BENSALEM - The chairs were empty inside Bensalem High School's auditorium on a recent afternoon, but the band filled the stage and the music soared through the large, open space.

The empty seats were just fine with the marching band. It was merely a rehearsal for bigger things to come, when the band will play in front of 76,000 people at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on New Year's Day.

The band has been invited to a national competition in New Orleans today in conjunction with the bowl game. Regardless of the outcome of the competition, they will show off their skills during the pregame and halftime shows - the band's first trip to the Sugar Bowl in nearly a decade.

The game, between Southern Conference champion University of Georgia and Atlantic Coast Conference champion Florida State University, will be broadcast nationally on Wednesday. It can be seen locally on Channel 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Whether or not the Bensalem band beguiles judges in the bayou city and takes the title, just being invited is testament to the group's skill level. The band already has won several titles this year and placed fourth last month in the highly competitive Atlantic Coast Championships in Scranton.

"We've always been a good band, but this is an exceptional year," said band director Douglas Fitzgerald. "We won almost every show we went into. We'll do well in New Orleans."

Band members seem to think so, too.

While Fitzgerald directed the band at a rehearsal last week, band members first coaxed soft, then rocking upbeat melodies from trumpets, clarinets, saxophones and other instruments. The drummers, some who seem smaller than the instruments strapped to their chests, beat the assortment of drums with glee during "Louisiana Tribute," then with reverence during "God Bless America."

During breaks, they can't help but talk about the competition around the corner and the big bowl game performances.

"We practiced for many hours, but it's all worth it," said Jonathan Vafiadis, 16, as he stood in the drum line beside Jason Bellman.

"I'm excited about playing in front of thousands of people," said Bellman, 16, who's been playing in marching bands since fourth grade.

Sugar Bowl officials say that the pregame and halftime shows are probably the biggest ones in the game's history and that the marching bands were chosen carefully.

"They are all high-caliber bands," said Sugar Bowl official Jay Corenswet.

Nineteen bands and five dance teams totaling about 2,200 people will fill the field at halftime. Corenswet said the Sugar Bowl performances are the first ones that will mark the state's bicentennial celebration of the Louisiana Purchase.

Today's competition and the upcoming pregame and halftime shows, along with a show in the French Quarter, mark the final performances by the band this season. Getting there required money for airfare, hotels and other expenses for 71 teens. It took weeks of selling candy, calendars, sticky buns and pies - not to mention courting school support and corporate donations - to make the trip a reality.

"It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun," said Diane Mastrovito, a Center City legal secretary and president of the band's booster club. She said her daughter, Christine, 17, and the other band members deserve the trip, which cost about $850 per student.

The price tag, though, pays for fun as well. The students will get a tour of New Orleans and attend a New Year's Eve party with the other bands. That's where the winning band will be announced.

"I'm really excited," Christine Mastrovito said. "We're getting a chance to be with our friends and to show off our talents."