Articles

Letter From The Director

Welcome all veterans and new members to the 108th season of the WVU Marching Band! Since its inception in 1901, the award-winning WVU Band has dramatically evolved in size, reputation, membership diversity, and performance style/quality. The band's reputation around the University, the state, the region, and the nation shows that we are firmly established as one of the premier collegiate marching bands! Demand for acceptance into the WVU Band continues to increase and we are again nearing record enrollment with the current size of the 2009 band! You should be extremely proud to be a member of such a respected organization, and we hope this 108th year can be the best one yet for the WVU Band!

This upcoming 2009 season is going to be filled with great music, challenging drill moves, and lasting friendships. As you may know, expectations are mixed for our football team again this season as the Mountaineers will begin the season without Pat White for the first time in several years. However, with Senior QB Jarrett Brown and "Heisman Trophy hopeful" Noel Devine back, arguably the best recruiting class in school history, and a veteran defense, Coach Stewart and the guys should have an outstanding season again this year.

A few new things are also on the way to help our appearance and sound on the field this season. We will be debuting a new performance set of percussion equipment, all new color guard uniforms, a complete set of new garment bags for the band, a number of new helmets and additional uniform sizes, and several other new or overhauled instruments.

Our home football schedule is both challenging and exciting, as we have seven home games this year, including several national TV home games already confirmed and big games including the "Backyard Brawl" against Pitt, Louisville, in-state rival Marshall and Big 12 power Colorado on a Thursday night! We have balanced the schedule to the best of our ability and have managed to keep an open weekend each month of the season (you're welcome). As usual, we will end the season with our annual concerts and band banquet as we head down the home stretch to what will hopefully be our 8th consecutive bowl game! As usual, we will have to be prepared to perform at the highest level each and every week this season as we again have several national TV appearances scheduled, and we also expect to host at least two visiting bands this year (Marshall and Pitt), as well as our very own WVU Alumni Band at Homecoming.

We plan to have a fun and rewarding travel schedule finalized by band camp that will hopefully (pending funding) feature trips to the Auburn and Cincinnati games, as well as exhibition performances in Charleston and Elkins, WV and Pittsburgh, PA. The chance to perform in one of the greatest college football venues in the United States for another Sudler band in Auburn, Alabama will require us to certainly be rehearsing and performing at the "top" of our game! We are also exploring the possibility of doing a couple exhibition performances in southern West Virginia while on the Auburn & Cincinnati trips as well. With this exciting travel schedule in the works, as well as the annual KeyNotes concerts (and hopefully another major Bowl Trip ahead), things are shaping up for another outstanding performance season for "The Pride!"

As far as the 2009 Band Staff is concerned, we are happy that many familiar faces will be returning for the 2009 season. We do need to say good-bye, however, to a few great people. First of all, we would like to say "Thank You" and good-bye to our outgoing Graduate Assistant, Matt Smith. Matt graduated with his Master's degree in May and he will be continuing his education as the new Doctoral Graduate Assistant with the UConn Bands. Best wishes Matt! Also, we say good-bye and "Thank You!" to our long-time Guard Instructor Heath Mankey. Heath has been with the WVU program for a number of years and has done great things here. We wish him well as he has decided to start a new chapter in his life. Finally, we say good-bye and "thanks" to our outgoing Percussion Coordinator, Joel Hilbert, who has graduated and will be pursuing his master's degree at Indiana. Also leaving us is his assistant, Brian Hanley. Good luck Joel and Brian! Thanks for providing great instruction to our drumline!

So, with these departures, we have some new faces and some old faces in new places! My right hand man, Assistant Director Mr. Christopher Nichter is entering his third year in this position and fifth overall on the band staff. We want to welcome our new Graduate Assistant, Mr. Allen Heath. Mr. Heath is a former Drum Major with the WVU Band and has been teaching high school band for the past several years in Lewis County, West Virginia and at Park View High School in South Hill, Virginia. Welcome back Allen! Working with our Color Guard will be another familiar face. After serving as the assistant last season, we are happy to have her moving up this year to the top spot as our new Guard Instructor. Please welcome back Lindsey Potter! We are also pleased to welcome our new assistant Guard Instructor, former WVU Guard member, Emily Bowers! Finally, working with the WVU Drumline are two former members of the line and two outstanding teachers. We welcome our new Percussion Coordinator Donovan Stewart, and Percussion Instructor Martin "Spike" Johnston!

Again, to all of you - welcome to the band! We hope you are starting to get mentally "psyched" and physically fit for the season - it won't be long until it is here! We hope your membership in the band will provide you with a positive experience that will enhance your overall collegiate life here at WVU. And, of course, we want this season to provide you the opportunities to meet new people, rekindle old friendships, and to have a lot of fun.

If you have any questions concerning any aspect of the band, please feel free to call us at (304) 293-4841 (ext. 3157) or e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

I hope the remainder of your summer goes well. I look forward to seeing you in August!