, and any band member could be fired.
The final day of auditions, known as “Make the Band Day,” was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of his life, he said.
“We’re wearing full suits and everything, and everyone’s just sitting there,” Sprenger recalls. “You can feel that there’s a high but chaotic energy in the room.”
“You could feel each other’s nervousness throughout the room.”
Aaron Jacobs, Sprenger’s former band director at Avon, said he coached Sprenger for a year before the audition.
It has become extremely rare for a newcomer to be accepted into the band, said Jacobs.
“(Starting the band is) incredibly difficult because you’re competing against veterans,” he said. “There are some people in the band who are coming back for another year because of the COVID year that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.”
“Just like the NCAA football team, they have given the band members an extra year.”
Jacobs said he was incredibly proud of Sprenger and his accomplishments.
Jacobs said he was thrilled to see Sprenger’s hard work pay off.
“He was just dedicated and didn’t let anything distract him,” Jacobs said. “We had a training plan and everything.”
“He stuck to everything that was on his schedule. He went to every practice session in Columbus, he did a lot of extra work on his own, trained. I mean, he had one goal.”
Sprenger said he was looking forward to his first year of college.
He said the audition was now behind him and he realized the work was just beginning.
“(During the auditions) one of the directors asked, ‘What do you do to be undeniable?'” Sprenger said. “I think that’s one of the most motivating things for me personally, because it’s a very, very competitive band and a very, very competitive process.”
