{"id":192175,"date":"2022-11-16T07:30:34","date_gmt":"2022-11-16T12:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=192175"},"modified":"2023-06-27T12:58:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T16:58:03","slug":"ucmb-leaders-work-with-high-school-marching-bands-to-look-great-sound-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2022\/11\/ucmb-leaders-work-with-high-school-marching-bands-to-look-great-sound-great\/","title":{"rendered":"UCMB Leaders Help High School Marching Bands \u2018Look Great, Sound Great\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

In much the same way that drum major Isabelle Allinson \u201923 (SFA) commands the attention of the UConn Marching Band<\/a>, the future music teacher held the interest recently of 25 high schoolers eager to perfect how to simultaneously walk and talk \u2013 or in this case, to parade march and play their fight song.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive me a forte concert B flat and more brass on this one,\u201d Allinson instructed Stonington High School Marching Band members as they stood at centerfield on the UCMB practice turf.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want to play with a nice volume so everyone can be heard,\u201d she reminded the students. \u201cRemember, we\u2019re outside.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means every instrument, from the mild-mannered clarinet to the much louder trumpet, needs to compensate for outdoor acoustics and ambient noise by sounding at full capacity \u2013 confidently and competently.<\/p>\n

\"Students
Students from the Stonington High School marching band rehearse with members of the UConn marching band during one of UCMB\u2019s high school band clinics on Oct. 18, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThat was awesome. Nice job,\u201d Allinson complimented the group. \u201cYou guys have a nice sound. I\u2019m loving this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most people who attend UConn football<\/a> games at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford know the UCMB for its halftime performance and gametime musical pep. Outside game days, though, the band also runs a Make Your Own Band Day<\/a> program meant to help Connecticut high school marching bands level up.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an endeavor that started nearly two decades ago, when UConn Director of Bands David Mills sought a means to groom young musicians who one day might be Huskies, and a way to give his current student leaders experience teaching their younger peers.<\/p>\n

First came a more collective Band Day<\/a> experience, during which up to 10 high school bands descend on Rentschler Field on game day to practice with the UCMB and perform a short routine alongside them during halftime. Then came a more one-on-one tutorial program, during which a handful of UCMB members visit individual high schools to ready marching bands, mostly for Memorial Day parades.<\/p>\n

Finally came the MYOBD program in Storrs, which returned this year after the pandemic, and included visits from schools in Stonington, Branford, Meriden, and other towns on Tuesdays and Thursdays in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the schools have little training as a marching band,\u201d Mills says. \u201cWe go out there and teach them how to take a step, how to hold your instrument, how to take a step and hold a whole note. Rather than the director starting from scratch with only three rehearsals to get ready for a parade, we can at least give students the basics and a comfortable, confident beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katrina Gottlieb \u201903 MA, director of the high school band and a music teacher, has been coming to MYOBD with Stonington High for the last 17 years, always in preparation for its annual march in the Veterans Day parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey look much better after working with the UConn students,\u201d she says. \u201cNo matter how much I lecture them about their posture, when they hear it from a college student it makes all the difference. It\u2019s inspirational for the high school students to work with college students.\u201d<\/p>\n