1940 through 1949

Dean W. Coston - 1941

HOW I GOT INTO THE MICHIGAN MARCHING BAND
By Dean W. Coston ’48 (Symphony and MMB ’41-’42 and ’45-47)

First Movement (Andante):

In the spring of 1939, I was a high school junior, sitting third chair clarinet in the school band and first in the town band, when our director posted an announcement about a band clinic at the University of Michigan that summer. I decided to apply. Three of my band mates also applied – a trumpet, a horn, and a tuba. (They later went on to be professionals, went to Julliard and then, the tuba to the Boston Symphony, the horn to the New York Philharmonic, and the trumpet to studio bands in New York City.)

Some of us joined the town band (we had to join the AFM Local). It gave public concerts, often under guest conductors like Edwin Franco Goldman, Giuseppe Creatore, and Arthur Pryor. It was a thrill to see these elder band directors.

A year earlier, our high school band placed in the top five at a national competition, where a band from Hobart, Indiana, placed just ahead of ours. Their director (his name was Revelli, I recall) was to teach at that U of M summer program.

He was energetic, demanding, and impatient. He made us believe we were better than we thought. It was a great, but too short, experience and when my senior year (class of 1940), at high school commenced, I made first chair, largely because of all I learned from Revelli at that UM summer program.

I had applied to the U of M in the spring of 1941 and I was admitted. The tuition at the time was $50 in state and $75 out of state. Now I was going to get to play in their band! I discovered that I would have to enroll in ROTC in order to be in the MMB, so I did. My grandfather had graduated from the U of M in 1878; his son in 1922; my big brother in 1938, and my middle brother was a student at the time. My grandson is now a student there and enjoying every minute.

The new Michigan band director was Hobart’s Mr. Revelli (his doctorate came later), and, in the old Morris Hall, he and Prof. Bill Stubbins auditioned the woodwind applicants to the bands. I had received a new Buffet B-flat clarinet for graduation and I was still breaking it in. For my audition, I played part of one of the Mozart clarinet concertos. Prof. Stubbins said “nice clarinet,” and only asked one question: “Who was your clarinet teacher?” I told him it was Jack Hickey, who played in the Sousa band for many years. Stubbins said “He was a mighty good teacher.” I said, “only when he was sober,” Jack Hickey charged $2.00 an hour and usually spent two or three hours with me. Stubbins did not like my embouchure and tried for two years to change it. He didn't succeed. I was in the symphony band and the MMB! The Buffet never went on the field with the MMB, by the way.

Second Movement (Allegro con Brio):

On December 7, 1941, my roommate and I were listening to the Sunday Philharmonic broadcast when it was interrupted for the memorable announcement about Pearl Harbor. I knew then that college and the MMB would have to wait while I helped win the war. We were living on Hill Street with a retired cavalry Lieutenant Colonel, and he very graciously let me out of our rooming contract and I went home for Christmas.

I joined the Army Air Corps and began training at Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Army had taken over all the big resort hotels for our housing and had converted the ballrooms into mess halls. Every day an Air Corps band marched us on and off Brigantine Field playing Sousa marches and Glenn Miller arrangements. (the troops had blue lyrics for the marches). The pops unit entertained the troops at dinner in the hotel with Miller arrangements and stock charts.

One morning, I was ordered to report to Headquarters where I met the band director (a staff sergeant) who told me he had reviewed my records and would like to hear me play. I gave him a spirited “Hail to the Victors” on a G.I.clarinet and played a few jazz licks on a borrowed alto sax. I received orders to TDY to join the band and skip the rest of my basic training. So, for the next few months, I played alto sax in the dance band and clarinet in the marching band (all because of the Revelli and ROTC training and a staff sergeant who was short one alto sax). I never did finish basic training.

That assignment came to an end when the military, in its military judgment, decided that I should train as a radio operator for the 8th Air Force. Before I could fly missions in a B-17 over Germany, I was booted out of the Air Corps and sent to the Intelligence Language School for training as an interpreter in German and Italian, got promoted to S/Sgt, and learnt the spy business. Then I got sent to tend Axis POWs in North Africa and back to the southern US. I was assigned to POW Italians at Camp Rucker, Alabama and then at Camp Stewart, Georgia. Just off the base at Hinesville, Georgia was a popular watering hole for the troops and the Hinesvillians? I used my AFM Local 416 card to join a small band to play some good jazz on Saturday nights. I still carry the card.

