Cavalier Marching Band

A Cavalier Marching Band member performing on the field of Scott Stadium during the halftime show of a Virginia Cavaliers home football game.

The Cavalier Marching Band (CMB) is the marching band at the University of Virginia. The band's director, William Pease, is the first full-time marching band director in the history of the University of Virginia. A newcomer among the ranks of collegiate marching bands, the Cavalier Marching Band was formed in 2004 after a funding gift in 2003 by University of Virginia benefactor Carl Smith. The portion of the gift specifically earmarked to endow a new marching band was $1.5 million, and an additional $22 million was later included towards a new performing arts center.

History

In the years leading up to the formation of the Cavalier Marching Band, the University of Virginia had become the last remaining program in the Atlantic Coast Conference without a true marching band.^[1] In the wake of the banning of the Virginia Pep Band from all future editions of an ACC-tied bowl game (the Meineke Car Care Bowl) a donation was made by Carl Smith for the establishment of an official university marching band. The director of the Pep Band at the time, Adam Lorentson, said that cost was the key reason the University did not have a traditional marching band^[2], while Smith's multi-million dollar donation made the new marching band a reality.

One of Pease's first moves as director was to invite members of the Pep Band to join the new band. Three members did join but the others declined, citing that Thomas Jefferson's original intention for the University to have student-run organizations, and that they could not betray those beliefs. In further recruitment efforts, Pease went on to offer spots in the band to musicians at Piedmont Virginia Community College, and has been known to make an occasional exception to a particularly talented local or two. Pease was given university songbooks from 1907 upon his arrival, and at the 2004 debut featured such University fight songs as "The Orange and the Blue" and "The Virginia Yell Song."^[3]

The band performs new halftime shows at every home football game and travels to two or three road games per season (depending on distance and available funding), as well as occasionally performing in exhibition at high school competitions. In its inaugural season, the Cavalier Marching Band had 170 members. Over 90% of members were UVa students; nearly 100% were from the greater Charlottesville community. By its fourth year (2007-2008), the band reached 232 members. As of the sixth season (2009-2010), the band's size has been capped at around 280 members.

Notable Accomplishments

The band was featured in the halftime show at the 2005 Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee, and was declared champion of the event's "Battle of the Bands," defeating the historic 300-piece Minnesota Golden Gopher Band. Most recently, the CMB performed at the 2008 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville and in Universal Studios in Florida.

The December following the violence at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, the Cavalier Marching Band joined forces with the Marching Virginians of Virginia Tech to host their first annual joint concert, held at John Paul Jones Arena. The aim of hosting this concert was to raise money for scholarship funds at both schools. Half of all proceeds went to the CMB's scholarship fund while half were given to a memorial fund to honor one of the Marching Virginians who were killed during the violence. It was the first time in the history of both schools that their bands performed together.^[4]

In the fall of 2007, Chad Hugo performed with the band during the halftime show of the November 3 football game against Wake Forest along with his brother Victor Hugo, on saxophone and keyboard, respectively. In addition to the band, over three hundred high school marching band students accompanied them on the field, playing three pieces Hugo had helped produce: Justin Timberlake's Like I Love You, No Doubt's Hella Good, and N*E*R*D's She Wants to Move.

Early in the fourth season the UVa Drumline was chosen by Yamaha Corporation of North America to represent them in an advertisement campaign that was aimed at high school students to promote Yamaha musical products. Interest in the Cavalier Drumline was initiated when a representative of the Yamaha Corporation paid a visit to a spring rehearsal. The representative noticed and commented on the drumline's professional attitude and was compelled to have them added to the national advertisement campaign.^[5] The drumline shares the honor with other big college bands.

Previous Band Organizations at UVA

The earliest appearance of a faculty-led music group performing for sports events was in the mid-1920s, when the University Band provided music for pre-game rallies and at the games.^[6] The band suffered from poor funding and outright disasters through the subsequent years, including a loss of its instruments and uniforms to a bus fire in 1941.^[7] After a brief resurgence in the late 1950s, including allocation of $12,000 for uniforms, instruments, and facilities by a faculty committee under University President Colgate Darden, the band had dwindled to 25 members by the early 1960s.^[8] The band's performances at football ceased in 1964.

Though no band performed at athletic events during the period of 1964 to 1974, the Pep Band claims that the band at the time remained a club until it became the Pep Band in the mid-1970s. The Pep Band was the official band of UVa athletics for the period between 1974 and the formation of the Cavalier Marching Band in 2003, with the exception of about one month during 1993.

The next faculty-led band at UVa athletic events, subsequent to the demise of the University Band, was the UVa Sports Band, a tiny 24-piece band started by UVa's athletic department in 1993 as a replacement for the Pep Band. It played for only a few home football games before disbanding.

References

External links

• Cavalier Marching Band