Central band will play at Neyland with 'The Pride' at Tennessee football game Sept. 14

It doesn’t seem that long ago to Alex Mink that he was on the Neyland Stadium turf, welcoming the Tennessee football team before a game.

“I always enjoyed the pregame,” said Mink, who played the saxophone for four years in The Pride of the Southland Band. “We were at the open ’T’ before the game. You could feel the vibration. You knew you were playing, but you couldn’t hear it. That’s a cool moment.”

Mink got his bachelor’s degree in 2013, then worked with the band while getting his master’s in 2015.

Now, he just finished his sixth year as the band director at Central High School and is hoping to share those feelings with some of his current students. Mink recently helped his band win the lottery and earn a spot in the University of Tennessee at Knoxville’s High School Band Day.

Once the date and time of the application process is set, it’s a difficult process.

“(High School Band Day) started about four or five years ago,” Mink said. “(The application process) lasted 15 minutes before all the spots were filled.”

Central’s band will be on the field, in front of more than 100,000 fans, playing with a few other high school bands as well as The Pride of the Southland on Sept. 14 at halftime of the Volunteers’ game with Kent State.

Band director talks up future

Mink, whose band has about 60 members, sees an opportunity like this as a recruiting tool to get students excited about participating.

“Our kids are excited about being part of the UT gameday experience,” Mink said. “Whenever we get a special event like this, we use it to get our middle school kids ready for what they’ll get in the future.”

Mink said the gameday program will consist of a couple tunes the high school bands will play with UT’s band. There won’t be any marching or choreography involved.

“We should get the music soon so we can start practicing this summer,” Mink said.

Mink said he isn’t shy about talking about his college days − as a performer and as a teaching grad student − to get his students thinking about the future. He said he has had 11 former band members in the Tennessee band, one at East Tennessee State University and one at Tennessee Chattanooga.

“I always talk about what’s next,” he said. “There are places who want you to be part of something. You learn about time management and other life lessons.”

Alumni base is helpful

Like any other high school band director, Mink is constantly focused on fundraising. Recently, the band program was awarded a check from Central’s Class of 1972 that will help pay for a new drum line.

“We’re an old school,” Mink said. “We’re going on 100 years (three years away) for the band. That gives us a large alumni base. There are a lot of people who are willing to help whenever we need it.”

Band fees ($425/student each year) cover the bare minimum like travel and extra staff. Mink said students are not turned away if they are unable to cover the fees.

“When I was in college, there was talk about the need to raise funds,” Mink said. “The one thing they stressed was that you can’t do it all.”