| The Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band | |
| School: | UCLA |
| Location: | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Conference: | Big Ten Conference |
| Founded: | 1928 |
| Director: | Ken Fisher |
| Interim: | Ken Fisher |
| Associate Director: | Erick Jovel |
| Members: | 250 |
| Uniform: | Navy Blue wool trousers and True Blue coat with gold and white trim, knee length gold capes on the left shoulder, white shoes, white gloves, shako hats with white 12" feather plumes |
The Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band represents the university at major athletic and extracurricular events. During the fall marching season, this 250-member band performs at the Rose Bowl for UCLA Bruin home football games. Pregame shows by the band aim to build crowd energy and enthusiasm with traditional UCLA songs like "Strike Up the Band for UCLA", "Bruin Warriors", and "The Mighty Bruins". Throughout the game, the band performs custom-arranged rock and pop songs, as well as the traditional fight songs and cheers of the university. The UCLA Varsity Band appears at basketball games and other athletic contests in Pauley Pavilion. In 2018, the Bruin Marching Band was featured on the Muse album "Simulation Theory" performing the Super Deluxe version of the song "Pressure."
The UCLA band program, which includes the Marching and Varsity Bands, the Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band, is in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Band appearances at athletic events are funded primarily by student registration fees, a direct allocation from the Chancellor's Office and donations to the Solid Gold Sound Club.
In 1993, the UCLA Bruin Marching Band was awarded the Sudler Trophy, an award bestowed on one university marching band every year. Described by a Los Angeles Times reporter as "[t]he Heisman Trophy of the collegiate band world",[1] the award does not represent the winner of any championship, but rather a band surrounded by great music and tradition that has become respected nationally.
All marching members and teaching assistants in the Bruin Marching Band are full-time UCLA students.
The UCLA Marching Band marches in a style with low mark times and glide steps. Field formations include fast moving precision drill progressions, letter blocks, pictures, concert arcs, and the famous Cursive UCLA formation. The band performs many different styles of shows, depending upon the occasion.
The exception to the drum corps marching style is the traditional pregame "run-on" where the band rapidly high-steps onto the field into the block letter U-C-L-A formation.
In 1925, at the Vermont Avenue campus, the UCLA Marching Band originated as a 50-piece ROTC unit under the direction of W. G. Powell. The band was part of the welcoming group when John Philip Sousa visited Los Angeles in 1928, and were directed by Sousa in the performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever".[2] At that time, the director was Ben Laietsky, a member of Sousa's band. The band remained a military group until 1934. In 1935, under the direction of Leroy Allen, the group became an integral part of campus life, providing music at rallies and games. The original uniforms were military style, with military caps and waist-length capes.[3]
Under directors C. B. Hunt and Patton McNaughton, the band increased in size to 128 members by 1947.
In 1952, Clarence Sawhill became director of bands. F. (Freeman) Kelly James became the director of the marching band, a position he would hold until suffering a stroke at the UCLA-Cal football game in 1980.[4] Sawhill and James grew the UCLA band program to include a 100-piece Concert Band, an 80-piece Symphonic Wind Ensemble, a 144-piece Marching Band, and a 60-piece Varsity Band.
In the 1950s the UCLA Marching Band uniforms were gold/yellow jackets with navy blue pants, blue shakos and white shoes. The band marched in a military style. The band appeared in color on the cover of the November 26, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated.[5] It is one of the few so honored beginning with the University of Oklahoma marching band (1954), the Princeton University Band (1955), and later, The Ohio State University Marching Band (1958). This marks the first appearance by any UCLA organization on the cover of the magazine.
In the 1960s and 1970s the band emulated the Queen's Guard. The band had a similar marching style, including the distinctive arm swinging, but also having the high "chair" step. The uniform pants were school colors blue and black trim, and imitation bearskin (or tall busby) hats. In the early 1960s, the uniform coats were gold. later the uniform coats were dark blue. The shoes were black with white spats.
In 1961, the band made a European Tour which included performances in Denmark, France, Austria, Germany, England and Switzerland.
In 1972, women were admitted to the UCLA Band, as well as other college marching bands around the country as a response to the Title IX educational amendment. Many marching bands, including the UCLA Band, had women members or a women's auxiliary unit during World War II, but the bands gradually became all-male organizations after the war.
