Pride of Arizona Preparing for 2009-2010 Season

A total of 250 students will be selected to join the UA's acclaimed Pride of Arizona marching band this season.

The Pride of Arizona, The University of Arizona's marching band, this week began preparing for its season of supporting the Arizona Wildcats and entertaining the southern Arizona community.

A total of 250 students will be selected to be a part of the marching band that will come together during a weeklong band camp that begins on Saturday.  

As many as 80 percent of the Pride of Arizona band members major in something other than music and only gain one credit per semester for countless hours they dedicate to the band, said professor Jay C. Rees, the band's director since 1995.

Rees is an experienced and innovative musician with a diverse background as a conductor, composer, arranger and performer. His musical acumen is evident in the way he leads the Pride of Arizona.

Rees composes and arranges all of the music performed by the band, designs the band's field choreography and directs the 250-member ensemble to inspired perfection.

Their work has been recognized nationally by the College Band Directors National Association, which named the band one of the top five bands in the country.

Rees said everything starts with the music and each year he picks a theme that guides the choreography and the inventive drill designs for which the band is well known.

This year Rees has found inspiration in the music of rock and roll icons, Aerosmith, whose music will be the band's centerpiece for the fall football season.

"When I came to Arizona, I wanted to consistently pick music that would be a little bit more unusual for a college band and be more aggressive to help carve out an identity – a unique image and identity for this band," Rees said.

Under Rees's direction, the band started performing the music of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Smashing Pumpkins and last year won its national ranking for performing the music of the Weather Report, a jazz fusion band from the 1970's.  

The Pride of Arizona includes a battery-unit drumline and award-winning auxiliary units of baton twirlers, pom line and color guard, with a team of UA staff and graduate students that help maintain their rigorous schedule and support the band members.

That team, Rees said, helps the UA attract great young people to the University. "Our program is about all about class, work ethic and achieving on a high level as a performing ensemble as well as a spirit group. We are looking for students who are wonderful performers, who are passionate about the arts and great supporters of our university."

The Pride of Arizona marching band also encompasses the Pep Band. The UA Pep Band is a group of 52 musicians selected by audition from the Pride of Arizona marching band.

This high-energy jazz/rock ensemble supports the spirited atmosphere during volleyball and basketball games, Homecoming events and community events in the spring.

Students from the Pride of Arizona band and the Pep Band perform a total of 75 to 80 times in the course of a year.

This year, the band will have two drum majors – instrumental music education (flute) major Valerie Lynn Rogers and music education (saxophone) and music (piano) major Bill Arthur Patterson.

Both students are in their fourth year with the Pride of Arizona band and specifically chose to attend the UA to be a part of it.

Their jobs as drum majors are to conduct the band and provide leadership to its members.

During band camp, the students will work through long, hot days to perfect their drills and learn the music.

"We will work for four hours in the morning on marching, from 8 to 12 a.m., then during the hottest part of the day we move inside and work on the music. From six p.m. on, we do marching and learn the drill for the upcoming season," Rogers said.   

"It can be intense. You have a wall of sound coming at you and you do your best to keep perfect time in your head and make sure that all these people stay together across a huge field as a band. This band is unique in that each year we try to do something different, something that no other band is doing, from the music to the type of drill," Patterson said.

They each cited the music, friendship and the bonds formed with fellow band members as their inspiration for joining and committing to the long hours of practice with the band.

"I can't begin to express how much I admire and respect the students that come out and march in the Pride. They put in up to 20 hours per week in the fall with the marching band and between 10 and 15 hours in the spring with the Pep Band out of their passion for this activity and the UA. They are amazing people – the best and the brightest," Rees said.