Purdue's annual All-American High School Band Day on Saturday will sample the wide range of music bands love playing and Americans love hearing.

Twenty-eight bands, including Delphi Community High School Band under the direction of Jay Dennison, will fill the field with color and pageantry at the Purdue vs. Central Michigan game.

Ishbah Cox, the Purdue "All-American" Marching Band's newest assistant director, is helping with plans for the massed band halftime show featuring nearly 1,700 performers.

As a music educator, Cox appreciates the win-win scenario set up by events like Band Day. "From the university's perspective we have the opportunity to connect to high school groups and it allows the high school kids to be exposed to Purdue. It's a nice connection all the way around."

Part of the tradition of Purdue's "All-American" Band Day has been to invite a veteran educator to serve as guest conductor. This year the honor goes to Gary Wishmeyer, longtime band director at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.

In preparation for Band Day, the high school bands work independently on the music to be performed at halftime. Early Saturday morning all the bands meet at Purdue's drill field for an intensive rehearsal with Wishmeyer.

When the high school bands enter the field, Ross- Ade will become a sea of musicians stretching from end zone to end zone for the massed bands' performance of "Aztec Fire," "Greased Lightnin'," and a medley of "America the Beautiful" and "You're a Grand Old Flag."