Summer is flying by here in Bloomington as we approach the 2022-23 season. This will be a season of reflecting on and memorializing the years of dedicated leadership from our greatly-missed leader Dave Woodley. We will also be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the RedSteppers and the 55th anniversary of the band that went to the Rose Bowl. Our current Marching Hundred is excited for another season in Memorial Stadium, as we put the final touches on our musical arrangements on what will be an impressive variety of musical selections.
We are also celebrating the imminent return of the IU Color Guard (formerly known as the IU Flag Corps). Although the Color Guard will not be formed in time to take the field this fall, we are hopeful that their return will occur in the near future.
When I took over as head director of the Marching Hundred, one of my goals was to bring back the visual splendor that only a color guard can bring to a marching band. Many incoming students have reached out over the years to inquire about how to join such a group, only to be disappointed when they learn that the group does not exist. I am also well-aware that many students may choose not to attend our wonderful university due to the lack of a color guard at IU. I wanted to change this, but of course the financial hurdle was significant. The Marching Hundred budget is a tight one, and is currently unable to absorb the startup and annual costs of a color guard. As IU Athletics recovers from the financial crisis of the pandemic, adding money to our budget for new initiatives is not something they can get on board with at this time. They have had to make many difficult cuts to their budget, including letting go significant numbers of valuable staff. We’re hopeful that their ability to fund new projects will improve as time goes on.
My conversations with Flag Corps alumni, namely Gayle O’Day, have led me to believe that there is a hunger for a group to get going sooner rather than later. Gayle has generously set up a very large future estate gift, which got the attention of myself and the IU Jacobs School Development Office. Although this gift will be tremendous for us in the future, Gayle is a young woman and we need help now to get a group started. Gayle has very generously reached out to alumni to solicit pledges. I, and the IU Jacobs School of Music, believe that these pledges are enough to fund the startup and annual costs of the IU Color Guard for five years, at which time we hope to be in a position for our IU Athletics budget to take on the costs. If we want a Color Guard sooner rather than later, this is the path that we must follow. We are very hopeful that the pledges turn into donations to make this a reality.
Starting a color guard after a 17+ year hiatus will be challenging, and it is not something we take lightly. We will need to find the right instructor – someone who understands college pageantry but also has their finger on the pulse of the ever-growing arena of competitive guards. When the IU Color Guard takes the field for the first time, they must be excellent. This will require great recruiting and teaching.
The benefits of having a top-notch color guard will be tremendous. It will allow us to amplify our visual impact greatly as we will be able to add grand and colorful movement on a much larger scale – something greatly needed when performing in a college stadium. We will also provide a home for the students of the many outstanding guards in Indiana and the region. These hard-working and talented students will make the Marching Hundred better and will be a welcome addition to our family.
I thank you all for your support and hope that you feel that this is an important initiative to donate towards. We appreciate our alumni very much and could not continue to grow and look towards the future without your efforts.
Warmly,
Dr. Eric Smedley
Associate Professor of Music
Director, IU Marching Hundred and Athletic Bands
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
