With the heat index rising above 100 degrees and the sun beating down directly on their faces, NIU’s marching band practiced its routines 12 hours a day last week.

Each member marched in place to the rhythm of clanking drumsticks, only stopping to switch positions and learn routines.

“Among the 160 students in this year’s marching band, almost every major is represented,” said Huskie Band Director Lawrence Stoffel. “The marching band is a very diverse group of students.”

It’s not just students with instruments who make up the band. The Silverettes and Color Guard also are responsible for learning routines.

And while the football team may get all the credit for the work they put in between games, members of the band practice at least four days a week throughout the entire season. But the week before school even begins is the most intense training for the marching band, said Ellie Trefz, a junior speech pathology major and a member of the Color Guard.

“This is when we learn all the routines for the first game and the pre-game shows,” she said.

The marching band’s season coincides with the football season. And although its training is not the same, it is similar in this regard, that both are very physical activities and both regulated activities, Stoffel said.

“Both know they are valuable entertainment to the community at large,” he added.

Even with the long days, Patrick Verhalen, a geography graduate student and drumline member, said the hardest part about being in the marching band is learning and memorizing all the new music.

For other students, the difficulties come with other aspects.

“Being outside for seven hours (at a time),” was difficult, Trefz said.

Stoffel thinks the amount of physical endurance required by the members is the band’s biggest challenge.

“The marching band performs for six hours straight on game days,” he said.

They begin with a formal concert, then perform for the tailgaters, followed by the pre-game show. They then preform a half-time show and when many fans have already gone home and the players have hit the locker rooms, they perform a post-game performance.

But all the work isn’t just for the love and adoration from the fans.

Being in the band also is worth one credit, Stoffel said. Grades are based on attendance, student effort, participation, enthusiasm and leadership.

Although the one credit does help, Verhalen said he comes back year after year because he enjoys performing in the stands.

“It’s such a rush to perform in front of 20,000 people,” he said.