In 1973, the band wore gold jackets, navy blue pants, navy blue turtleneck sweaters, and no hat, for one game. They were never used after that.
In 1977, the school purchased new uniforms that were royal blue with yellow trim. The large overcoats had a white front with block vertical UCLA letters. There were tall white plush busby hats with blue and yellow plumes.
In 1982, Gordon Henderson was appointed Director of the Marching and Varsity Bands.
In 1985, the band ordered newly designed uniforms, in the current military style. These uniforms were designed with band member input to replace the brightly colored 1977 uniforms. The uniforms consisted of navy blue wool trousers and coat with gold trim and white, knee-length, gold capes on the left shoulder. The shoes were changed to white. White gloves were standard as well. The large bearskin hats were replaced by Shako hats with white 12" feather plumes. An all-powder blue uniform was prototyped, but rejected in favor of the navy blue. The color guard did wear powder blue uniform coats and skirts similar in style to the new uniforms for two years.
In 2007 the band was outfitted with new uniforms at the USC game. The coats were the then official "True Blue" color adopted by UCLA in 2004. Other elements from the 1985 uniforms were retained.
In 1985, Thomas Lee came from the University of Texas to be the Director of Bands and Director of the Wind Ensemble.
The UCLA Bruin Marching Band was the 1993 recipient of the Sudler Trophy, presented by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in recognition of the Band's tradition of excellence and innovation.[6]
The band became part of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2007 when the departments of Music, Ethnomusicology and Musicology were combined. Musician and recording executive Herb Alpert gave $30 million to UCLA in November 2007, the single largest individual gift to music higher education in the western United States.
Lee retired from UCLA in 2012, and Dr. Travis Cross was appointed the new Wind Ensemble conductor in 2013.
Henderson retired in 2020 as Director of Bands after 38 years of service to UCLA.
Ken Fisher was appointed the new Marching Band Director in 2023.
For the football pregame show, the UCLA Marching Band traditionally opens with the Bruin Fanfare, an adaptation of the 20th Century Fox Fanfare. Then follows Strike Up The Band for UCLA, a gift from George and Ira Gershwin to UCLA. It was adapted from their showtune "Strike Up the Band", and was presented to UCLA at an All-University Sing held in Royce Hall during Fall 1936.[7] The Star Spangled Banner is played by the band in concert formation. Then the band moves into the script UCLA formation to the tune of Bruin Warriors. The band marches off the field to The Mighty Bruins, composed in 1984 by Academy Award-winning composer Bill Conti to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UCLA Alumni Association.
Following all athletic contests, the band plays the UCLA Alma Mater "Hail to the Hills of Westwood". After victories, this is followed by "Rover".
The entire UCLA Bruin Marching Band travels to the San Francisco Bay area each fall for either the Stanford or Cal game. This tradition began in 1931, when the band traveled to the Stanford game by ship from Los Angeles. Beginning in 1989, a portion of the band has taken regular season trips to football games at Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Miami, Ohio State, Colorado, Illinois, Washington, Arizona State, Oregon, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.
In 2006, the entire UCLA Bruin Marching Band traveled to South Bend, Indiana, for a game at the University of Notre Dame.
The UCLA Bruin Marching Band has made appearances at major post season college football bowl games throughout the country:
In 1980, 144 members of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band performed together with the Oregon State University Marching Band at a regular season football game for the Mirage Bowl in Tokyo, Japan.
In 1984, 125 members of the Band performed in the 736-member All American Marching Band at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles under the direction of Arthur C. Bartner. UCLA Bruin Marching Band Director Gordon Henderson served as an assistant director and Drill Designer and was in charge of the 144-member Trumpet Section. A small group of these students performed at various sports venues during the games, including those for Cycling, Gymnastics, Archery, Modern Pentathlon and Tennis.
The UCLA Varsity Band plays in Pauley Pavilion for winter sports. The UCLA Varsity Band appears with as many as 160 members at Women's Volleyball in the Fall, Men's and Women's basketball in the Winter, and Men's Volleyball in the spring. The UCLA Varsity band also appears at many other events to support the highly successful UCLA teams such as: Soccer, Tennis, Track and Field, Water Polo, Gymnastics, Baseball and Softball.
