University of Nebraska Cornhusker Marching Band
Encyclopedia
The University of Nebraska Cornhusker Marching Band (also known as the Marching Red or The Pride of All Nebraska) is the marching band
of the University of Nebraska
. It performs at all home football
games. Founded in 1879, the Marching Red is one of the oldest and best-known collegiate marching bands in the United States. The band consists of 290 students from over 70 different academic majors from across the campus. Thanks to the success of the Husker football
program, the Marching Red is also one of the most traveled bands in the country having participated in all of the major bowl games. They have appeared multiple times at the Rose, Fiesta
, Orange, Sugar
, Cotton, Sun
, and Alamo
Bowls, and have made single appearances at the Bluebonnet
, Liberty
, Holiday
, Citrus
, Independence
and Gator
Bowls. On November 19, 2011, the Cornhusker Marching Band performed at Michigan Stadium
, in front of the largest audience ever to watch the band.
The Cornhusker Band has also made several international tours, visiting continental Europe and Ireland. The Cornhusker Marching Band has been the recipient of many honors over the years, including the John Philip Sousa Foundation's
Sudler Trophy in 1996. The Sudler Trophy is presented annually to a college marching band program that has demonstrated particular excellence over a period of years. A ballot of all NCAA marching band directors selects the trophy recipient. The Marching Red has been seen by millions of viewers on television, and appeared on the Kennedy Center stage as part of the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. In 2005 the band was featured on the NBC prime time series Tommy Lee Goes to College
and in 2007 on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
.
On October 13, 2007, a film crew from the comedy film, Yes Man
, starring Jim Carrey filmed portions of the movie at Memorial Stadium including several shots of the marching band.
The Cornhusker Marching Band's "Pregame Spectacular" begins with a drum cadence
, during which the band high-steps out from beneath each corner of the stadium. When the drum cadence changes pace, the band runs onto the field as the announcer exclaims "Now is the time for the Marching Red Experience - Presenting the University of Nebraska Cornhusker... Marching Band!"
As the band plays fanfares to the crowd, the announcer proclaims "This is the Pride of All Nebraska!" before introducing the drum majors and twirlers. "It's Football Saturday in Memorial Stadium, and there is NO PLACE LIKE NEBRASKA!"
The Cornhusker Marching Band's Pregame Performance contains:
Color Guard Instructor-Ashlea Jurgens
During rehearsals, the directors are assisted by three graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). The GTAs are responsible for attendance, some rehearsal setup, and general drill cleaning and supervision. The GTAs also assist the director in conducting the pregame performance. A drumline instructor and colorguard instructor work closely with their specific sections.
Each instrumental section is led by a section leader. The section leader is responsible for the musical performance of the section. Each section consists of one rank (except trumpets and trombones, which consist of three ranks each), and each rank is led by two or three rank leaders. The rank leaders are responsible for the marching performance of the rank and assist the section leader in sectional rehearsals and music memorization checks.
Marching band
Marching band is a physical activity in which a group of instrumental musicians generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching with their musical performance. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments...
of the University of Nebraska
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is a public research university located in the city of Lincoln in the U.S. state of Nebraska...
. It performs at all home football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
games. Founded in 1879, the Marching Red is one of the oldest and best-known collegiate marching bands in the United States. The band consists of 290 students from over 70 different academic majors from across the campus. Thanks to the success of the Husker football
Nebraska Cornhuskers football
The Nebraska Cornhuskers represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in college football. The program has established itself as a traditional powerhouse, and has the fourth-most all-time victories of any NCAA Division I-A team. Nebraska is one of only six football programs in NCAA Division I-A...
program, the Marching Red is also one of the most traveled bands in the country having participated in all of the major bowl games. They have appeared multiple times at the Rose, Fiesta
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
, Orange, Sugar
Sugar Bowl
The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Sugar Bowl has been played annually since January 1, 1935, and celebrated its 75th anniversary on January 2, 2009...
, Cotton, Sun
Sun Bowl
The Sun Bowl is an annual U.S. college football bowl game that is usually played at the end of December in El Paso, Texas. The Sun Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Orange Bowl are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl...
, and Alamo
Alamo Bowl
The Alamo Bowl is a major American college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the 65,000-seat Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. It matches the second choice team from the Pacific-12 Conference and the third choice team from the Big 12 Conference.Traditionally, the Alamo Bowl has been...
