percussion
>> It's Saturday morning.
It's 8
30 in the morning. We're getting ready to do our early morning practice. >> Whoo!
"On, Wisconsin!
It's 8
>>
It's a 2
30 game, so we can sleep in a little bit today.
If it were an 11
00 game,
we'd be out here before 7
00. But we're going to be going
till about 6
00 tonight. Good morning, Elm Drive!
blows whistle three times
till about 6
"On, Wisconsin!"
till about 6
I'm the Director of Bands at the University of Wisconsin and Director of the Marching Band. I came to Wisconsin in 1969.
beeps
old film projector sounds
till about 6
I came at a time when the marching band was at kind of a low ebb. I was the third marching band director in three years. Our football team had set a record for most consecutive games without a win. But I saw it as a great opportunity to sort of come in at a place that had a great band tradition, and hopefully reawaken it a little bit and start doing some things that I thought this band would be able to do.
old film projector sounds
till about 6
percussion
till about 6
I immediately thought it should be more showbiz. So I tried to make everything more upbeat. I changed the arrangement of "On, Wisconsin!" I changed the way the band marched. I put a little gimmick in it that we call, "stop at the top," where there's an energetic sort of a piston like motion in the way the band performs. Better. More stop at the top. Stop at the top. One, two, ready... We rehearse Tuesday through Friday,
from 3
45
to 5
30. An hour and forty-five minutes, four days a week. That can get scary, because you've got four days to learn the music, learn the drill, and perfect it. I think the one thing that I do really well is teach work ethic. Push! Push! Push! Push! Push! Push! Push! I really think if a student comes to this group and doesn't have a work ethic, one of two things is going to happen. They're going to be gone quickly, or they're going to develop a work ethic, because there's no way you can exist in my group without showing that effort. That has to happen every time. Turns have to be a habit. They have to be a habit. You say, "Oh, I'll do it this afternoon." No you won't. Every time, then it's a habit. Then that's the way you'll always do it. I get all kinds of letters later from students. I just got one not long ago from a guy who was in my 1971 Band. He said, it took a while for me to understand what you were teaching, but this idea of the work ethic, the idea that you can do more than you think you can do is something that I realize now. That's what you were teaching in band every day.
blows whistle three times
to 5
Our job is to entertain. And to entertain, I think the audience has to sense that you're having fun doing it. I tell the band, you're going to have fun on this whether you like it or not!
laughs
to 5
Two, three, and now!
indistinct radio announcer
to 5
>>
It's 11
30 on Saturday morning, rehearsal's over. I came back to my office, I dressed, changed clothes, ate a little sandwich and a candy bar, and I'm ready for the day. So, once I leave this office, I'm working the rest of the day without much break. There have been a few people who've offered to drive me, but I got started walking and it almost becomes a ritual or a tradition. Some people call it a superstition. I prefer to think of it as a ritual. I know I could walk that way, but I really can't, I gotta go this way, and then that way.
laughs
It's 11
percussion
It's 11
>> The University of Wisconsin Marching Band!
cheers and applause
It's 11
"On, Wisconsin!"
It's 11
Camp Randall is my favorite. Camp Randall is special. I don't know any other stadium in the country where you can do a 5th Quarter and get away with it the way we do. You're not going to have happiness with this band. What you are going to have is moments of happiness. There's going to be moments of great exhilaration, and great pride, of great sense of accomplishment. And what you have to do in this band, and in life, you have to draw on those moments and then when things aren't going well, you have to go back in your memory and say, I can get through this, because there will be, somewhere down the line, another moment of happiness. We've always left the stadium happy. Not pleased, maybe somewhat disappointed, but we've always had a good time. You look over your shoulder and freeze that moment. I think the thing that really motivates me is, I've never seen an end. I've never seen a point where, okay, the band is as good as it's ever going to get. I think people get burned out when they've reached the end of their expectations, perhaps. I don't think I've reached the end of that yet. We love you, Mike Oh yes, we do We love you, Mike And we'll be true >> It's about two minutes
till 7
00 on Saturday night, after a tough loss but a fun afternoon. And my day's over. Kids did well. It's very gratifying to see the seniors, you know, so emotional about what we're doing. I think somebody once said, it was probably Vince Lombardi, because I quote him a lot, that you never can receive perfection, but in seeking it, sometimes you get excellence. That's really what we're trying to do. U Rah Rah Wisconsin U Rah Rah Wisconsin U Rah Rah Wisconsin Hey... Up! >>
All
Once a Badger, always a Badger!
cheers
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