Jim Hollingsworth spends most of Kansas University football games with a 45-pound sousaphone strapped to his back.

It would’ve been easier to play the piccolo.

“It’s pretty physically demanding,” Hollingsworth said of playing in the KU marching band. “The beginning of the year is the hardest part. My abs and lower back can get sore.”

Hollingsworth, a sophomore from Louisburg, and the rest of the KU band will be among the featured performers today at KU’s 56th annual Band Day. A downtown parade begins at 1:30 p.m., and the approximately 35 high school bands will combine for a halftime performance at tonight’s KU-University of Nevada-Las Vegas football game. Kickoff is at 6 p.m.

Life can be difficult for the eight sousaphone players in KU’s 150-member marching band.

First off, sousaphones — the portable version of a tuba — are probably the most visible instrument from the Memorial Stadium bleachers. Players are required to swing their horns from side to side during many songs to add some flair.

“If we step off late or are out of line, that’s what you see,” Hollingsworth said.

Jim Hollingsworth, Kansas University sophomore from Louisburg, warms up with the sousaphone section before a marching band practice on west campus. Hollingsworth and the band were rehearsing for today's Band Day activities, which include a parade at 1:30 p.m. through downtown.

And the band’s entrance into Memorial Stadium for pregame — called “run-in” — can be a challenge while carrying a 45-pound horn. Members run down the steps in the stadium’s horseshoe and onto the field.

“I lift my bell up high and look straight down at the steps,” Hollingsworth said. “There are horror stories about the people we had to push out of the way to get to the field.”

And then there’s rehearsal. The band practices Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for two hours each, then fine-tunes its performance during a three- or four-hour rehearsal Saturday mornings of home games.

Practices are on the blacktop “field” west of Crestline Drive on KU’s west campus. This is the first year KU installed portable toilets at the site for the band members.

“It’s twice as hot on the blacktop,” Hollingsworth said. “People get knee and ankle injuries because there’s no cushion.”

All this, and band members don’t get paid — something new director James Hudson is thinking about changing. They do, however, get free season tickets to KU basketball games.

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So if marching is so demanding, why do Hollingsworth and the other Marching Jayhawks stay in the band?

The answer, Hollingsworth said, is they love music and they love to march.

“We try really hard,” he said. “Even more than most schools, I think people appreciate the band here. The running joke is they come for the band and not for the game, but I think it’s true.”