I got out of the Army in January of 1946, having achieved the rank of Master Sergeant, along with a wife and a baby. I got back to Ann Arbor with wife and baby; we moved into an apartment at Willow Run Village. Once again, I received the evaluation of Profs. Revelli and Stubbins, and I rejoined the MMB with an unchanged embouchure.

Third Movement (Allegro con passione):

I earned an AB(ed) at 1948 and joined the staff of the new radio voice of Michigan, WUOM. At that time, the radio station did a lot of live broadcasts. I usually was engineer for the musical events and now I was once again learning from Dr. Revelli how to tell a good sound from a mediocre sound. He was a perfectionist when his band was broadcasting, and the next day he would come to the WUOM studio to hear the recording to see if it was perfect. Depending on what he heard, he was either upset with the band's performance or with the technical quality of the broadcast, and his wrath would be visited sometimes on me and sometimes on the band. He always heard something that could be improved. I never heard him say it was “Perfect!”. Either way, it was a great educational experience. And he always followed with some useful suggestions, some valuable advice, and some TLC which left me feeling better about everything. I responded by providing technical advice about acoustics, recording gear, microphone placements, tape editing and such. We usually departed on good terms.

WUOM carried a program series “Music from Interlochen”, and the Interlochen Director, Dr. Joseph Maddy, asked if the station engineering staff could help with the Interlochen summer program. So for several years I took the family north to the National Music Camp and we recorded, edited, and broadcast from Interlochen and to a tape distribution network. I had the opportunity to play in faculty ensembles and chamber groups with many very fine musicians. I remember playing under conductors Aaron Copeland, Meredith Willson, and Morton Gould, among others. I remember Roger Jacobi and John Dudd from MMB were there for several of those summers.

I had become involved in politics in Ann Arbor, and in 1960 I was Washtenaw Democratic Chairman and I hit the campaign trail for Jack Kennedy. One result was that President-elect Kennedy asked me to come to Washington to develop public broadcasting legislation. I did that and more when another Michigan professor, Wilbur J. Cohen, asked me to become his deputy at the Department of Health Education and Welfare and I began an incredible graduate seminar in public policy making and legislative strategies. I drafted the Public Broadcasting Act and saw it through its passage in 1969. I was on leave from my WUOM job, but time ran out, the U of M would not renew my leave of absence, and I decided to stay in Washington. (And I am still here.)

I joined the Washington Redskins Marching Band. Except for the feather headdress, it seemed like old times. Our half time shows were musical catastrophes – with only one rehearsal for an hour each week and with Redskins owner George Preston Marshall providing unlimited beer to the band, the best we could do was to countermarch twice and hope the drum major would catch the baton after he tossed it over the goal posts. I did hear a lot of great band music in that time from the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy Bands. I even met Sgt. Floyd Werle (USAF, Ret.) one evening at an Air Force Band concert. However, as I rose in the bureaucratic ranks, President Johnson suggested to me that it was undignified to see one of his trusted underlings wearing a feathered headdress on Redskins TV in a band having no women or African American members. Since a “suggestion” from President Johnson had the force and effect of a Revelli “suggestion,” I had to give up the band. Anyhow, my embouchure was collapsing under the weight of advancing age.. (Note: The Redskins Band now has both females and blacks and black females. I went on to do interesting stuff for the Library of Congress and the House of Representatives. I worked hard at my job, and I played an occasional gig with a bluegrass group at Congressional fundraisers. I didn't get any of the funds raised.

Exit Music:

I express my long overdue appreciation for my Michigan education and the prominent place the Michigan Bands have in that. I owe much to Prof. Cohen, my Washington rabbi, Dr. Revelli and Prof. George Cavender, and all of the staff and faculty for teaching me the value of preparation, of planning, of learning your trade, and of always seeking perfection. The jazz and bluegrass part I learned on the job. My chops are gone, the alto sax is too heavy to carry, and I am so deaf I can’t keep in tune. The years have raced by, but good memories of Michigan and the Marching Band remain.

GO BLUE!

Don Hoexter - 1946

I played with the Marching Band in Columbus in November 1946 when Jim Brieske kicked a field goal at the end of the game to make the score: Michigan - 58, Ohio State – 6. We sang about it for years afterward.

