Michigan Marching Band in OZ! (again, but this time it's ... different)

Hoover Street Rag describes The 2010 Wizard of Oz halftime show.

Michigan Marching Band Twirler in the News

It's nice when the local news recognizes a member of the MMB from their home town. Here's The Daily Telegram of Adrian MI on twirler Christie Harrah.

The Best Way to See the Michigan Marching Band Up Close!

THE BEST WAY TO SEE THE MICHIGAN BAND UP CLOSE IS AT THE CRISLER CONCERT!

Here are the details for 2010

The University of Michigan Marching Band
Scott Boerma, conductor
in Concert at Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor

Dec. 4, 2010
8 pm

The MMB's final Ann Arbor performance of the year features highlights from this season's pre-game and half-time shows, as well as all your Michigan favorites.

$10 adults/ $3 children 11 and younger

Tickets available in advance at Revelli Hall or at the door the day of the concert starting at 7:00 PM.

Reel to Reel - Really

University of Michigan Symphony Band "Touchdown USA" album REEL TO REEL TAPE! ON EBAY. BID NOW! Ends Oct 24 7:26:47 PDT

OH! You don't HAVE a reel to reel tape player? I'm sure you can get one on Ebay too.

OK, I realize this is the year 2010 and Touchdown USA is available on I-Tunes.

If You Didn't Make it to Homecoming in Ann Arbor...

MMB Photo Video wasted no time and had 600 photos of the 2010 Blast from the Past on their web site on Sunday afternoon! More were added on Monday so it's over 800 photos of the MMB and Alumni Band.

The web site lets you view groups of photos and click on the thumbnails to see any photo in a larger size. Plus it has a slideshow viewer and of course you can order prints of the photos - even poster size.

The MMB Photo Video Home Page is www.mmbphotovideo.com

To find out right away when new photos are available, follow @mmbphotovideo on Twitter or MMB Photo Video on Facebook.

Here's the MMB Photo Video web site with a nice shot of the flags:

It's True! The Slippery Rock Band Played in Michigan Stadium

Slippery Rock University football and Michigan football have a tradition that was off for a while and is now back. It's time to tell the story of Slippery Rock game in Michigan Stadium and here it is from retired journalist Chuck Bloom.

I didn't find a web site for the Slippery Rock band, but here's one from the Slippery Rock Band Alumni.

More from the U of M vs U Conn Game

I don't have any idea who this Mr. Knowitall is, but he seemed to be enjoying himself at the Big House! His blog has photos of the stadium and band.


Want to watch the pregame show? Here it is! YouTube MMB Pregame Sept 4, 2010 Mich vs U Conn


And another Michigan Marching Band pregame video.

Michigan vs U Conn - What You Didn't See of the MMB

Photos of the Michigan/Connecticut football game on September 4 are now up on the MMB Photo-Video site M v. Connecticut page You can view the photos (all 304 of them!) and purchase them on-line.

Michigan Marching Band alumni and fans who saw the game on TV or even in person will see a lot they missed of the Band. The MMB Photo Video team is always right where the band action is!

2010 Michigan Marching Band

The 2010 Michigan Marching Band season has started! (OH, it's FOOTBALL season?)

News articles and blog posts about the MMB are also starting to appear.

Here's one is about Band Week from
Ann Arbor Journal

Interesting note about "traditional" marching vs "high step". The high step used to be traditional marching and the drum and bugle corps glide step was something new. That was a while ago!

On the subject of traditions, the following blog mentions one I hadn't heard of: at the first Michigan Stadium rehearsal the new band members run in while the veteran members play The Victors. This part is at the end of the post. Before that is the tale of how the
Ann Arbor Beer Wench happened to be there.

Everyone Can Hear the Michigan Band!

I've stayed out of the discussion (more like a riot) about canned music in Michigan Stadium and "I can't hear the band". Now that there seems to be a solution I'm happy to pass it to you.

M-Go Blog received an e-mail from the Director of Bands which said that rule has changed and they can amplify the band so everyone in the stadium can hear it equally.
Read it here: Band Amplification: The Word From On High

Blog post from Michigan Youth Leadership about Dr. Revelli. Wordpress picked this as a Featured Blog.

Halftime Classics

Google News dutifully reports to me daily if it finds any mentions of "Michigan Marching Band". In mid-summer it isn't very exciting, but sometimes interesting/funny. So, look what it found on e-bay: Halftime Classics! And look, nobody ever opened the album, and it somehow traveled all the way to California. My favorite part is that it is listed as "rare".

When I see this album, I think of a LOT of stories. The first one that comes to mind is the Alto Saxes were too loud so GRC had each of them remove a sock and use it as a mute. I think I'll stop right there.

MMB 1950 in Yankee Stadium

M Victors (a blog about Michigan athletics) had this and other photos of the 1950 "Transcontinental" Michigan Marching Band. A trip to New York City and performance in Yankee Stadium was the East Coast part of the "transcontinental". So, let's go! BAND! TAKE THE BASEBALL FIELD! (though the announcer in 1950 didn't sound quite like that.) M VICTORS: Michigan Marching Band: 1950 Yankee Stadium Photos AND at the end of this post, see the New York Times clipping about the MMB.

Band Instrument Petting Zoo!

Ann Arbor elementary school students got a hands-on (and lips-on) preview of being in a band, thanks to Michigan Band members at the Kids Fair in April (see the last 8 paragraphs of the article.) The kids got to try out various brass instruments in a sort of "musical petting zoo".

This seems to be a great way to introduce young people to band instruments and start their dream of playing in a band some day. I think every high school and college band should do something like this regularly. What do you think?

The Most Famous MMB Photo

Here's an article from MICHIGAN TODAY about the famous photo of the Michigan Marching Band drum major which appeared in Life Magazine in 1950. I often thought of this photo when photographing the MMB and tried to capture moments like this.

In the late 1980's at homecoming I spoke to Dick Smith, the drum major in the photo. I recognized him because he was using the same baton he haad in the photo! We both thought it would be great to photograph him in the same spot, which had become the Yost Arena parking lot. We never did this, but I hope one of the other MMB photographers did.