For Jason Robinson, joining the Mighty Sound of Maryland was like coming home.

Growing up overseas and moving around constantly, the junior mathematics major said he never really felt like part of a community, until now.

“I love the environment of the band,” said Robinson, who has been playing trombone for 10 years. “Getting together and playing music is what really makes us a cohesive unit.”

Joining the band introduced him to his closest friends, led him to join the Kappa Kappa Psi fraternity and gave him once-in-a-lifetime experiences, such as marching in the 2013 inaugural parade.

But most importantly, the band is like family.

“Everyone in the band loves being in the band,” Robinson said.

It’s that love that motivates members through their two-hour practices, four days a week — rain or shine.

“All the practice we do seems like a lot, but playing on the field in front of all those people in a crowded Byrd Stadium … it just feels good,” said Jimmy Knell, who plays a trumpet-like instrument called the mellophone.

Besides regular practice hours, the band warms up for at least two hours before every football game and travels to away games once or twice each year.

“The trips are a blast,” Robinson said.

These give the band a chance to play at bigger, professional stadiums, such as M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, where the band traveled earlier this semester to rally the Terps against West Virginia.

It’s also on these road trips that traditions, such as stopping at Golden Corral on the way home so hungry musicians can satisfy their appetites, are born.

“If there’s a Golden Corral anywhere near our route home, we’ll always be there,” Robinson said.

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Band members bond from spending so much time together and end up becoming especially close with other people in their sections, Knell said. Students in the same sections will often throw parties, go apple picking or have movie nights when they’re not practicing.

“It’s a really nice smaller community within the University of Maryland,” said Knell, a freshman physics major.

The marching band prides itself on being a welcoming group for all students. There are no auditions to get in, and the band does not tolerate hazing new members, Robinson said. Directors are tough but supportive, he added.

“They work us hard, but we wouldn’t want anything short of perfection,” he said.

Eli Osterloh, who is temporarily replacing Richmond Sparks as band director while he is on sabbatical, is a passionate director who really cares about music, Knell said.

“He really believes that we can be a really great marching band,” he said. “His encouragement drives us all to do well.”

But the musicians aren’t the only ones working hard to put on a great show at every football.

Nyambura Mbuguiro, senior biochemistry major, participated in her high school’s color guard and has been in the university’s since her freshman year.

“It’s fun, but it’s also a lot of work,” she said.

The group of 13 usually has about a week to learn new routines, she said. Because they need to know how the spacing will work on the field before they start practicing their choreography, they have to wait until the band has their music and steps ready.

Color guard is more involved with the band than the baton twirlers and the dance team because they practice with the musicians three days a week, in addition to their own practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she said.

“We’re the visual effect of the band,” Mbuguiro said. “Even though you hear the music, you have to see the color guard to get the full effect.”

All the different parts of the band come together for the purpose of lifting school spirit and heightening the college football experience, she said.

“Even if we’re losing, I feel like we still bring excitement to the games,” she said.

With this university’s upcoming move to the Big Ten, the marching band will be playing its role on an even larger scale. Big Ten schools boast not only the top college football teams in the nation, but also some of the best marching bands, Robinson said.

But he is confident the Mighty Sound of Maryland will prove that it, too, is one of the greatest marching bands in the country.

“It’s going to be a positive change for the band to have exposure to other really good bands,” he said. “It’s going to show the Big Ten schools that Maryland has a great band as well.”