Lois Hall - 1944

On April 12, 1945 I was rehearsing diligently in Dr. Revelli’s Concert Band when out of the audio room a young man walked up to Dr. Revelli, interrupting his (no one ever dared!) his rehearsal and whispered to him. Dr. Revelli then said to us “Ladies & Gentlemen Pres Roosevelt has just died in Warm Springs, Georgia.” There was a moment or two of silent thoughts.

Bill Upton - 1943

Roger Jocobi’s Tribute to GRC in this fall’s FANFARE brought this memory to my mind. I marched on the stadium field in the fall of ’43, ’44, ’45 and again as a civilian in the fall of ’46. I too was a member of the Rose Bowl Band of Jan. 1st 1948. I also recall the change in style for the Rose Bowl trip, but what Roger didn’t mention was that the “CHIEF” then cautioned us that if the “up-tempo-modern style” in any way caused a deterioration in the sound (sonority) of the band, we would then drop back to a cadence which would have us sounding the way a Michigan Band must sound!

One a side to this story (why I was a participant at the Rose Bowl) is that a few of the “older” armed forces VETS had family obligations and did not want to leave via train on Christmas day. This meant that Revelli was required to either fill out a rank of cornets or leave some “poor souls” at home.

A second aside to the story was that it was suggested in the student newspaper of O.S.U. in Columbus that the “Great” Revelli had hired professional musicians from Detroit for his Rose Bowl Marching Band. The truth was that I knew three of the additions that were still on Campus and in school. There was, in addition to me, Roger Jacobi (Later President of Interlochen Arts Academy) and Allen P. Britton (later Dean of the U-M Music School).

Our up-tempo and sound must have made the grade, because on L.A. reporter in the New Year’s day Review of the Rose Bowl events said that if there was anything better than the U-M football team it would have to be its Marching Band.

L. Norman Rydland - 1944

On January 19, 1944 while still in high school I enlisted in the Navy V-5 program (Naval Aviation). I was graduated from high school in June of 1944. While in high school my main interest were again academics and the marching and concert band (first chair clarinet), and graduated second in my class of over 250 students. I also did “gigs” playing alto sax in a local dance band those two years.

I entered the V-5 program at the University of Michigan that summer for the start of a Navy program that was to lead to a wartime career as a Naval aviator. But as is always true in the service, changes were the rule of the day.

The Navy’s needs for aviators were reduced because of fewer casualties, We were transferred to the V-12 program which trained personnel in all categories – and thus I was destined to train for the Civil Engineering Corps. During the summer of 1947, our V-12 class spent a three-week period on a Midshipman Cruise from Quonset Point, RI to Argentina, Newfoundland. The contingent that I was in was assigned to the destroyer, USS Russ (DD 714). It was on this cruise that I learned to drink black coffee as only the Navy could make. This was a most interesting experience and gave me a deep respect to the sea-going Navy. I was commissioned at the U-M commencement an Ensign in the Civil Engineering Corps at the same time I received my engineering degree (Bachelor of Science Degree with a Sanitary Engineering option) at the U-M 1948 Commencement.

One other activity during my four-year stay a Michigan was my passion with the University of Michigan Marching Band. In 1948 I was a member of the Navy Marching Band. Because of the wartime situation, there was no Michigan Marching Band, and Dr. Revelli (the “Father” of the U-M Marching Band) convinced the Navy commander to let the Navy Band be augmented with non-Navy student musicians on campus to form the Michigan Marching Band. The band performed at a number of Big 10 schools during those years, culminating with a trip to the Rose Bowl and the Tournament of Roses Parade (seven miles). Michigan defeated the University of South California by a score 49-0!!!! On the trip we went through the Rockies in an “Astrodome” train, and on the General Motors “Train of Tomorrow” from San Francisco to LA. We marched in every major city including Denver and San Francisco and in some small “cross-road” towns. I can still remember sitting on the curb in Liberal, Kansas resting my feet. Behind me was a shoe store with a sign in the window which read “Are Your Feet Tired” – if they only knew!!! This particular band became the first in the nation to perform with the new high step, high pace precision cadence. In Ann Arbor, I shall never forget the feeling of coming out of the tunnel in the Big House and performing in front of more than 100,000 people!!

Eugene Heffelfinger - 1946

Well, well, so you want some memories of Michigan Band Days!

