University of Massachusetts Minuteman Marching Band - History

History

The band program at University of Massachusetts Amherst started in 1863 when the University was known as the Massachusetts Agricultural College. The Morris Drum Corps, as it was known, was the first resemblance of a marching band at the school, and it was directed by First Lieutenant Charles Morris of the 5th Army Artillery.

In the 1890s, the band was renamed the Clark Memorial Cadet Band after former college president William S. Clark. At the close of the century the band's instrumentation expanded, but the musicians consisted only of military cadets.

In 1931, the Massachusetts Agricultural College, or "Aggie", became the Massachusetts State College. Soon after, in 1934, the College hired its first music instructor, Frank Stratton. A year later, Massachusetts Agricultural College started to organize a formal band program, and appointed its first non-military band instructor, Charles Farnum. The newly created band became known as the "Redmen Marching Band". In 1938, the band had its most successful season to date by playing at all home games and an away game versus the United States Coast Guard Academy. During World War II, all bands at the University were disbanded from March 1943 until September 1945 because many of the members served in the military.

After the war, the band remained small, so the director set out to create a female "drill team" to augment the band. In 1946, this team expanded to a size of 44. This drill team was given the name of the "Precisionettes" in 1952.

In 1947 the Massachusetts State College became the University of Massachusetts. The band's name changed from the Redmen Marching Band to the Minuteman Marching Band in the 1970s under the leadership of Professor John Jenkins. Jenkins brought a new style of marching, high step rapid rhythm (thighs parallel to the ground) to UMass from the University of Michigan. While Jenkins led the band it played at a New England Patriots game as guests of the Patriots. In 1977, George N. Parks was hired to direct the band. Parks brought the roll-step marching style and fostered the reputation that the band has today. His unique styles and intensity were widely praised.

Until 1998, the band was housed in Old Chapel on campus. Since then the band has been dispersed about the campus, though in 2009 the campus dedicated $4.5 million to a new building. The band is currently collecting donations to fulfill the remainder of the costs for an adequate building at $8 million. Groundbreaking for the new building, adjacent to the band's current storage building in Grinnell Arena, was held on October 17, 2009. The University announced that it would be named the George N. Parks Minuteman Marching Band Building.

In 2010, George Parks suffered a fatal heart attack while traveling with the band to the University of Michigan. Associate director Thomas Hannum was named interim director.