UCLA Band
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| UCLA Marching Band "The Solid Gold Sound" |
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| School | UCLA |
| Location | Los Angeles, CA |
| Conference | Pacific Ten Conference |
| Founded | 1921 |
| Director | Gordon Henderson (Band Director) |
| Members | 250 |
| Uniform | Navy blue wool trousers and 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 250 member UCLA Bruin Marching Band, known as The Solid Gold Sound, 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, Sons of Westwood and The Mighty Bruins. Throughout the game, this lively group of students performs rock and pop hits and Bruin "eight clap".
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[edit] Instrumentation
Instrumentation of the Solid Gold Sound is similar to other major college marching bands.
For Fall 2006, the Band marched
- 2 Drum Majors
- 6 Piccolos
- 12 Flutes
- 18 B♭ Clarinets
- 18 E♭ Alto Saxophones
- 10 B♭ Tenor Saxophones
- 42 B♭ Trumpets
- 21 F Mellophones
- 42 Trombones
- 19 Sousaphones
- 9 Snare Drums
- 5 Quint Tenor Drums
- 6 Bass Drums
- 9 Cymbals
- 16 Tall Flags as the Color guard
Note that the UCLA Marching Band currently does not march Baritones or Baritone Saxophones. Although, marching baritone horns, and before that, bell front euphoniums had been a component in the past.
[edit] Style
The UCLA Marching Band marches in a Drum corps style with low mark times and glide steps. Field formations include letter blocks, pictures, concert arcs, and the famous UCLA script. The band does many different styles of shows, depending upon the occasion. Home games allow more time for musical numbers and formations. Away game shows must be shorter, and often will be up-tempo and fast moving to entertain an opposing school's fans.
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.
[edit] History
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 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.
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. Kelly James became the director of the marching band, a position he would hold until his death in 1980. 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 1950's 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.
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 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 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 1977, the school purchased new uniforms that were royal blue with yellow trim and tall white plush busby hats with blue and yellow plumes.
The band underwent a shift in style in 1982 when Gordon Henderson came from the University of Kentucky to become the director. Henderson has been involved with Drum Corps, notably the Santa Clara Vanguard, the Cavaliers and the Cadets and brought the Drum Corps style to the band. In 1985, the band got newly designed navy blue uniforms, in the current military style.
[edit] Traditions
For the football pregame show, the UCLA Marching Band traditionally opens with the Bruin Fanfare, which is based around the 20th Century Fox Fanfare and traditional UCLA fight songs. The fanfare is followed by Strike Up The Band for UCLA! 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 Sons of Westwood. The band marches off the field to The Mighty Bruins.
Strike Up The Band for UCLA! was a gift from George and Ira Gershwin to UCLA. It was adopted from their showtune “Strike Up the Band.” The song was presented to UCLA at an All-University Sing held in Royce Hall during the Fall of 1936[1].
Director Gordon Henderson brought the Trombone Cheer from the University of Kentucky band. This is played between player introductions and tipoff at basketball games, and also during games. Following athletic contests, the band plays Hail to the Hills of Westwood. This is followed by Rover for Bruin victories.
The traditional script Ucla formation was adopted from the script Cal formation done by the Cal Band, which adopted The Ohio State University Marching Band script Ohio.
Image:Http://uclaband.com/gallery/albums/usc02/THE UCLA SCRIPT Mod small.jpg
[edit] Away game appearances
The entire UCLA 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, and Arizona State.
In 2006, the entire UCLA Marching band traveled to South Bend, Indiana for a game at the University of Notre Dame.
[edit] Bowl game appearances
The UCLA Marching Band has made appearances at major postseason college football bowl games throughout the country.
- The Rose Bowl game, the "Granddaddy of them all" played in the Rose Bowl stadium, the home stadium of the Bruins in Pasadena, California.
- The Aloha Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii
- The Silicon Valley Bowl in San Jose, California
- The Las Vegas Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada
- The Freedom Bowl in Anaheim, California
- The Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee
- The Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona
- The Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston, Texas
- The Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas
- The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas
- The Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, California
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 1980.
[edit] 1984 Olympics
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. A small group of these students performed at various sports venues during the games, including those for Cycling, Gymnastics, Archery, Modern Pentathalon and Tennis.
[edit] Other Events
The UCLA Marching Band has entertained crowds at NFL professional football games on many occasions.
- Los Angeles Coliseum for the Los Angeles Raiders, including a Monday Night Football game
- Candlestick Park for the San Francisco 49ers
- Anaheim Stadium for the Los Angeles Rams
The UCLA Marching Band has made recruiting appearances at many High Schools in Northern and Southern California. The Band has also performed as a guest in High School field tournaments.
