|
The University of Wisconsin Marching Band is the marching band for the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It was formed in the fall of 1885 to support the military battalion. Today, it has grown to about 300 members and performs at all Badger home football games. ==History== The University of Wisconsin Marching Band was created in 1885 as the Wisconsin Regimental Band. Previously, the University Military Battalion had marched to only a drum and the Battalion commandant, Major Chase, stressed in 1883 that there was a "need for a fife and drum corps to play for the Battalion drills." The first band consisted of 11 members, with two or three more joining before the year ended. It was not until 1894 that the 26 members of the University Band began playing at football games. In September 1928, it was announced that all football engagements would be handled by 100 men, to relieve the strain from concert performers. This was the beginning of the current band. Under Edson W. Morphy, the "Second Band" became more active with athletic department events. In 1934, the band gained a new director, Raymond F. Dvorak, a veteran of the Goldman and Sousa bands. Dvorak changed the band in many ways, including expanding it to 120 marchers, introducing new steps, creating the run-on entrance to the pre-game, and developing animated formations. He also introduced the arm-waving tradition during the singing of Wisconsin's ''alma mater'', ''Varsity''. When the Badger football team qualified for the 1963 Rose Bowl, the band was still wearing uniforms based on Marine Corps Dress Blues, with a broad red stripe down the leg. Lacking time to order and manufacture new uniforms, the band wore white duck pants for the Rose Parade, causing at least one wag to call them "Salvation Army milkmen". The fall of 1963 saw the introduction of cardinal and white uniforms that have characterized the band's look ever since. In the 1960s, Dvorak hired James Christenson as a conductor. He eventually moved on to a career with Disney. In 1969, the band hired a successor to Dvorak, Mike Leckrone. Leckrone expanded the marching band's membership and popularity during the Vietnam War era, a time when the band's connotative association with the military had become unpopular among some students. Women were first eligible to join the marching band in 1974, enabling a major expansion of membership. Leckrone introduced a physically demanding style of marching and playing, which required much more athleticism and physical conditioning. He required every member to attend Registration Week fundamental drills to develop a more physically demanding marching step, updated the pre-game "run-on," Dvorak had introduced, filmed every performance, and scheduled viewing sessions in which he provided feedback. Leckrone's band played a repertoire of Badger songs and tunes, creatively arranging and weaving them into field-show programming. Their ''1812 Overture'' morphs into ''On Wisconsin'' before the very ears of the crowd. During Leckrone's first decades, the Badger marching band was on the ascendancy as the football team was in decline, mired near the bottom of the Big Ten. Half-time shows maintained interest in the Saturday afternoon festivities, and the band's "fifth quarter" performances kept fans in the stands after the games ended. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「University of Wisconsin Marching Band」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|