Bowls, and have made single appearances at the Bluebonnet
Bluebonnet Bowl
The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas. A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium from 1959 through 1967, and again in 1985 and 1986. The game was...
, Liberty
Liberty Bowl
The Liberty Bowl is an annual U.S. American college football bowl game played in December of each year from 1959 to 2007 and in January in 2009 and 2010. The Liberty Bowl was sponsored by AXA Financial and was known as the AXA Liberty Bowl from 1997 to 2003...
, Holiday
Holiday Bowl
The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that has been played annually at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, since 1978. Beginning with the 2010 playing the bowl will officially be known as the Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl after...
, Citrus
Capital One Bowl
The Capital One Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Orlando, Florida at the Citrus Bowl, and previously known as the Tangerine Bowl and the Florida Citrus Bowl...
, Independence
Independence Bowl
The Independence Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, so named because it was inaugurated in the United States bicentennial year, 1976....
and Gator
Gator Bowl
The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Held continuously since 1946, it is the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised nationally...
Bowls. On November 19, 2011, the Cornhusker Marching Band performed at Michigan Stadium
Michigan Stadium
Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan Stadium was built in 1927 at a cost of $950,000 and had an original capacity of 72,000. Before playing football at the stadium, the Wolverines played on Ferry Field...
, in front of the largest audience ever to watch the band.
The Cornhusker Band has also made several international tours, visiting continental Europe and Ireland. The Cornhusker Marching Band has been the recipient of many honors over the years, including the John Philip Sousa Foundation's
John Philip Sousa Foundation
The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of band music internationally. The foundation administers a number of projects and awards supporting high quality band performance, conducting, and composition....
Sudler Trophy in 1996. The Sudler Trophy is presented annually to a college marching band program that has demonstrated particular excellence over a period of years. A ballot of all NCAA marching band directors selects the trophy recipient. The Marching Red has been seen by millions of viewers on television, and appeared on the Kennedy Center stage as part of the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony. In 2005 the band was featured on the NBC prime time series Tommy Lee Goes to College
Tommy Lee Goes to College
Tommy Lee Goes to College is an NBC reality television show that began broadcasting on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 and on VH1 on Friday, August 19, 2005. It features Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee attending the University of Nebraska and attempting to fit in...
and in 2007 on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is a reality television series providing home renovations for less fortunate families and community schools etc...
.
On October 13, 2007, a film crew from the comedy film, Yes Man
Yes Man (film)
Yes Man is a 2008 comedy film directed by Peyton Reed, written by Nicholas Stoller, Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel and starring Jim Carrey, Zooey Deschanel, Bradley Cooper, John Michael Higgins, Rhys Darby, Maile Flanagan, Danny Masterson, and Terence Stamp...
, starring Jim Carrey filmed portions of the movie at Memorial Stadium including several shots of the marching band.
Auditions
To become a member, each person must pass a music audition or attend a mini-camp as is the case sometimes for percussion and color guard. After first cuts, a second marching and music memorization audition follows.Game Day Traditions
On home football game days, the band rehearses for two hours in Memorial Stadium, beginning five-and-a-half hours before kickoff. A two-hour break follows. An hour-and-a-half before kickoff, the band meets in Westbrook Music Building in full uniform for warm-up and final instructions. Following is a free outdoor concert at Kimball Recital Hall and the traditional march to the stadium.Pregame Spectacular
Throughout the history of the Marching Red, the Band has performed many well known and beloved fight songs at football games, most of which can be heard during the pregame performance. The band maintains the tradition of playing the opposing team's fight song during its pregame performance.The Cornhusker Marching Band's "Pregame Spectacular" begins with a drum cadence
Drum cadence
In music, a drum cadence is a work played exclusively by the percussion section of a modern marching band , descended from early military marches, primarily as a purposefully emphasized means of providing a beat to marchers and often using patterned rhythmic drum strokes to produce a drum beat.A...
, during which the band high-steps out from beneath each corner of the stadium. When the drum cadence changes pace, the band runs onto the field as the announcer exclaims "Now is the time for the Marching Red Experience - Presenting the University of Nebraska Cornhusker... Marching Band!"
