Oregon Marching Band

Oregon Marching Band
"Soundtrack of the Ducks"
School University of Oregon
Location Eugene, Oregon
Conference Pac-12 Conference
Founded 1908
Director Dr. Eric Wiltshire
Members 250
Uniform Custom Nike black athletic pants with forest green mesh stripe; black, yellow and green long-sleeve shirt; forest green "Oregon Marching Band" T-shirt; black travel jacket with reflective yellow "O" on the back; a variety of baseball caps; and custom Oregon black Nike Free running shoes with Nike+ capabilities
Website http://omb.uoregon.edu

The Oregon Marching Band (OMB) is the marching band of the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon, United States. With over 250 members, it is the largest student organization on campus, and its members come from nearly every department and major at the university. The marching band serves as the foundation for the larger Oregon Athletic Bands organization that includes the Oregon Basketball Band, Winter Drumline, and the Green and Yellow Garter Bands.

The OMB performs at all home football games at Autzen Stadium, selected away games, and bowl games. Some of the OMB's recent travels have taken them to Seattle, Washington; Pullman, Washington; Las Vegas, Nevada; El Paso, Texas; San Diego, California; Pasadena, California; Glendale, Arizona; Palo Alto, California; and San Antonio, Texas. Other aspects of Oregon athletics, such as women's volleyball, are also supported by the OMB.[1] The OMB also hosts a large high school marching band competition every fall known as the Festival of Bands.

Organization

Director of Bands

The Director of Bands is in charge of the Department of Bands at the university, teaches/conducts the Oregon Wind Ensemble, and assists with all of the bands in the department. Dr. Rodney Dorsey, former University of Michigan Associate Director of Bands, was hired to the position in 2013 following a year-long, nationwide search. Dr. Dorsey will conduct the Star Spangled Banner at all home football games.

Director of Athletic Bands

The Director of Athletic Bands administrates the athletic band program by leading and teaching students, supervising graduate teaching fellows and other assistants, and working with the university and athletic department. This position also serves as an Assistant Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Instrumental Music Education. The position is held by Dr. Eric Wiltshire, an alumnus of the University of Washington. Along with the athletic bands, Dr. Wiltshire teaches and conducts the Oregon Campus Band.

Past directors

Director Title Years in Position
Albert Perfect Director, University Bands 1915-1919
John Stehn Director, University Bands 1929-1950
Ira Lee Director, Athletic Bands 1950-1956
David Goedecke Director, Oregon Marching Band 1966-1968
Gene Lewis Director, Oregon Marching Band 1968-1970
Burnette Dillon Director, Oregon Marching Band 1970-1975
Gerald Poe Director, Oregon Marching Band 1976-1982
Bill Norfleet Interim Director, Oregon Marching Band 1982-1983
Steven Paul Director, Oregon Marching Band 1983-1989
Patrick Casey Assistant Director, Oregon Marching Band 1988-1989
David Booth Director, Oregon Marching Band 1990-1992
Rod Harkins Director, Oregon Marching Band 1992-1995
Sid Haton Director, Oregon Marching Band 1995-1999
Todd Zimbelman Director, Oregon Marching Band 1999-2005
Patrick Carney Director, Oregon Athletic Bands 2005-2006
Eric Wiltshire Director, Oregon Athletic Bands 2006-

Instructors and graduate assistants

The Oregon Marching Band employs several instructors and Graduate Teaching Fellows (GTFs) to assist in the teaching and administration of the band.

Leadership

The OMB is largely run by its many student leaders. These include drum majors, section leaders, uniform manager, equipment (truck) crew, garter band members, and the Oregon Athletic Band Council. For the 2015–2016 season, the OMB is led by head drum major Lexie Richter and President Kaden Christensen.

History

Songs

The Oregon Marching Band plays a wide variety of songs designed to add to the atmosphere of Autzen Stadium's game day. The fight song of the Ducks is former director Albert Perfect's "Mighty Oregon". For the most part, the OMB plays popular tunes from the last 40 years. Some fan favorites include Journey's "Separate Ways", the theme song from Disney's "DuckTales", "Louie Louie"", "Ease On Down The Road" from The Wiz, numerous charts by Earth, Wind & Fire, and dozens of BBQs. Newer additions include "Bad Romance", "Winner", and "All of the Lights"

Fine for BBQ's

"Fine For BBQ's", usually referred to as simply "BBQs", is a collection of short stands tunes. Usually played by the band in the stands, some of the longer BBQs, such as "Come on Eileen" and "Walking on Sunshine", are used during pregame, battle of the bands and other performances. The specific songs included have changed over the years as new songs have been added and old ones have been removed. Many of the BBQs are based on popular music. Some recent additions include "Till the World Ends" and "Party Rock Anthem."

Prime Cuts

"Prime Cuts" is a newer collection of short stand tunes. Usually the band plays these when certain football players make good plays. For example: Marcus Mariota's theme song was "Hawaii Five-O" and Vernon Adam's theme sing is "California Love". Other notable songs in the collection include "Shots", "Menance", and "Wrecking Ball"

Half Time Shows

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Instrumentation

The instrumentation of the Oregon Marching Band is similar to that of a military band but with the addition of a full front ensemble (also known as a "pit"). The band is open, so specific instrumentation varies from year to year.

