On a fall afternoon in Yulman Stadium, long before the first note cut through the air, Dylan Parrilla-Koester remembers the feeling.
Not the sound. Not yet. The feeling.
He was a student then, trumpet in hand, standing in the tunnel as the Tulane University Marching Band prepared to take the field. Around him: nervous energy, adrenaline, the hum of something about to happen. Then the cue. Then the run.
Out of the tunnel, into the light, into the roar.
“It was the first time in my life I felt like I was actively creating culture in real time,” he said. “Not just participating in it — building it.”
Years later, Parrilla-Koester is still building. Now, he’s doing it as Tulane University’s director of bands.
Recently named to the role after serving in an interim capacity, his appointment marks a full-circle moment — rooted in the same program that shaped him as a musician, educator and leader.
From everywhere to exactly here
Parrilla-Koester didn’t arrive at Tulane planning to become a band director.
“I came in studying political science and history,” he said. “Music was something I loved, but I didn’t yet see it as my path.”
That changed quickly.
Like many Tulane band students, he joined everything he could — orchestra, pep band, brass band and marching band.
“I kept finding myself stepping into roles where I was helping shape the experience for other students,” he said. “At some point, I realized I couldn’t imagine my life without that.”
He pivoted to a Bachelor of Fine Arts in trumpet performance, while continuing to engage deeply in Tulane’s liberal arts environment.
The band as bridge
To understand Tulane Bands, you have to understand New Orleans.
This is a place where music doesn’t stay contained. It moves — through streets, parades and traditions that blur the line between performance and daily life.
At Tulane, the band sits at that intersection.
“The modern university is almost like a small city,” Parrilla-Koester said. “You have housing, athletics, student life, academics — all these systems. The band moves through all of them.”
Admissions events. Convocation. Game days. Fundraisers. Carnival season.
If something matters at Tulane, the band is there.
“During Mardi Gras, we’re not just performing — we’re in it,” he said. “Boots on the ground. In the streets.”
For students, many of whom arrive from across the country, that immersion is immediate.
“They arrive from all over the country, and within weeks they’re learning dozens of songs and traditions,” he said. “They start to understand New Orleans from the inside.”
Tulane University Marching Band in Rex Mardi Gras Parade 2026.
A student-driven tradition
Part of what defines Tulane Bands is how much of its culture comes from within.
“The band is so student-driven throughout the years,” Parrilla-Koester said.
Many of its traditions — from choreographed dances during drum cadences to its continuous performance style — were created by students and carried forward by alumni.
“Alumni that came before me started these traditions,” he said.
That lineage reflects the band’s modern history — a program rebuilt in the post-Katrina era.
Only at Tulane, only in New Orleans
That identity was on full display at the 2023 Cotton Bowl.
Facing off against a program several times its size, Tulane could have tried to match scale with scale.
Instead, they leaned into what makes them distinct.
“We took New Orleans to the Cotton Bowl.”
The result was a performance rooted in Mardi Gras traditions — complete with improvisation, movement and a style that could only come from one place.
“Only at Tulane. Only in New Orleans.”
Keeper of the flame
Now, as director of bands, Parrilla-Koester steps into a role that touches nearly every corner of the university.
He will continue teaching, conducting, arranging music and designing performances while building relationships with students, alumni and supporters.
His appointment also comes as Tulane Bands joins the university’s newly established performing arts umbrella, a collective that brings together theater and dance, music and musical theater, along with professional programs including Summer Lyric Theatre and the Shakespeare Festival. The initiative is led by Leslie Scott, associate dean for the performing arts.
For Parrilla-Koester, the work remains grounded in continuity.
“Having student perspective and alumni perspective … it’s made me appreciate the organization and university in ways I’m not sure I would have otherwise,” he said.
Because even now, it still comes back to that moment in the tunnel.
The anticipation. The energy. The sense that something is about to begin.
Then the cue.
Then the run.
And then, as always in New Orleans, the music spills out into the world.
Dylan Parrilla-Koester conducts Tulane Concert Band.