[edit] Varsity Band
The UCLA Varsity Band plays in Pauley Pavilion for winter sports. The UCLA Varsity Band appears with thirty to fifty 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 has appeared at many other events to support the highly successful UCLA teams such as: Men's and Women's soccer, Track and Field, Water Polo, men's baseball and women's 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.
[edit] Movie appearances
Because of the campus location near many movie studios, the UCLA band has appeared in many movies where a marching band is needed.
- Elmer Gantry (1960)
- Hello Dolly! (1969)
- To Be or Not To Be (1983)
- Iron Eagle (1986)
- Little Nikita (1988)
- Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (1990)
- Fatal Instinct (1993)
- In the Line of Fire (1993)
- Legends of the Fall (1994)
- That Thing You Do (1996)
- Jingle All the Way (1996)
- The Sixth Man (1997)
- A Bright Shining Lie (1998)
- The Waterboy (1998)
- The Out of Towners (1999)
- The Other Sister (1999)
- Road Trip (2000)
- Don't Say a Word (2001)
- Pumpkin (2002)
- First Daughter (2004)
- Click (2006) audio only
- Gridiron Gang (2006) audio only
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.
[edit] Other media
[edit] Other Television Appearances
The Band has also 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 appeared in an episode of The New Steve Allen Show airing on December 27, 1961, entitled "Campus U.S.A."
- The Band appeared in a Bob Hope special in October 1980
- A member of the band appeared as part of the introduction to each ABC-TV college football telecast during the 1988 college football season.
- Members of the band marched onto the Hollywood Squares television show season finale playing 76 Trombones to wish John Davidson good luck in a summer tour of The Music Man.
- The Band played the theme from Jeopardy! on the 2001 College Championship broadcast of the show.
- The Band also has appeared on ESPN SportsCenter.
The band has appeared in a commercials for
- Southern Bell
- Southwestern Bell
- Federal Express
- ESPN's Sports Heaven (the Super Bowl XL commercial)
[edit] Discography
The Band has recorded several music long-playing records and compact discs.
- The UCLA Band Presents To The Blue And To The Gold, A Tradition In Song - LP (1977)
- The UCLA Bruin Marching Band "The Solid Gold Sound" - LP and Cassette (Songs from the 1984 season - recorded in the Ackerman Union grand ballroom)
- The UCLA Bruin Marching Band "The Solid Gold Sound" - LP and Cassette (Songs from the 1985 season and 1986 Rose Bowl - recorded in Royce Hall)
- The UCLA Bruin Marching Band "The Solid Gold Sound" - Cassette (Songs from the 1986 and 1987 seasons - recorded in the Ackerman Union grand ballroom)
- Bruin Spirit - CD and Cassette (1997)
- Bruin Pride - CD (1999)
[edit] Dan Fogelberg The Innocent Age
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." 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.
[edit] Destiny's Child video Bugaboo
The band also 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.
[edit] Directors
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, and Robert Winslow 1972-74. The current director of the marching band since 1982 is Gordon Henderson with assistant director Dr. Jennifer Judkins. The director of bands is currently Dr. Thomas Lee who, joined the faculty in 1985.
[edit] Trivia
- The band appeared on the cover of the November 26, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated. [2] 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. But it is usually not listed along with the other cover appearances by UCLA athletes. (As of 2006, UCLA athletes have appeared on 105 covers, the most of any university and also any sporting organization.) [3]
- The UCLA Band plays a song performed by an alumnus of their archrival institution. Fans can hear the UCLA Band playing songs by the band The Offspring, whose lead singer, Dexter Holland, is a University of Southern California graduate. When Holland heard a recording of the UCLA Band playing his composition "Come Out and Play" he wrote a letter to the Band saying that he liked it and that the percussion was "rad".
- 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.
- Fifty members of the Band, along with six members of the UCLA Dance Team, performed in the Chinese New Year Day Parade in Hong Kong in January, 2006. The Band spent six days exploring the city and performing at several venues. The parade was broadcast live all over the Asian continent.
- On Saturday, October 28, 2006, the UCLA Bruin Marching Band performed at the Rose Bowl for the UCLA vs. WSU football game, and at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the Bands of America Regional Championship. The UCLA Band is the first college band to perform at both venues in the same day.
[edit] External links
- The UCLA Bruin Marching Band
- UCLA Bands directory
- UCLA - University Of California, Los Angeles
- Oscar moments to remember, Newsday 2/20/2005
- UCLA History Project April 14, 1969 . . . Band Marches into Oscars' Spotlight (photos and article)