As the band plays fanfares to the crowd, the announcer proclaims "This is the Pride of All Nebraska!" before introducing the drum majors and twirlers. "It's Football Saturday in Memorial Stadium, and there is NO PLACE LIKE NEBRASKA!"
The Cornhusker Marching Band's Pregame Performance contains:
- "Dear Old Nebraska U" ("There Is No Place Like Nebraska")
-
- There is no place like Nebraska,
- Dear old Nebraska U.
- Where the girls are the fairest,
- The boys are the squarest,
- Of any old school that I knew.
- There is no place like Nebraska,
- Where they're all true blue.
- We'll all stick together,
- In all kinds of weather,
- For dear old Nebraska U.
- The visiting team's fight song
- "The Star Spangled Banner"
- "Mr. Touchdown USA"
- "University of Nebraska March" by John Philip SousaJohn Philip SousaJohn Philip Sousa was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known particularly for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the "American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J....
- "March Grandioso" (sang by the student section as the "Bo PeliniBo PeliniMark "Bo" Pelini is the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He had previously been defensive coordinator for the LSU Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers...
Song")
- "March of the Cornhusker"
-
- Rally Huskers, glory waits for you,
- Rally Huskers, show what you can do
- Fight! forever, Oh! You team,
- For the scarlet and the cream,
- Go! Gang Go!
- Rally Huskers, rally one and all.
- Fight on, Huskers, hear Nebraska call,
- Listen to the battle cry,
- Of Nebraska U. N. I.
- "Hail Varsity"
-
- Hail to the team,
- The stadium rings as everyone sings,
- The Scarlet and Cream.
- Cheers for a victory, echo our loyalty;
- So, on, mighty men,
- The eyes of the land, upon every hand
- Are looking at you.
- Fight on for victory
- Hail to the men of Nebraska U.
Other Fight Songs
- "The Cornhusker" ("Come-a-Runnin' Boys")
-
- Come a runnin' boys
- Don't you hear that noise like the thunder in the sky
- How it rolls along in a good old song
- From the sons of Nebraski.
- Now it's coming near with a rising cheer
- That will sweep all foes away,
- So with all our vim
- We are bound to win and we're going to win today.
- CHORUS:
- For Nebraska and the scarlet
- For Nebraska and the cream,
- Tho' they go thru many a battle,
- Our colors still are seen.
- So in contest and in vict'ry
- We will wave them for the team,
- And 'twill always stir a Cornhusker,
- The old scarlet and the cream.
- "Band Song" (set to Rudolf Friml'sRudolf FrimlRudolf Friml was a composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer...
"Song of the Vagabonds"The Vagabond KingThe Vagabond King is a 1925 operetta by Rudolf Friml in four acts, with a book and lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, based upon Justin Huntly McCarthy's 1901 romantic play If I Were King...
)
-
- Hear the trumpets Playin'
- Hear the crowd a sayin'
- NU Band is on parade!
- Hear the trombones blowin'
- Hear the drums a rollin'
- NU Band is on Parade!
- Sound Out! Sound Out!
- Sound out loud and clear
- Let the team all know the Band is here.
- Sons of Old Nebraska
- If someone should ask ya
- We're the Scarlet and the Cream!
Directors
The band is led by Director Anthony Falcone and Assistant Director Douglas Bush. The UNL Director of Bands is Carolyn Barber.Instructors and Graduate Teaching Assistants
Drumline Instructor-Ben Shellhaas, previously filled by Nate Campbell until 2009 when he moved with his wife out of state.Color Guard Instructor-Ashlea Jurgens
During rehearsals, the directors are assisted by three graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). The GTAs are responsible for attendance, some rehearsal setup, and general drill cleaning and supervision. The GTAs also assist the director in conducting the pregame performance. A drumline instructor and colorguard instructor work closely with their specific sections.
Student Leadership
Three to four drum majors serve as the highest student authority in the band. The drum majors conduct the halftime performance and assist the directors and GTAs in conducting the pregame performance. The drum majors are responsible for overseeing the rest of the student leadership.Each instrumental section is led by a section leader. The section leader is responsible for the musical performance of the section. Each section consists of one rank (except trumpets and trombones, which consist of three ranks each), and each rank is led by two or three rank leaders. The rank leaders are responsible for the marching performance of the rank and assist the section leader in sectional rehearsals and music memorization checks.