1989 11 05 Hayden Fry Show

portion of a letter that Hayden fry received recently I quote on one of your shows why not put a small feature on the Hawkeye marching band the band is always there creating the fans enthusiasm the segment of your TV show would go a long way toward giving them a little recognition end of quote well to the writer of the letter Corwin carahan we aim to please on this show joining us tonight is the director of the Iowa marching band Morgan Jones we couldn't bring the whole band in here Morgan so we just decided to to bring you in here you know there seems not to be too much documented history of the marching bands what were they like at the early games back in the 20s and when did the band as we know it today play such a big part well you're you're correct Jim there isn't a lot of documented history it seems that the band uh was formed back around 1880 but not as a marching band more or less as a band that probably played in the stands we're guessing and it wasn't until sometime in the 20s uh that the band actually took to the field so it's not really documented exactly when the Hawkeye Marching Band came into being well it certainly means a lot to the fans you talk to people about what they like about the flavor of a college football game as opposed to Pros or something else they say the band at halftime and the tailgating when did creating pictures and words on the field become the in thing to do again that is not documented exactly when it was done first but we do know that pictures were very strong in the early 50 and running through approximately 1960 it was the big thing to put something on the field which we in the profession call a descriptive formation that is it's a picture of something like a choo Cho train or a stickman or something of that nature and of course one of Iowa's own maredith Wilson played a big part at least sentimentally or nostalgically in this Iowa band didn't he indeed because Meredith Wilson wrote uh the song that is currently our fight song the Iowa fight song how does how does a a student get into the band the student auditions for the band about four or five days before the start of school and he has a playing audition as well as a marching audition what uh how much how much time does he spend with us as much time as one of Hayden football players or too much time actually the band member has to spend a lot of time in order to do the performance as well we spend two hours a day four days a week and of course all day on Saturday a lot of people don't know that we rehearse in the morning prior to a game and we often rear on Wednesday evenings as well you have your ex's knows about the band just like the coaches have their ex's knows right indeed we do except they're about 280 of those little xes okay I can't imagine uh the toughest thing in the world has got to be on a cold day marching along playing the tuba it's very difficult because the lips don't work so well in a cold day okay right now we're going to take a look uh now at a portion of a Saturday's halftime show finale tell us a little bit about what we're seeing and the working getting ready for the fans that was really spectacular thank you well we're looking at the the closing portion of our show which was the 1812 Overture of shaki this little maneuver that's going on right now is called a push in that the band pushes toward the crowd and it's normally done in a high point in the music now the band has broken into some flowing patterns in which we are preparing for another high point in the music which will come right here as the band uh does a maneuver in which half the band is marching at a slow tempo and half the band is marching at a fast tempo we try to match the marching to the music as closely as possible it's much like ballet in a sense now we're preparing and setting up here for another rather dramatic picture move into a basic block band and there it is all right and now let's listen to the exciting finish [Music] [Music] [Music] I don't know what the people could hear it margan but there were actually some bombs going off they were practicing that all morning before the game I I could hear him I think Hayden could hear him out there too yes and indeed the Overture solel of course is a a salute to the War of 1812 and characteristically ends with a lot of cannon fire so we simulated that with big firecrackers bombs coach you're you're at a disadvantage you're in there talking to your troops so you miss this the first time you've seen this thing here what what does the band mean to the football team well you know that's one of our big disappointments in that we are not able to watch our band perform we hear all these great things about our marching band but we do hear them during the ball game and they're instrumental in creating a lot of spirit and enthusiasm on the field of play because in key situations our band really comes front and center and turns on the volume and uh we obviously have one of the outstanding bands of the country and you know Hayden one of the most amazing things the the you know we know the football players I saw hat Peterson this weekend for instance they all love to come back to the games but you're alumni marching band thing when when when it come when you bring those guys back it's amazing too isn't it that's a big event we have about 200 to come back each year okay well I'll tell you what let's hope uh the Iowa ban can keep performing and that the Iowa football team can keep performing just like the band bring us some more victories appreciate having you on here it's my pleasure thank you you bet Morgan Jones director of the Hawkeye band