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The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, October 22, 2009
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weekend
essentials
Oct. 22 to Oct. 25
ON STAGE
It's time to escape
midterms ... with
Shakespeare! The
University Musical
Society's production of
Shakespeare's "Love's
Labour's Lost" opens
this week at the Power
Center. The comedy
details an all-too-famil-
iar problem: A young
king swears off women
in favor of focusing
on his studies. The
show starts tonight
and runs through Oct.
25. Tickets start at
$18, available through
www.ums.org.
SCREENPLAY
READING
Tonight at 7 p.m. at
UMMA's Helmut Stern
Auditorium, the Screen
Arts and Cultures
department will hold
a tribute reading of
an unfilmed screen-
play by SAC alumnus
Matthew Reichl, who
passed away this year
from cancer. The Hop-
wood Award-winning
screenplay, "Ageless,
Ohio," concerns a
father and son who
wander into a town
permanently stuck
in the 1950s. The
event is hosted by
Prof. Jim Burnstein.
A WEEK IN THE
LIFE OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF MICHIGAN
MARCHING
BAND
BY CAROLYN KLARECKI
DAILY TV/NEW MEDIA EDITOR
ou see them every Football Saturday.
The Big House erupts when they take
the field. They perform as a flawless
unit in which all individuals are constantly
aware of where they are on the field, what
their next move is and everything that's
happening around them. They practice
daily even in the harshest weather and
undergo extensive training. They are some
of the University's most talented students.
And no, they're not on the football team.
The Michigan Marching Band has been a
crucial part of the University's fabric since
1896, and for many football fans, the band
is just as important to the Big House expe-
rience as the game. The band is collected,
cohesive and professional when we see it on
the field. But we all know that the complex
halftime shows don't just happen with the
wave of the drum major's baton. What goes
into producing a new show each week? And
how is the band so damn good? It all rests on
the effort and dedication of its members.
Anyone who lives south of Hill Street has
probablyheard the MarchingBandbrazenly
practicing every day. And anyone near Elbel
Field at 4:45 p.m. on a weekday will hear the
sound of drums pounding in unison while
brassy scales grow louder and louder over
thumping rhythms. Practice begins each
day with a half hour of music rehearsal.
The band members usually receive their
show music several days before gameday so
they have sufficient time to memorize their
parts.
During last Monday's practice, all 328
students, in the Marching Band stood in
arched rows around the 50-yard line. The
musicians stood attentively, watching the
conductor for his signal. Band members
brought their instruments to their lips in
perfect unison to play a new song togeth-
er for the first time. At first, the resulting
music was good, but nothing spectacular.
But by only the third run through, it sound-
ed almost perfect.
The music for the band's last show - an
opera-themed routine for the Delaware
State game - was musically intricate, and
luckily the band had an unusually large
amount of time (two weeks, instead of the
typical one) to prepare for it. Even still,
every show has to be memorized and per-
formed while the band is in motion, adding
a certain amount of difficulty to the perfor-
mances. Because of this added performa-
tive dimension, band members must have
a great amount of dedication to learn the
music off of the field so they can perform
their choreographed parts well when they
take the field.
"(The students) are just so motivated to
be in this band - they're just so positive
about the energy they bring every day,"
said Scott Boerma, Director of Michigan
Marching and Athletic Bands. "They bring
the commitment to excellence; they bring
the understanding of the tradition of this
band that goes back to over a hundred years
of tradition."
"They're carrying on a legacy that came
before them and they understand that and
they take it very seriously," he added.
Music is only half of what marching band
is about. Drill - the actual marching and
formations displayed on the field - takes up
the rest of the practice. Between drill sets,
the marching band looks like any other
bunch of kids decked out in mostly maize
and blue hoodies and sweatpants. They just
happen to be carrying around trombones
and saxophones. Once they hear the drum
major's whistle, however, the band mem-
bers chant in unison, raise their instru-
ments and become a single, unified entity.
The 275 members that march the half-
time show trace the same path and play the
same measures over and over until the for-
mation exactly mirrors what was mapped
out on paper. Graduate students and other
students in leadership positions walk the
practice field and correct those who are out
of line while faculty members stand at the
top of a tower overseeing the field and occa-
sionally yelling out directions and remind-
See MARCHING BAND, Page 4B
PERFORMANCE
Love sketch comedy?
Then head on over to
Mendelssohn Theatre
tonight at 7 p.m. for
"Live from Michigan ...
It's Thursday Night!"
The show will feature
improvised live per-
formances and short
videos in the same
vein as "Saturday
Night Live." Campus
performing groups The
Friars and the Michi-
gan Bhangra Team will
perform, plus local
Ann Arbor band My
Dear Disco will show
off its new music
video. Tickets are $7.
CONCERT
The woman has paid
her dues: 12-time
Grammy Award winner
Emmylou Harris has
more statuettes than
most singer-songwrit-
ers have albums. And
at a ripe, silver-haired
68 years old, country's
coolest grandmother
is still touring as
hard as ever. Go see
her at the Michigan
Theater tomorrow
night with the Red
Dirt Boys and Buddy
Miller. Tickets start
at $35 and the show
kicks off at 7:30 p.m.
A BAND MEMBER'S TYPICAL DAILY SCHEDULE:
Sectionals are
underway at
Revelli Hall
and Elbel Field.
Students dis-
sect their music
with the other
members of
their section,
targeting par-
ticularly difficult
measures.
Students
carrying bulky
instrument
cases start to
trickle onto
the practice
field. They
socialize with
other students
or play through
a few measures
and scales to
warm up.
Marching Band
practice officially
begins with the
wind instruments
arched around
the 50-yard line
for music warm-
up and rehearsal.
They play through
scales and pre-
pare their show
music while the
twirlers stretch
and flag
choreography is
rehearsed nearby.
The drum line,
whose practice
outside Rev-
elli Hall could
be heard since
4 p.m., joins
the band,
allowing
for musical
rehearsal with
the full band.
The band
practices its
pre-game routine.
Twirlers and
flag-wavers join in,
bringing the entire
band together.
They form a larges
'M' on the field
and practice their
high-step march-
ing while playing
through "The Vic-
tors" and "Varsity"
multiple times.
Rehearsal for the
halftime show
begins. Each person
finds his or her spot
on the field and
patiently and metic-
ulously marches
the same course
over and over while
playing the accom-
panying music
until the director
is satisfied. Then,
the band continues
on to the next set
of movements.
Band practice
ends with
announce-
ments and
one last round
of "The
Victors."
Sections hud-
die up for more
specific
announce-
ments and
maybe a final
display of
section pride.