“First full run of Pregame 2025!”

It’s 8:20 p.m. on August 20th, one month away from the Miami Football home opener, and Ryan Yahl, director of Athletic Bands, is standing on top of ‘Fort Liles’ to address the 230-member Miami University Marching Band (MUMB).

Below him, the band director tower — fondly nicknamed ‘Fort Liles’ in honor of retired band director Jack Liles — is adorned with a vertical banner detailing the different themes of that week’s band camp: Kool-Aid, Bob Ross, Olympics, and the list goes on. 

But at this moment, the focus is on the music and the show, not the social activities later. After multiple 12-hour days of preparation, the band is ready to run the entire pregame sequence start-to-finish on its practice field at the southeast corner of campus. 

“As exciting and thrilling as this is, this needs to be the worst pregame all year!”, Yahl says.

And then it begins.

Band members are yelling…and hopping…and chanting. (The group calls it ‘getting hype.’) The drum cadence leads off, sending goosebumps down the arms of anyone who happens to be walking by and can’t wait for football season (me). The members hustle into place on the field. And right before the first notes of the fight song are played and the familiar ‘Love and honor to Miami!’ refrain echoes around Oxford, someone yells these four words at the top of their lungs in time to the music.

“I-LOVE-THIS-PART!”

The MUMB practiced at sunrise before the RedHawks home opener Sept. 20 (photo by Tim Cary).

While band camp rehearsals like that one may stretch well into the night, and typical practices through the semester occur on late afternoons (Monday-Wednesday-Friday at 4:25 p.m. as part of an official class that each member takes for a credit or two), the gameday schedule is quite a bit different for the MUMB. Fast forward to Sept. 20, and the band is on the turf at Yager Stadium by 7 a.m. to prep for a contest with a noon kickoff time (although on this particular morning, sousaphones and percussion instruments are still hurriedly getting unloaded off the trucks and carried into position while the minutes tick by). 

Getting underway well before sunrise makes for a long gameday for the band (including the Hawk Walk football team arrival at 9:40 and the traditional pregame concert at the field hockey stadium at 11 before heading over to Yager for the main event), but senior Baylie Barnhill (flute) says no one is bothered by that. “Endurance is pretty easy because everyone is super-high-energy,” Barnhill explains. “Everyone’s just really excited to finally be performing after all these practices and band camp.

“[This morning practice] is where we kind of get the energy going, and then going into the game, we’re just all super-excited!” 

Earlier that week, Henry Mattingly, a trumpet section leader who is among the approximately one-fourth of the band that actually majors in music, described a home football gameday as both ‘hectic’ and ‘electric’ while also emphasizing the group’s ‘together’ spirit – his favorite part of the experience. 

“[I love] the welcome community that we have here,” Mattingly said. “The energy that everyone has watching the game – everyone is together in wanting the RedHawks to win, so it’s great feeling that sense of community.

“I’m a transfer from another university, and band was my first introduction to Miami,” he added. “It was a really great introduction to not just the music department, the people and the campus as a whole…I think that’s the whole point of marching band —to showcase Miami— and I think we do a great job of that!”

The band forms an outline of the state of Ohio during their halftime performance at Paycor Stadium (photo courtesy of the MUMB).

Back inside Yager, the vibes are unsurprisingly sky-high.

“Oh, what a beautiful morning!”, Yahl sings over the sound system from halfway up the west stands as he watches the band prepare to run its halftime rendition of Antonin Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” from start to finish. This particular show is modified from one the MUMB first played more than 30 years ago under Dave Shaffer, who did the initial arrangement. 

Shaffer, who now resides in Boston, will return to lead the Alumni Band for Homecoming this week and will get to hear his arrangement in person. The band will use this halftime show for September home games (Sept. 20 and 27), another for October home games (Oct. 18 and 25) and a third for November home games (Nov. 12 and 29).

(For those who ‘wonder’ what the themes of the remaining shows might be, there’s a hint in this sentence, but you’ll just have to attend a game in person to find out more!)

