WHEN UC BERKELEY made the controversial move this season to jump from the Pac-12 athletic conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference, it had a huge impact on the more than 200 members of the school’s marching band.
As they rehearsed this summer for the start of the football season, band members were eager to move into the elite conference with such storied teams as Clemson, Duke and North Carolina. But they also were anxious about what the change might bring.
“It is crazy to me still that we are joining the ACC,” said Grace Shin, the Cal drum major. “I’m really excited. It means that we get to meet a lot of new bands that we have never seen before.”
The Cal Band is trying to emphasize California and the Bay Area in its routine. But it also is giving a nod to its new league, with a marching script that spells “ACC” instead of the usual “CAL.”
Joining the ACC makes it impossible for the entire band to travel to away games because of the distance and expense. So far, the band hasn’t traveled for any conference games, though about 50 members did go to Alabama for a non-conference game against Auburn.
“We have to fly out Thursday, which means we’re missing two more days of school. We would only miss one if we were doing a regular away trip,” said Smith Diaz, the band’s student director.
Marching for money
The new league has brought a new urgency to raise travel money.
“We really want to strive to increase our fundraising and social media efforts, so that in the future we can give all the band members the experience of getting to travel to a different school and playing for them,” said Christina Yao, public relations director for the band.
While some things change, other things will stay the same, band fans will be pleased to know.
The high step is among the traditions that will remain. The Cal Band adopted it after the 1950 Rose Bowl, which the football team lost to Ohio State. But it was an education for the Cal Marching Band, which watched their Ohio State counterparts outclass them with high steps and theatrics that garnered wild cheering and plaudits.
In response, Cal became the first Western band to adopt the entertaining style.
Seven decades later, the band’s 229 members are still high-stepping and theatrical. A squadron of sousaphones strut and bow. Cymbal players shake their golden orbs to the sunshine. Piccolos, glockenspiels, mellophones, and bass horns blast fight songs every football Saturday.
Tina Chen and Robert Strauss are students in the UC Berkeley School of Journalism.
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