UCLA Bruin Marching Band
| UCLA Bruin Marching Band "The Solid Gold Sound" |
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| School | UCLA |
| Location | Los Angeles, CA |
| Conference | Pac-12 Conference |
| Founded | 1921 |
| Director | Gordon Henderson |
| Assistant director | Ken Fisher |
| Members | 270 |
| Uniform | Navy Blue wool trousers and True Blue coat with gold and white trim, knee length gold capes on the left shoulder, white shoes, white gloves, shako hats with white 12" feather plumes |
| Website | www |
The 270-member UCLA Bruin Marching Band, known as The Solid Gold Sound, represents the university at major athletic and extracurricular events. During the fall marching season, the band performs at the Rose Bowl for UCLA Bruin home football games. Pregame shows by the band aim to build crowd energy and enthusiasm with traditional UCLA songs like "Strike Up the Band for UCLA", "Sons of Westwood", and "The Mighty Bruins". Throughout the game, the band performs custom-arranged rock and pop songs, as well as the traditional fight songs and cheers of the university. The UCLA Varsity Band appears at basketball games and other athletic contests in Pauley Pavilion.
The UCLA band program, which includes the Marching and Varsity Bands, the Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band, is in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. Band appearances at athletic events are funded primarily by student registration fees, a direct allocation from the Chancellor's Office and donations to the Solid Gold Sound Club.
The 1993, UCLA Bruin Marching Band was awarded the Sudler Trophy, an award bestowed on one university marching band every year. Described by a Los Angeles Times reporter as "the Heisman Trophy of the collegiate band world", the award does not represent the winner of any championship, but rather a band surrounded by great music and tradition that has become respected nationally.
All marching members and teaching assistants in the Bruin Marching Band are full-time UCLA students.
The UCLA Marching Band marches in a drum corps style with low mark times and glide steps. Field formations include fast moving precision drill progressions, letter blocks, pictures, concert arcs, and the famous Cursive UCLA formation. The band does many different styles of shows, depending upon the occasion.
The exception to the drum corps marching style is the traditional pregame "run-on" where the band rapidly high-steps onto the field into the block letter U-C-L-A formation, as well as off the field at the end of the pregame show.
In 1925, at the Vermont Avenue campus, the UCLA Marching Band originated as a 50-piece ROTC unit under the direction of W. G. Powell. The band was part of the welcoming group when John Philip Sousa visited Los Angeles in 1928, and were directed by Sousa in the performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever". At that time, the director was Ben Laietsky, a member of Sousa's band. The band remained a military group until 1934. In 1935, under the direction of Leroy Allen, the group became an integral part of campus life, providing music at rallies and games. The original uniforms were military style, with military caps and waist-length capes.
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