Marching Monarchs Practice Music and Moves

Members of the Old Dominion University Monarch Marching Band have attended training camp on campus this month to prepare for the return of football at ODU.

The camp, which opened Aug. 16, has featured individual sections practicing separately and the entire band playing together.

The searing heat of mid-August sent drumline members under the towering oak trees on the Williamsburg Lawn. Cymbalist James Andrews (pictured) enthusiastically practices with his fellow band members in the refreshing shade.

Band members have been learning their marching moves by practicing with and without instruments.

Although the band's blue and silver uniforms have already been issued to each member, they are being kept under wraps until Sept. 5, when an ODU football team will take the field for the first time in 69 years.