The rejuvenated Ferris State Marching Band is back for its second year, and members of the public are invited to watch the new show come together during band camp.

The Top Taggart Field stands will be open for anyone who wants to watch the band rehearse from 6 to 8 p.m. through Aug. 30. Admission is free.

At least 90 students will march this season, up from about 60 last fall. None of them major in music. While Ferris State does not offer a music degree, Director of Athletic Bands Dan Atwood said his roster reaches every college on campus, with members studying Pharmacy, Welding, Education and Engineering.

The band debuts its show on that same field at the home opener Friday, Sept. 4. Its roster already passed the program's goal of 75, and Atwood has room for more.

"I want to hit that triple digit mark; 100 students would be really great to have," he said.

Growth reached the sections that struggled to fill last year. The color guard went from three members to 13. The mellophone line doubled from four to eight. About 35 freshmen joined.

The Ferris State marching band started in 1955 and performed for decades, including at President Richard M. Nixon’s second inauguration parade in 1973. Waning interest and downsizing led to the band being discontinued in the mid-1990s. The band returned in 2025 after more than a year of planning and fundraising.  

What visitors see at band camp depends on when they come. Camp opened with two full days of nothing but marching technique -- how to mark time, how to stand at attention, how to move forward and backward. The show itself reaches the field later in the two weeks.

"Even if you marched before, what we do here might be different than what you did in high school, so we have to get everybody back to square one and build on that," Atwood said.

This year's show centers on what Atwood described as powerful women of music, with arrangements of Beyoncé, Ariana Grande and Pink. He and Assistant Director of Athletic Bands Micah Laird picked the theme by weighing what students enjoy learning against what a stadium crowd wants to hear. A composer wrote arrangements for this band alone, charts no other program has.

"We don't want to put Mozart or Beethoven on the field because that's just not the college gameday atmosphere we're looking for," Atwood said.

Camp compresses a season's worth of instruction into 14 days. Students work from 9 a.m. often until 8 or 9 p.m. Eight staff members run the field, including specialists in brass, woodwinds, percussion and marching. That number drops to two once fall classes begin and rehearsals shrink to three and a half hours a week.

"These two weeks of band camp are paramount in terms of getting us to where we need to be," Atwood said.

Atwood's doctorate is in organizational leadership. Asked what has to be true for the season to work, he named nothing musical.

"What has to be there is the culture," Atwood said.

Building it takes deliberate work after eight-hour days in the sun. The band runs leadership development sessions on handling frustration alongside its music rehearsals.

"We change from that ‘I-Me’ mentality to a ‘We-Us’ mentality," Atwood said.

Ferris State's initial marching band program ended more than 30 years ago. Its alumni keep a Facebook page and return for homecoming, and Atwood said several told him they cried the first time they saw the new band take the field.

"They helped to build something that was just no longer here," Atwood said.

He wants this year's students to come back in a decade and take the same credit for building something.

Students join the Bulldog Marching Band without auditioning and without marching experience, though members audition for part placement during camp.

Those who register for MUSI 240 earn one credit and pay tuition for that hour. Those who register for MUSI 240z earn no credit and still qualify for the Activity-Based Scholarship, which goes to members who march the full year and maintain a 2.0 GPA.

Marching shoes are the only other expense. The band fields brass, woodwind, drumline, color guard and majorette sections, and rehearses Wednesday and Thursday evenings once the fall semester begins.

_{Release and photo courtesy of Ferris State University.}