How about the Rose Bowl trip of ’48? On the train we had a “democratic” vote to decide if we were willing to march in the infamous 7-mile Rose Bowl Parade. The band at that time was composed of many WWII veterans who had their fill of marching a long time ago, so what do you think! Yes, they voted AGAINST marching in the parade!

The reason given was that we were intensely interested in conserving our energy so we would be at our best for the terrific half-time show we intended to present! So much for that excuse!

As anyone who knew Dr. Revelli might expect, this decision was not too well received, so, I believe it was in Phoenix when we scheduled a mid-journey rehearsal, that we were asked to vote again! “Asked” being a polite way of expressing the actual emphasis.

Next occurred one of the most memorable events of the trip… voting by having those willing to march stand on the goal line…those opposed on the end-zone line. Talk about secret ballots! Well, with Dr. Revelli towering above us on the rehearsal platform, you can imagine the scene as those opposed screamed at the majority who yielded to the pressure to comply with the obvious wishes of the “Chief,” imploring them to come join with the “rebels” in the end-zone!

My comment to Dr. Revelli that those of us who had no preference should abstain from the process, was met with one of those unforgettable “glares” that you would LIKE to forget!

Guess what, we DID march! As it turned out, I can recall that, marching and playing in that parade was like a beneficial “warm-up” and we went on to subsequently present pre-game and half-time performances that any Michigan Band member could be proud of!

John Dudd - 1948

I was 1st chair clarinet in MMB 3 years ’50, ’51, ’52, & I taught basic marching steps to 1st year member for same 3 years above. This was before good assistants. We played all nine games freshman year (1948). Ohio State was an away game, & at the beginning of the season Life Magazine article said OSU had “best” band. Students on campus collected enough money to send us to OSU to prove our worthiness. MSU not in conference yet but U-M always played them & normally Univ. sent us to only one away game but that year we went to two away games. Buick sent us to Minn. For 4th game. Junior year ’50 was in MMB played coast to coast, (New York City, Army) Rose Bowl after battle of Blizzard in Columbus.

William Daehler - 1947

Was in MMB in 1947 and thus able to go to the Rose Bowl Jan. 1 ’48 to see M trounce South. Cal, 49-0. Then 50 Years later in 1998 attended M’s Rose Bowl Victory over Washington State. I have assembled a scrap book containing and comparing memorabilia of these two events, complete with all the formations done in ’48, pictures, newspaper articles, etc.

The Buick Motor Company sponsored our private train to Pasadena & all points in between – in 1948.

One of the things that provoked me was a comment a San Francisco sports writer wrote Dec. 30, 1947 after the band had paraded in downtown S.F. He stated “all had that freshman out-of-high school look to such a degree that we wondered if there was a razor in the entire party”. This in a band composed of 76 W. War II Veterans – more than half! The writer also had other derogatory comments saying how inferior we were to USC’s band! A Los Angeles newspaper writer vindicated us though saying “Michigan’s famous marching and playing band, the best in the Big Nine, was given a tremendous ovation after high stepping…a series of intricate maneuvers…acclaimed the best band ever seen in the Rose Bowl.” He went on to say “The Trojan Band made a great spectacle…but..it was generally conceded that Michigan had scored the first decision of the day”- speaking of the pre-game show.

I wonder if any other ’48 bandsman went back to the Rose Bowl for that 50th reunion in ’98.

Harry McCreary - 1947

I like to tell people, “I played in the Rose Bowl for the U-M on Jan. 1, 1948.” When they ask what position I played, I tell them, “snare drum.”

---It still gets a laugh.

Doris English - 1946

In the summer of ’42 I attended the Band Clinic in Ann Arbor. One day in band rehearsal at Perry School, Mr. Revelli stopped and pointed at me. Oh was I frightened. He said, “Play that note again.” Someway, I managed to get my breath and play the note all by myself. When I finished, he said, “Notice how she prepares her embouchure.” Oh, was I relieved.

Dick Smith - 1949

1950, the year of the "Transcontinental Michigan Marching Band", was an exceptional year for the MMB and I had the good fortune to be a part of it as the drum major. It included the article featuring the MMB that was published in the Oct. 30, 1950 issue of LIFE magazine. Dr. Revelli and Jack Lee directed that band. We went to Yankee Stadium and played Army, early in the season, and lost that game---Army was at its peak with Blanchard and Davis.

