The solid gold sound

Friday, November 7, 1997

The solid gold sound

FEATURE: Predominantly unrecognized by the student body, the
UCLA Marching Band

never lacks talent or dedication when it comes to sound and
presentation

By David Arnold

Daily Bruin Contributor

You have to have talent to fit in, you have to audition to join,
and membership brings the possibility of being in a movie, but
actors need not apply.

You can be recruited if you’re good, you can earn a scholarship
if you’re lucky, and being on the team brings the possibility of
trips around the world, but athletic ability isn’t required.

You are a part of tradition, you are one in 240, you are a part
of the "Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Marching Band."

And nobody seems to know it.

That’s because pitifully low attendance at UCLA home football
games means that fewer and fewer students are appreciating what
critics, movie producers and opposing teams are learning every
week: our marching band doesn’t get the respect that it
deserves.

You are like freshman baritone horn player Hillary Douglas if
you had to spend $20 a night to move into your own dorm room a week
earlier than anyone else just to participate in Band Camp and wear
one of the world’s warmest 12-year-old uniforms during the hottest
week of the year.

You are like band director Gordon Henderson if you left your
alma mater in Kentucky, traveled west to California, only to find
that, despite your band performing in several motion pictures and
at the Olympic Opening Ceremony, your most appreciative audiences
are still on the road.

You are like 240 other musicians if you have to leave at
midnight on Thursday and miss all of your classes on Friday just to
play a few notes on Saturday. That is what our band did last week
as they were bused overnight to play at the UCLA game against
Stanford.

When they did, they continued the 70-year tradition of the
ASUCLA-funded marching band, a band that started without uniforms,
in combination with an ROTC band. As Henderson put it, "It was
loosely organized," with few tunes to play and few chances to do
so. Since those early days, the band has appeared in over 10
movies, more TV shows, was the first West Coast team to win the
prestigious Sudler Trophy for best collegiate marching band, and
currently leads USC 25-11 in Band Bowl flag football competitions.
Apart from the years during World War II, however, women have only
been in the band since ’72.

Only one home game remains for the mighty co-ed marching band to
perform their traditional pre-game show, and only one more chance
to astound the home crowd with their original half-time shows
(composed entirely by Henderson, with suggestions from returning
members). Then it’s just the game against USC and possibly, just
possibly, a bowl game.

After that, the marching band boils down to the varsity squad,
averaging 75 positions for which former marching band members sign
up, which shall be for the enjoyment of those who decide to attend
basketball games and other spring sports.

The game against No. 7 Washington Saturday, Nov. 15 may, barring
a Rose Bowl berth, be the last time the full 1997 UCLA Marching
Band takes the field in Pasadena. The friends and family in the
stands should get a hell of a show.

Drum major Kevin McKeown, also known as Og, conducts the
band.

UCLA’s marching band showcases their solid gold sound at
halftime at UCLA football games.