Winds

Battery percussion

Front ensemble

Uniforms

The Oregon Marching Band shares the same rights of their athletics programs in what they wear, giving them access to Nike-designed uniforms. For the 2008-09 season the OMB received a new style of uniforms to replace the older set of uniforms that were used from 2003 through the 2007 season, which included green wool jackets and bib pants that blended into Autzen Stadium's turf and dark green motorcycle helmets, which some fans likened to those worn by Nazi storm troopers during World War II. Those uniforms were a gift in 2003 from University of Oregon alumni and cofounder of Nike Phil Knight. The new band uniforms were designed in partnership with the school's new football and cheerleading uniforms in an effort to give Oregon football game day a brand as well as what they feel is a unique style.[3] The end result put an emphasis on the marching band being "athletic". While the 2003 uniforms met with mixed reactions, including the ire of alumni and donors, the new 2008 uniforms were immediately welcomed.

Gameday uniform

Like that of the Oregon football team, the marching band's uniform has many levels of customization by pairing different all-Nike equipment together, such as:

The green helmets, which the band retired after the 2005 season, are currently being sold to raise money for the band.[4]

Festival of Bands

The Festival of Bands (FOB) is an annual high school marching band competition where 30 bands from around the northwest come to compete in the Northwest Marching Band Circuit. The event is coordinated and run by the students of the Oregon Marching Band. The Festival of Bands is one of the top fundraisers for the OMB, raising about $15,000 every year. It is also used as a major recruiting tool for the Oregon Athletic Bands.

Oregon Athletic Band Council

The Oregon Athletic Band Council (OABC) is a group of students in the OMB that meets once a week throughout the school year to plan and organize many of the behind-the-scenes and logistical aspects of the OMB and other athletic bands. These aspects include Festival of Bands, the winter band banquet, the Duck Call (OMB's newsletter), recruiting, and spring intramural softball. All members of the athletics bands are automatically eligible to join OABC, and each section of each band is represented. The council is composed of several committees, headed by chair positions.

The 2015-2016 OABC council positions are as followed:

President - Kaden Christensen

Vice President and ASUO Liaison - Derek White

Secretary and Historian - Gabriella Whitehead

Public Affairs - Timmy Beick

Festival of Bands - Hana Kamata

Recruitment - Suly Gonzales

Internal Afairs, please - Alyssa Van Laar

Band Banquet - Nicole Stanger

Drum Majors:

Head: Alexandrea (Lexie) Richter

Nick Van Eekeren

Hana Kamata

Julia Fischer

OABC is run by an executive committee composed of the President, Vice President in charge of Public Relations, Vice President in charge of the Treasury, and Secretary of OABC, and the Drum Majors of OMB. Standing committees of OABC are the ASUO (student government budgetary), Public Relations, Festival of Bands, Historian, Internal Affairs, Please and Recruiting Committees. The OABC president also meets with the Director of Athletic Bands once a week to discuss concerns and to better coordinate the faculty with the students.[5][6]

Other Athletic bands

Basketball Band

The Oregon Basketball Band (OBB) is a group of 50-60 OMB members who perform at all University of Oregon Men's Basketball home games. The group is auditioned from members of the OMB at the end of marching band season. Prior to January 2011, the OBB played in McArthur Court, better known as "The Pit". On January 13, 2011, the OBB, along with the rest of the OMB, the Oregon Cheerleaders and the Pit Crew, participated in the opening ceremony for the newly opened Matthew Knight Arena before the men's basketball game against USC.[7] In addition to men's home games, the OBB plays at the women's basketball home Civil War game, and travels with both the men's and women's teams to the Pac-12 tournaments in Seattle, Washington and Las Vegas, Nevada, respectively, as well as March Madness tournaments.

The Green Garter Band tailgating before the start of a football game at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, OR

Green Garter Band

Main article: Green Garter Band

The Green Garter Band (GGB) is a select group of twelve players that plays at numerous additional events for the University of Oregon.[8] From funk to rock to hip hop, the GGB plays hundreds of high-energy student-arranged songs to entertain the hundreds of thousands they perform to every year. The group has a faculty advisor, the Director of Athletic Bands, but for the most part is entirely run by its student members. The Green Garter Band performs for all UO Women's Volleyball home games, UO Women's Basketball home games, many UO Softball home games and serves as the core unit of the OBB and OMB. Each year, the GGB also gives approximately 20-25 performances at special Athletic Department events, for the UO School of Music and Dance, for the University at large, and at various special events within the community. In return for their large commitment, Green Garter Band members are awarded scholarships equal to about 12 in-state credits. The demand for the GGB is so high that in 2002 the Yellow Garter Band (YGB) was created to help fulfill the number of requests coming in. The Yellow Garter Band is identical to its Green counterpart in most regards, but has a slightly smaller commitment. In return for their commitment, members of the YGB receive a large book scholarship every term. Together, the Green and Yellow Garter Bands have gained recognition and acclaim on campus, in the community and even nationally.[9]

Discography

References

External links

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