The last game of the regular season was the Snow Bowl in Columbus. Michigan was in 3rd place in the Conference with a 4-3-1 record going into the game and OSU was 6-2. We were underdogs for the game. It was snowing and very cold before the game (5 to 10 degrees, so below 0 wind chill factor). The field was covered with a tarp which took about 2 hours of shoveling and work to remove to start the game---therefore, no pregame show. Michigan had no first downs in the game but won the game on the strength of 2 blocked punts for a safety and a touchdown---final score UM 9 - OSU 3. There were 24 UM punts in the game and 21 by OSU (occasionally on first down). The bands did march at half-time and I have pictures of the "Wooden Soldier Drill" and the final formation "The End". It snowed and blew during the whole game so the field was covered with snow and there were no yard lines despite the attempts of the grounds crew to keep the yard lines visible---the band did a remarkable job of making formations with no yard lines. My job was to mark the 50 yard line for the band. Attendance at game time was 50,000 but it thinned out toward the end. By the way, this was Wes Fesler's last game as the OSU coach. We boarded the buses and started for Ann Arbor, after the game, but when we got to Marion the decision was made to stop since the storm was so bad---so we spent the night in Marion (in the buses or local restaurants, etc.) and got back to Ann Arbor on Sunday, safe, happy and very tired.

The victory over OSU along with the upset of Illinois by Northwestern gave UM the Conference Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl where we beat Cal by 14 to 6. Thus the name "Transcontinental Band". Buick Division picked up the tab for both the Army trip and the Rose Bowl and treated us in fine style---A charter train to California and great accommodations.

Dale R. Drew, M.D. - 1944

As we were marching to the Michigan Stadium for the homecoming game with Illinois in 1945, an Illinois Central Train pulled in front of us blocking our way. Dr. Revelli ran up to the engine and in no uncertain terms told the engineer to get his train out of the way, now!! He did.

Burt Barnes - 1949

The "Show Bowl" at Ohio State was an unforgettable experience, which due to global warming will probably never again be repeated! Some vivid recollections.

First, I should mention that Dick Smith was our superb Drum Major. He may have been the first to perfect the high-step, bent-back, strutting style that for years has characterized drum majors of the MMB as they led the band. One of the greatest pictures in MMB history is the one the famous Life Magazine photographer, Alfred Eichstaedt, took of Dick leading strutting kids, copying Dick, across Ferry Field. I've tried in vain to get a large copy of that picture, but it is copyrighted by Life & Time Corp. But maybe now, the MMB Director or Alumni Band President could arrange to get that rights for us to that classic picture so we could contribute $ for a copy to support MMB scholarships. We all aspire in our lives to be a leader of the young generation--just like the great Dick Smith on that fall day!

During the week before the Ohio State game we practiced as usual at Ferry Field--not far at all from where the band practices now. However, it was all trampled grass then with an occasional "mud hole" when it rained. But that week about 8-10 inches of snow covered the ground and the weather was subfreezing. From Tuesday through Friday the daytime temperature probably ranged between 8 and 15 degrees F. That meant what when you blew into a brass instrument the water vapor condensed and soon valves were frozen and slides were inoperable. So many of us used ethyl alcohol in our spray bottles instead of water. In practice, we only played when we had to for the actual pieces and formations. No noodling around or warming up. The mouthpieces were so cold that we kept them in our pockets when we weren't playing. Plastic mouthpieces began showing up. For us trombone players, with slides coated in alcohol, playing was fine--for awhile. But then the water vapor from one's breath condensed and froze at the bottom on the slide. It meant that soon we couldn't play in 1st position, and then not in 2nd position, and then, Yikes, not in 3rd position. So those of us who knew alternative positions really well could get along fine. But soon we were playing everything in 4th to 6th positions! We quickly learned alternative positions that week!

The trip, starting from Harris Hall, with more than a foot of snow on the ground and snowing heavily at 6 AM. We got off to a slow start--our key drummer didn't show up on time. Even I had overslept, and my roommates got a taxi for me which arrived Harris Hall--late--just as the drummer (the Important Guy!) was arriving. Three large and streamlined, blue-and-gold painted busses delivered us to Columbus in plenty of time for the game. But we had to walk from the parking lot in about 18 inches of snow with the wind fiercely blowing. People were beginning to arrive--walking from the parking lots and bent over into the wind. One couple had cardboard boxes over their heads. The guy in the lead "box" had a rope in his hand and a pace or two behind came a smaller "box" with his wife, I guess, hanging on to the rope. There were tiny slits carved out of the box for eyes, and these two were erratically meandering toward the stadium.