The band is made up of 15 different sections, including flute, clarinet, alto sax, tenor sax, trumpet, mellophone, trombone, baritone, sousaphone, the battery (snare drums, bass drums, tenors, cymbals), front ensemble (mallet equipment and drum set), color guard, Shakerettes, twirlers and drum majors. The group alternates practicing its music standing in place and also marching to make the formations involved in its choreographed ‘drill’, such as spelling out M-I-A-M-I and forming the traditional floating ‘M.’ 

As the band forms an outline of Ohio and runs through its version of the official state song (‘Beautiful Ohio’), Yahl pauses to address one of the myriad tiny details that goes into making a performance successful.

“Really quickly, let’s fix the Ohio River,” he says with a smile. “Trumpets, spread out – fix the spacing around southwest Ohio.”

(Who knew that geography lessons were part of band rehearsal?)

The traditional block "M" formation, photographed at Yager Stadium (photo courtesy of the MUMB)

Speaking of the Ohio River, the band had already performed many of the songs it would play in Oxford that day earlier that same week for a different football audience in southwest Ohio. Yahl took his entire group on the road — complete with five charter buses and two trucks— to Cincinnati on Sept. 14 to play at halftime of the Bengals’ home opener as part of Miami University’s new educational partnership with the NFL franchise.

“We did the first half of our pregame sequence…and then they actually requested that we play ‘Eye of the Tiger,” Yahl recounted. “We stood in a block during the introduction and then gradually the letters spelled out ‘Who Dey’ and the crowd saw that and dug it. Then we came off the field to the fight song.”

“It was a combination of pregame and halftime: A taste of Miami, but also a taste of and tribute to the Bengals.”

The biggest adjustment for the band in playing an NFL venue? The hash lines are in a different place on the field

“We use the hash marks as guidepoints…and college hashes are 32 steps from the sideline,” Yahl explained. “Pro hashes are even more narrow, so we had to go paint pro hashes on our field last week so the band didn’t guide off our normal marks for any kind of formations. Then we rehearsed on our field at 8:30 that morning before we left, since we didn’t get a rehearsal [at Paycor Stadium].” 

Performing for Bengals fans in the ‘Jungle’ will certainly be a favorite memory for Yahl and his students, adding to a list of highlights that includes monsoon-like conditions at the Cure Bowl in Orlando (December 2023), sharing the field with Ohio University’s band for the national anthem at the MAC Championship Game in 2024, and, of course, joining Snoop Dogg and the Colorado State marching band for an unforgettable halftime show at last year’s Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl in Tucson.

“That whole Snoop Dogg thing was such a blur,” said Yahl. “We found out we were going to the bowl game the Sunday before finals week and didn’t get to rehearse at all before we left. We got the music from the arranger the week before Christmas and I sent it out to the band: ‘Okay, learn this as much as you can.’ The first time we got to rehearse it was the day before the game. We were on one practice field, there was a strip of grass between us, and Colorado State’s band was on the other practice field; we’re facing one way, they’re facing the other, but we’re rehearsing the same music and we can hear each other…

“But luckily it all worked out. We had a great time with the Colorado State folks, with the camaraderie and fellowship between the two bands, and then, we’re at the game and Snoop Dogg’s on the ladder…just up there dancing, doing his thing.

“He was so personable: High-fives and selfies with kids. It was great to see how down-to-earth he was…he just wanted to be with the people.”

Bottom line: Whether huddled under ponchos in the rain or dancing in the desert, the MUMB is all about making memories.

“Tubas, I hesitate to even say this. Come in a little stronger at measure 37.”

While thousands of fans will enjoy the final product of a Miami University Marching Band performance, such as the Thursday night parade and Saturday Homecoming game this coming week, the real work is done with no audience at all on days like this one. It’s now 5 p.m. on a Monday afternoon, and many of the band members are glistening in the heat of the blazing sun as they lug their instruments up and down the practice field 16 bars of music at a time, often at impossible angles.

(Have you ever tried to walk sideways while keeping your feet pointed at the end zone, turning your hips at a 45-degree angle, and turning your shoulders 90 degrees? It’s not as easy as it looks…and it doesn’t look easy!)

