I’ve written about some aspects of my musical life in my autobiography. I also wrote fairly extensively about it in a blog two years ago (see here). But there are a few things that I had left out that I’d like to add to that story.
I only briefly mentioned my membership in the MSU Marching Band in
my prior blog since I did not play the flute there. The band in those days was
160 strong and consisted of ONLY male members (now it has over 300 members and
is not sex-limited). Because of the need to have louder instruments when
performing in the football stadium, they had a few years earlier eliminated all
woodwinds except alto and tenor saxophones and had added E-flat cornets for the
higher range parts that are normally played by flutes or clarinets. But as
someone who played in the activity band and who understood music, I was
eligible take other parts in the marching band.
As noted in Wikipedia, the MSU
Spartan Marching Band (SMB) has a long and storied tradition. When I joined in
the fall of 1967, Leonard
Falcone had just retired after 40 years as the band director and Harry Begian had taken
over. But Bill
Moffit was continuing on and it was he who had invented the “Patterns of
Motion” that the SMB was known for. The members of the SMB work long and hard
each week, practicing first with their group of four in memorizing the steps
that they will be taking as they march together on the field, then with their
instrument section memorizing the music, then all together on the practice
field. On Saturday, they begin their practice 4-5 hours in advance of the game.
The flag corps was new for the fall of 1967, and I was one of the
first ten new SMB members in that unit. We chose flags by lot, and I then
carried the flag for the University of Iowa for that season. We practiced just
as much as the instrumentalists, except that we did not have to learn the music
– instead we had to work on the routines of when to hold the flags upright,
when to dip them, etc. It was a fair amount of work!
As the above Wikipedia article notes,
“The Big Ten Flag Corps is a pre-game and parade tradition in
the Spartan Marching Band that was added in 1967. Members carry large banner
type flags on lance poles, which salute the fourteen universities in the Big
Ten Conference. This Corps is made up of individuals who demonstrate the same levels
of dedication, work ethic, and athletic ability shown by other members of the
SMB. They carry out unique traditions that exhibit the style and form of the
Spartan Marching Band.”
The flag unit (now called the Big Ten Flag Corps) is also
mentioned prominently on the SMB website, where it
notes:
“Perhaps one of Begian
and Moffit’s most innovative additions to the band in 1967 was the Big Ten Flag Corps. The Spartan Marching
Band debuted ten new flags in its 1967 Homecoming performance. Each of the ten
flags represented one of the Big Ten universities, emblazoned with the name of
the school and its colors. Flags have been added over time to reflect the
additions of Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland, and Rutgers to the conference. The
fourteen Big Ten flags lead the SMB in all parades, including the gameday march
to Spartan Stadium. The Flag Corps also leads the band on to the field of
Spartan Stadium during the famous kick step field entrance.”
Because the Flag Corps was new in 1967, we did not
participate in the away game the first week. That way we could have the extra
time of practice until our debut at the homecoming game the following week. But
since our routines were slightly different than the rest of the band (see
below), that extra practice was useful.
The Flag Corps even has their own page on the SMB
website (https://www.spartanmarchingband.com/bigtenflags).
A few quotes from that page.
“[they] are a group of
extremely hard-working and passionate individuals with an amazing bond. Not
only do [they] get the first look at Sparty [the MSU Spartan statue] as they
make the turn across the Beal Street Bridge [on the way from the practice field
to the stadium], but they are also ‘first on, last off’ Spartan Stadium field
every pregame.”
“One of the most
exciting parts of being a Big Ten Flag is leading the band during Series [the
name of the street marching cadence] to the stadium and kick stepping out onto
the field in pregame.”
Kick stepping onto the field is challenging in many
ways. First, since the flags lead the band, you cannot hesitate, or you will be
run over – and with an entrance cadence of 220, you have to move pretty quickly.
Second, doing the kick step while carrying a 6-foot-high flag on a sometimes
windy day has its challenges.
During the pre-game and half-time show, there are
additional challenges. While the band is broken up into 4-man teams that do
everything together, the flags (at least back in 1967) were 5-man teams, so our
patterns were slightly different. Also, sometimes we were at the front of the
band for one portion, then needed to be at the ends or on the other side for
another portion, so instead of mostly marching in an 8-to-5 pace (8 steps for 5
yards, using the football field markings every 5 yards), the flags had to
prance at a 4-to-5 pace in order to get where we needed to be as quickly as
possible. It’s these kinds of things that made for the “extremely hard-working
and passionate individuals with an amazing bond” that is mentioned above. I was
honored to be part of the SMB during that inaugural year of the flag corps.
By the next year, the flag corps had been fully
established as part of the SMB. Because I lived in New England, I was not able
to get to campus 10 days in advance of classes as is required (see requirements
in Wikipedia article). So, I signed on as one of the band assistant managers
instead. The job of the assistant managers included the following:
·
Distributing music to each of
the band members (and tracking who had what)
·
Distributing uniforms,
raincoats, hats, etc. (and taking in any dirty or damaged items, replacing it,
and arranging for any cleaning or repairs as needed)
·
Ensuring that raincoats or overcoats
are taken to the stadium as the weather dictates
·
Bringing boxes of apples to the
stadium to keep band members supplied
·
Getting water pots filled (see
note below) for use during the game
·
Running onto the field
during/after pregame or half-time show to gather up any dropped hats, etc.
(band members cannot stop if their hat falls off, they have to keep marching)
·
Anything else required by the
band director
The water pots are filled after the band has
completed their pregame routine on the field and are seated in the portion of
the stadium reserved for them. The water source is in the football team locker
room. That meant carrying these large pots into the locker room where all the
players are getting ready for the game. Since these are fairly big guys to
begin with and they have on their football pads (making them wider) and cleats
(making them taller) they are even bigger than usual. I’m not a small person but
making my way around them in the locker room I felt pretty small.
The assistant managers also dress in the same
uniforms as they need to blend in seamlessly during the march to the stadium,
during the kick step entrance, and as they sweep the field following right
behind the other SMB members gathering up any dropped items. These types of
positions, while not musical in nature, are just as necessary for the effective
functioning of the SMB.
[MSU Band]
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