We had a dressing and "ready room" where we assembled our uniforms, horns, alcohol, gloves, wool hats, ear muffs, and boots. We also had long, dark blue overcoats in those days. When we left the ready room and went out into the blizzard we had to walk or, typically, slide down an icy ramp of about 30 feet to get to the playing surface. It was treacherous!

Although some of the snow had been removed, the field was covered and the snow was continuing to come down hard and fast, with wind whipping it around. There were no yard markers or lines on the field to be seen! Someone stacked three chairs on top of one another on the 50-yard line on each side of the field, 2 stacked chairs on the 40-yard line, and 1 chair on the 30-yard line. That was it! But because we had practiced in similar rigorous conditions in Ann Arbor, we were confident and feeling great--although a bit cold! Our performances went off like clockwork and the lines were exceptionally straight for the conditions. The pictures I have showed them just a bit skewed here and there. I think we probably did the walking soldier formation along with various others, including the traditional (then) high-stepping march of the field playing Varsity. We also had a brand new arrangement of The St. Louis Blues March, to which we had a fancy dance routine. This came off very well because we had practiced it and played it so many times. Actually, I had played it the year before in a college band of Eastern Illinois State University, where our band director had made everyone parts from listening to the popular record of the day. By 1950, however, the published parts were available.

The alcohol held out and we played for all we were worth. The temperature at game time was probably about 20 degrees F. The game itself, could hardly be seen. because of the blowing snow--mostly running and sliding down. But, as I remember, a great kick pinned OS back near its goal where we were able to get a safety or return a fumble for a score. Anyway we won a very low-scoring and close game. Jack Lee, marching director, and "Wild" Bill Revelli were in great form and having a ball and keeping all our spirits up. They were quite an amazing combination of both excellence in marching and musicianship--even at the Snow Bowl.

We had nearly given up hope of winning the conference because, as underdogs, we had not only to beat Ohio State, but lowly Northwestern had to beat the favorite--Illinois. Amazingly, Northwestern, did beat Illinois, and upon leaving the field we got the good news and cheered greatly as we realized that we were headed for the Rose Bowl--and warm, sunny days.

After dinner in a dining hall, we boarded the three busses and started back. However, the roads were now nearly impassable. Finally on the highway, the busses were cruising along OK, but cars ahead of us got stuck or got off the road and couldn't get back. There were many stops and starts. Finally, it got so slow and so bad that we all had to get out of the bus and run ahead to literally lift and push a stalled car ahead of us back onto the road. So after dozens of these rescues, we slowly churned through mid Ohio. Finally, however, it got so bad and so late, that the busses made it to Marion, Ohio. There after a long wait in a cold bus, we were taken to the basketball court of the local high school where most of us, ca. 125-men strong, spent the night on the floor on mats.

Next morning, the snow drifts were even greater, but some plows had been out so that we slowly made our way to Ann Arbor, arriving in the early afternoon. From that time on we practiced for our Rose Bowl show and, courtesy of Buick, we traveled in style by Pullman coach to California, giving a performance on the streets of Wichita, Kansas. We won the Rose Bowl, and I have two pieces of the wooden goal post (shared by a crazed student who had a large and splintered piece of the goal post) here in my home office! We gave a special performance of our Rose Bowl show in Fresno, CA, spent a day in San Francisco. On the return trip at the Grand Canyon, we played the Grand Canyon Suite with the "cool" lyric part for trombones(!) at the north rim of the Grand Canyon. Quite an adventure--and all because of the victorious Wolverines over the OSU Buckeyes at the Snow Bowl. A poem celebrating the event: "Roses that Bloomed in the Snow" [J. Fred Lawton] soon made the Michigan Daily!

For many years I played in the Blast from the Past, but I've not played recently with the Blast because Homecoming always came on our Forest Ecology trip to the Smoky Mountains. However, as a former symphony band member (3rd chair trombone), I've played with the celebration they had for Bill Revelli about 10 years ago. My son, also a trombone player, played in the Marching and other Michigan Bands and is a part-time professional musician today in Ann Arbor.

Well, that's just few notes and recollections about the Snow Bowl and Marching Band history.

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