When the Bruin teams advance in NCAA tournament play, the Varsity Band can be found supporting the team at many venues outside Los Angeles. For Men's and Women's basketball, the UCLA Varsity Band has been with the team through their numerous NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship and NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship regional and final runs. The band has also traveled with the volleyball teams to the championship sites.
In Fall 2012, the Varsity Band unveiled a new uniform for the reopening of newly renovated Pauley Pavilion, replacing the Aloha shirts the band had worn since 1996.
UCLA's location near many of the major movie studios has helped to have the UCLA band to be selected to appear in many films where a marching band is needed.
The band also appeared in the 41st Academy Awards show in 1969 to play the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang theme song, which was nominated for Best Original Song. They were introduced by Ingrid Bergman and Sidney Poitier as the "answer to the musical question: Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang?" Dancer Paula Kelly performed along with the band. It was listed by Newsday as one of the most memorable moments in the 1969 broadcast, the first international broadcast of the show.
Because of the number of movies premiered in nearby Westwood and Hollywood, the UCLA Band has been invited periodically to be part of the festivities. In July 2007, the Band played for the premiere of The Simpsons Movie in Westwood Village. The movie was directed by David Silverman, who was a sousaphone player with the UCLA Bruin Marching Band in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The band also has made numerous TV appearances on televised college sports, shows and commercials. National and regional broadcasts of UCLA athletic contests have included audio and video of the band in the stands or performing on the field.
The band has appeared in television commercials for
A recording of the band is on the double platinum album The Innocent Age released in 1981 by Dan Fogelberg. The band is credited for "The Washington Post March" at the end of the LP track "Leader of the Band", which rose to No. 1 on the Billboard Single Chart in 1982. The arrangement of the march was by Lawrence Fogelberg, a marching band director from Peoria, Illinois, and also Dan's father. Dan played the cymbals during the recording session.
The band appeared in the Destiny's Child video "Bugaboo". Wyclef Jean appeared in the video as the band's drum major, and also played the marching snare drum. The music video received heavy rotation on MTV and BET.
On November 9, 2018, English alternative rock band Muse released the album Simulation Theory.[25] featuring the UCLA Bruin Marching Band on the Super Deluxe version of the song "Pressure".
The Bruin Marching Band made a brief appearance in Maren Morris' video for her hit song "Girl".
The band has recorded several music records and compact discs.
Notable directors of the band include W. G. Powell, the first director of the ROTC band, Ben Laietsky 1928–31 (former member of the Sousa Band), Leroy Allen 1934–47, Patton McNaughton 1947–51, Clarence Sawhill 1952–72, assistant director Kelly James 1955–81, Robert Winslow 1972–74, and Gordon Henderson from 1982 to 2019. Henderson is currently on sabbatical and is scheduled to retire in 2020. The current interim director is Kevin McKeown. The previous assistant directors of the marching band were Jennifer Judkins, former UCLA Drum Major Keith Kupper, and UCLA Ph.D. graduate Kelly Flickinger. The director of bands from 1985 to 2010 was Thomas Lee. Lee is a graduate of the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Ken Fisher has been the band director since 2023, with Eric Joel as assistant director.
Chronological List of Marching Band Directors
1921-22 – George Westphalinger (ROTC Band)
