University of Montana Grizzly Marching Band

About the "Grizzly Marching Band"

The UM Grizzly Marching Band is a select, fun and close-knit group of hardworking, dedicated students. The band is open to everyone on the UM campus regardless of year or major. In fact, it has members of the band from virtually every major and discipline on campus and from almost every corner of the United States and around the world.

The band has its origins in the late 19th Century and has since created a tradition of excellence lasting into the new millennium. Marching in contemporary corps-style, the program stays on the cutting edge of trends in outdoor music performances. We are one of the most visible organizations on the University of Montana campus, performing at all Grizzly football home games in the newly renovated Washington-Grizzly Stadium with crowds of more than 23,000 fans. The group travels to several conference games in the Northwest and has accompanied the football team to four Division I-AA National Championships in recent years.

The Grizzly Marching Band prides itself on the precision drill and exciting variety of entertaining musical arrangements that are performed each year. Recent halftime performances have included the following themes: The Beatles, West Side Story, Blues Brothers, Latin-Jazz, Aaron Copeland, Sounds of the 60's, The Music of Bill Chase, Michael Jackson, Tribute to America, and many others. In addition to the game day entertainment, we make several appearances in the community each season.

The Grizzly Marching Band continues to grow and expand with many new members each year. The Band had reached over 140 members in 2006, and is expected to be even larger in 2007. The Grizzly Marching Band played Pirates of the Caribbean, The Incredibles, and Mission Impossible for their first 2006 field show. For their second field show, they entertained by playing The Offspring's hit "Pretty Fly for a White Guy," a hit from the Edgar Winter Group called "Frankenstein," and also The Who's mega-hit "Pinball Wizard." The Fight Song of the University of Montana is "Up With Montana," and common "stand songs" played by the marching band include "Mars (from the Planets by Gustov)," "Call Me Al," "School's Out for Summer," "Rocky Theme," "Gimme' Some Lovin," "Centerfold," "Hey Baby," and many more!

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Directors

Dr. Kevin Griggs

Dr. Kevin Griggs is the Director of Athletic Bands and Assistant Director of Bands at The University of Montana where his responsibilities include directing the UM Grizzly Marching Band and Basketball Pep Band. Dr. Griggs is also the director of the University Concert band and teaches brass methods courses as a part of the Music Education Methods program. He received his Doctor of Arts in Music: Wind Conducting from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, his Master of Music: Wind Conducting, also from the University of Northern Colorado, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Brigham Young University.

Prior to joining the staff at UM, Dr. Griggs held a three year assistantship with the School of Music at the University of Northern Colorado where his main responsibilities involved assisting with the conducting of Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band and Concert Band. He also taught classes in conducting, secondary instrumental methods, and marching band techniques. Dr. Griggs has been actively involved in K-12 public education since 1991, holding positions in Jr. High/High School Instrumental Music Education at Payson Junior High School in Payson, UT; Weber High School in Pleasant View, UT; and Roy High School in Roy, Ut. He has also served as a clinician and adjudicator in both Utah and Colorado. Dr. Griggs is a member of College Band Directors National Association, Music Educators National Conference, Montana Music Educators Association, Montana Bandmasters Association and College Music Society.

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Dr. Robert LedBetter

Dr. Robert LedBetter is Associate Professor of Music at The University of Montana where he is Director of Percussion Studies and Emeritus Director of the Grizzly Marching Band. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, M.M. in Percussion Performance from the University of Akron, and a B.M. in Music Education from Mars Hill College. He is currently serving as President of the Montana Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society and is very active on the regional and national level as a performer, clinician and adjudicator.

Prior to his appointment at UM in 1990 , Dr. LedBetter taught at Eastern New Mexico University, Tarleton State University, Navarro College and held a Teaching Fellowship at the University of North Texas for a total of four years. He has been actively involved as an instructor, arranger and adjudicator of corps-style marching bands since 1982 at both the high school and college level. His percussion background always insures a great drum-line in the Grizzly Marching Band.

Dr. LedBetter is also active as a concert artist performing throughout the Northwest area and has premiered numerous works for percussion. The University of Montana Percussion Ensemble and "Islanders" Steel Band have created a large following in the region drawing huge crowds to each concert. Some of the artists featured with this group include Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Andy Narell, Lalo Davila, Julie Spencer, Gregg Bisonette, Steve Houghton, Arthur Lipner and Jared Powell. He is also active as a drumset player performing regularly with other local jazz musicians. As a member of the All-Star Trio at the UM Jazz Festivals, he has performed with such artists as Andy Narell, Ernie Watts, Bobby Shew, Terry Gibbs, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Dee Daniels, Terry Gibbs and Buddy DeFranco. Dr. LedBetter is also an active composer/arranger for marching band, percussion ensemble and steel band with numerous works under publication with Panyard, Inc. and Honeyrock Publishing. He is an Educational Endorser for Zildjian Cymbals and Vic Firth, Inc.

Information

This information was mainly retrieved from the University of Montana Grizzly Marching Band website at http://www2.umt.edu/marching/