Today’s practice starts with each section rehearsing on its own in a different area of the practice field (or in the case of the saxophones, hidden in a nearby inlet of trees). The clarinets seem to have the smartest idea for handling the outdoor temperatures, sitting on the grass in the shade of Yahl’s tower.

(But on the bright side [pun intended?], at least it isn’t raining, which occasionally forces the band –without an indoor rehearsal room on campus big enough to hold the entire group at one time— to cancel practice altogether.)

Before long, the entire group is on the field together and ready to make progress in the final movement of the New World Symphony, even if they’ll only likely get through a third of that piece today.

Watching the MUMB practice can be reminiscent of an improvisational comedy game of ‘Forward-Rewind’, as the band goes through the paces of adding choreography to a line of music, then goes back to fine-tune it, then goes back to perfect it, then goes back to memorize it, then goes back to…well, you get the idea. 

Many of the musicians refer to their cell phones between ‘takes’ to match up exactly with where their assigned dot should be on the field, while Yahl surveys the formation from up above with his iPad open to the ‘Ultimate Drill Book’ app. After each time Yahl whistles or claps to stop the music, the drum major below him on the tower calls out ‘Recover – Check – Adjust – Standby’ so each member of the band can compare notes between where they ended up and where they’re supposed to be before the third-year director offers his next piece of instruction (of which there are many over the course of two hours).

A sampling:

“Way too many people playing on rests.”

“Be careful when you get to measure three. Quarter note followed by an eighth: Don’t rush that figure.”

“Make sure we’re not cutting corners…and creating curves that don’t exist.”

“Do not anticipate the tempo change…keep your eyes on your drum major and don’t give anything away to the audience.”

To an untrained observer, the short segments of music and marching seem remarkably crisp and tight, but in the director’s mind, even if “that was okay, now each one after it has to be better,” Yahl commented later.“That way, we’re always continuing trying to raise the bar, both in musical and visual excellence.”

During a short water break, senior color guard captain Kaley Koch previews the Dvorak presentation the group is putting the finishing touches on.

“I think this is a very different show than I’ve ever been part of in my four years here,” Koch says. “It’s something people haven’t really seen before, and we have new silks this year, so new things for people to see (instead of just Miami flags on the field). There are lots of different choreo and drill things that I think will look visually appealing.”

(Speaking of roles in the band that seem especially difficult: We asked Koch what the trick is to catching one of the flags that she and the other color guard members repeatedly hurl high in the air before expertly snaring and twirling them. Her answer was straightforward and simple: “Two hands!”)

The MUMB performs during a pre-game Hawk Walk football team arrival (photo by Tim Cary).

By late Saturday morning, the time for practice is over. Ready or not (and it seems from the most recent rehearsal like they are certainly ready!), the MUMB is finally about to take the field in front of the Miami fans – first in the pregame concert, and then next door at Yager Stadium.

There’s a buzz in the crowd, which shouldn’t be surprising. Because what would gameday at Miami University be without the Miami University Marching Band – a tradition now nine decades old?

“I feel like we bring a lot of hype,” Koch had said earlier that week. “Especially on gamedays, but in general, people are excited…it’s [not just] playing during the games, but also keeping the vibe up on campus too.”

So before more than a couple hundred red-clad Miami students come running onto the field in formation, with each perfectly-straight line of instrumentalists exactly 2.5 yards apart, there’s only one thing left for Yahl to say to his well-rehearsed group…and they can’t wait to hear it.

After all, it’s a command that’s been more than a month in the making.

“Band, let’s get hype!”

The Miami University Marching Band will be part of the Homecoming parade on Thursday, Sept. 25 in Oxford. The parade route begins on Bonham Rd. at 6 p.m. The MUMB will perform its gameday concert on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 2:30 p.m. at the field hockey stadium, with Miami Football kickoff vs. Lindenwood set for 3:30 p.m. that afternoon at Yager Stadium. Miami will welcome back close to 100 former band members as part of its Alumni Band Saturday as well. Tickets to the Homecoming football game are available here.