1922 – William Sykes (ROTC Band, former Drum Major of General Pershing’s Band in Paris during WWI)
1922-24 – Thomas V. Beall (ROTC Band, Pep Band 1923-1925)
1924-25 – Walter G. Powell (ROTC Band)
1925-27 – Joe Reger (Pep Band Student Director)
1925-35 – John Hughes (ROTC Band, Pep Band Director, 1927-1928)
1928-30 – Benjamin Laietsky (Director of the Marching Band, former member of the Sousa Band)
1929-31 – Martin Ruderman (Student Director, 1929-1930; Director, 1930-1931)
1931-32 – Edward M. Hiner (Director), Harley Dickerman (Student Director)
1932-33 – Lewis Lowe
1933-34 – Theron White
1934-47 – Leroy Allen (Director of Bands)
1947-49 – Charles B. Hunt (Co-Director of Bands)
1947-51 – Patton McNaughton (Co-Director of Bands, Director of Bands 1949-51)
1951-52 – Robert Fleury (Director of Bands)
1952-72 – Clarence Sawhill (Director of Bands)
1955-81 – Kelly James (Assistant Director of Bands, Co-Director of Bands 1975-81)
1972-74 – Robert Winslow (Director of Bands, Conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band)
1981-82 – Gerald Anderson (Acting Director of the Bruin Marching Band)
1982-2020 – Gordon Henderson (Director of the Bruin Marching Band 1982-2019, Director of Bands 2011-2020)
2019-2022 - Kevin McKeown
Chronological List of Drum Majors
1929 – John Vaughn, Lewis Lowe
1933 – Clark Lewis
1934 – Clark Lewis
1935 – Clark Lewis
1936 – Clark Lewis
1937 – Ed Peatross
1938 – Ed Peatross, Jimmy Casebier
1939 – Jimmy Casebier
1941 – Howard McKaughn
1942 – Howard McKaughn
1946 – Gordon Wheatley
1947 – Gordon Wheatley
1948 – Gordon Wheatley
1949 – Gil Robbins
1950 – Gil Robbins
1951 – Richard Jones
1952 – Richard Jones
1953 – Richard Jones
1954 – Richard Jones, Donald McCampbell
1955 – Donald McCampbell
1956 – Andrew Feeley
1957 – Andrew Feeley
1958 – Kim Strutt
1959 – Kim Strutt
1960 – Kim Strutt
1961 – Sam Stella
1962 – Sam Stella
1963 – Sam Stella
1964 – Sam Stella
1965 – Sam Stella
1966 – William Knopf
1967 – William Knopf
1968 – William Knopf
1969 – William Knopf
1970 – William Knopf
1971 – Bland Batey
1972 – David Carver
1973 – David Carver
1974 – Doug Jaso
1975 – Kim Burdick
1976 – Kim Burdick
1977 – Kim Burdick
1978 – Kim Burdick
1979 – Bob Lazzarini
1980 – Bob Lazzarini
1981 – Randy Hage
1982 – Frank Silva (except USC Game due to injury), Michael O’Gara (USC Game only)
1983 – Michael O’Gara
1984 – Michael O’Gara, Tom Taylor, Marty Eschoff
1985 – Michael O’Gara
1986 – Michael O’Gara
1987 – Tim Close, Mel Freitas
1988 – Tim Close, Mel Freitas
1989 – Tim Close, Mel Freitas
1990 – Tim Close, Mel Freitas, Andrew Faye
1991 – Tim Close, Jeff Shimamoto
1992 – Jeff Trapp, Jeff Shimamoto
1993 – Jeff Trapp, Jeff Shimamoto
1994 – Jeff Trapp, Bryan Kreft, Kevin McKeown
1995 – Adrian Rivas, Bryan Kreft, Kevin McKeown
1996 – Michael Jewett, Adrian Rivas, Kevin McKeown
1997 – Michael Jewett, Adrian Rivas, Kevin McKeown
1998 – Michael Jewett, Jason Lewis, Pat Lynch
1999 – John Leitch, Jason Lewis, Pat Lynch
2000 – John Leitch, RJ Victoria, Pat Lynch
2001 – John Leitch, Paul Miller, Jay Dillon
2002 – Michael Froeberg, Laura Montoya, Jay Dillon
2003 – Michael Froeberg, Laura Montoya
2004 – Dan Thomson, Reesa Jones, Greg Bowser
2005 – Dan Thomson, Reesa Jones
2006 – Dan Thomson, Sean Garnreiter
2007 – Sean Garnreiter, Kent Heberer, Keith Kupper
2008 – Kent Heberer, Keith Kupper, David Cho, Andrew Ge
2009 – Kent Heberer, Keith Kupper, David Cho, Andrew Ge
2010 – David Cho, Jacob Ferrin, Justin Grant, Jessica Schlosser
2011 – Kim Bowen, Jacob Ferrin, Justin Grant, Jessica Schlosser
2012 – Emily Barton, Stephen Hufford
2013 – Emily Barton, Adam Fletcher, Charlie Hall, Matt Visk
2014 – Adam Fletcher, Charlie Hall, Matt Visk
2015 – Adam Fletcher, Mark Cunningham, Tony Rescigno, Christian Youngers
2016 – Mark Cunningham, Noah Ashman, Zach Freeman
2017 – Noah Ashman, Jacob Hambalek, Lily Krol
2018 – Emma Boone, James Eichenbaum, Matt Espinoza, Jacob Hambalek
2019 – Emma Boone, James Eichenbaum, Matt Espinoza