Denison Memorial Fund
November 2022
Letter From the Director
I hope the beginning of the Fall is treating each of you well! We are so proud of the students and their accomplishments this season. The CMB recently performed the “Haunted Hooville” halftime show with the UVA Dance Team, as well as their “Hits from Broadway” halftime show. On November 12, they will combine with 330 High School students from over 60 Virginia High Schools to perform our “Heroes Appreciation” halftime show.
As Athletic Band members servicing basketball and Olympic Sports, over 190 band members held three rehearsals in October to prepare for UVA’s Basketball season. We’re excited for Coach Mox’s first season as the Women’s Basketball Coach, and looking forward to every game coming up in JPJ Arena.
CALLING ALL ALUMS: If you’re a CMB/HOOps Band alum and interested in playing in the Alumni band, there is still time to Register for Alumni Band performances on December 17 and December 18. We’d love to see you there!
The Wind Ensemble’s fall concert is titled “Re:Framed”, and will be held in the Hunter Smith Band Building on Monday, November 14, at 7:00 PM. It is free to the public, with parking available in the Culbreth Parking Garage. The band has held excellent rehearsals throughout the fall, and is performing works by J.S. Bach, Omar Thomas, Shuying Li, Daniel Fisher, Erika Svanoe, and Robert Russell Bennett. Each piece presents a distinct “re-framing” of an original work or concept, whether that be by arrangement, by inspiration from a Netflix series, or by channeling the compositional style of another composer as Daniel Fisher has done in his piece Echoes. Please join us if you’re in Charlottesville on Monday, November 14.
As always, thank you for your support of the Cavalier Marching Band and the UVA Band program.
Best wishes,
Elliott
This Month's Events
Football Games
November 5 - UVA vs. UNC
He’s there! The Phantom of Scott Stadium! The CMB took a road trip to New York City with the Broadway Spectacular halftime show. Pieces performed included “The Phantom of the Opera” from The Phantom of the Opera, by Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray, by Marc Shaiman.
November 12 - UVA vs. Pitt
Catch the CMB alongside 350 high school students for the return of CMB Band Day. Band Day, last held in 2019, welcomes high school students to live a day in the life of a college marching band and take the field in performance. The CMB will perform the veteran’s appreciation show in honor of Veteran’s Day. High schoolers will also be packing into Section 104 with the CMB and getting the opportunity to play all of our beloved stand tunes.
November 19 - UVA vs. Coastal Carolina
For the last field show of 2022, the CMB will take its most daring journey yet: to infinity and beyond! Get ready for liftoff with some space-themed tunes as the CMB wishes Scott Stadium farewell until 2023.
November 26 - UVA at Virginia Tech
The trip isn’t a metaphor this time! The CMB will be heading to Lane Stadium to hype Virginia fans at the annual UVA vs. Tech game. The CMB won’t be marching at this game, but will be rocking the stadium with stand tunes (and maybe secretly tapping their feet to Enter Sandman) all night long.
Basketball Games
November 3 - UVA WBB vs. Pitt-Johnstown
November 7 - UVA WBB vs. GW, MBB vs. NCC
November 10 - UVA WBB vs. UMBC
November 11 - UVA MBB vs. Monmouth
November 13 - UVA WBB vs. Wake
November 14 - UVA MBB vs. Iowa
November 23 - UVA WBB vs. Campbell
November 25 - UVA MBB vs. UMES
November 27 - UVA WBB vs. ECU
High School Corner: Section Houses
By ABBY KUPSTAS
The Jefferson Park Avenue (JPA) neighborhood, located adjacent to UVA's Grounds, is home to a number of student houses. A few of these student houses are band houses, where members of the Cavalier Marching Band can live during their second, third, and fourth years at the University. These houses are not directly affiliated with the band itself, but rather, they have been passed down by CMB members through the years.
We asked a number of band house residents to answer some questions about where they live. Here's what they told us:
"A-Rock"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
“Our house is called ‘Tuba Rock,’ which is a mix between Tuba and Shamrock. We live on Shamrock Rd. and the house is typically referred to as ‘A-Rock’ because it’s the A unit of our duplex on Shamrock Rd.. We’ve started calling it Tuba Rock now because everyone who lives on our side is a tuba!”
What are the most iconic items in your house?
"One of my favorite house decorations is a life-size cardboard cutout of Zac Efron from High School Musical. People love to come over and take pictures with it!”
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
“We don’t have many traditions, but a former A-Rock resident stopped by after band camp scavenger hunt with some gifts and stories of A-Rock’s past to share with us. It’s so fun to live in one of the oldest band houses!”
"B-Rock"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
“We're the B-unit of a duplex located on Shamrock Road.”
What are the most iconic items in your house?
“Dancing gay skeleton"
“Mug rack”
“jleaves”
“Gnome”
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
“Movie night with a couple of neighbors”
“Trumpet houses have always covertly stolen/swapped wall decorations from each other”
“Putting little paper hats on everything”
Do you have any other funny stories you’d like to share about living in your house?
“Our water heater recently shorted and started smoking (yay cold showers!)”
“We bought a fog machine and filled the house with fog (the fog is coming)”
"OH House"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
“OH House stands for On Harmon or Other Harmon, since there used to be another trumpet house on Harmon St. before ours.”
What are the most iconic items in your house?
“I feel like me and my roommates talk about our oven from the 60’s a lot. We also have some Christmas signs that typically would say HO HO HO but, when flipped upside down, say OH OH OH. We also have a picture frame full of pictures of past residents.”
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
“We’ve gone to a corn maze the past couple of years”
Do you have any other funny stories you’d like to share about living in your house?
“Over the summer we had a random girl living in the basement.”
“Another time, Hannah was taking a timed quiz and all of a sudden she heard Mandi yell ‘There’s a spider cricket, Evan get the spray!’ She heard some noise, and the spider cricket started hopping into her room. Mandi warned her telling her that the spider cricket was now ‘foamy and mad,’ but fortunately it did not get very far into Hannah’s room before it died. When Hannah opened the door after the quiz there was a foam-covered spider cricket on the floor.”
"Picc House"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
“We're all piccolos!”
What are the most iconic items in your house?
"The most iconic item is definitely Winston, our giant tapestry of a golden retriever underwater wearing swim goggles. We like to take pictures of all of our guests with Winston when they come by to visit! Another iconic thing not actually in the house is our neighbor’s rooster, who loves to wake us up early in the morning which is great for game days…”
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
“Every year we hold a Halloween movie night for all the piccolos, and my favorite event each year is Piccsgiving, a big Thanksgiving potluck with all the piccolos before we all head out for Thanksgiving break. Everyone makes such great food and it’s a wonderful time to celebrate the marching season and each other.”
Do you have any other funny stories you’d like to share about living in your house?
“My favorite story is from when I fooled two of my roommates with a fake spider on a random Tuesday—my roommate Priti (another piccolo) is terrified of spiders and I put the fake spider outside her door one night, only to wake up the next morning to screaming coming from across the hall. She was about to skip class rather than face the spider, but she got another one of the piccolo roommates, Maya, to cover up the spider (which Maya also believed was real). When I revealed that the spider wasn’t real, we all had a really good laugh about it, and Priti swears she will get me back but she hasn’t gotten me yet!”
"Purple House"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
“It is bright purple on the outside… but it is also covered in murals including trees, flowers, babies, angels and more. The house was built in the 1930s and owned by an artist who painted the outside of the home and turned the inside into an art museum open to visitors back in the day!”
What are the most iconic items in your house?
“The most iconic items in our house include our one-eyed black cat named Dandelion, a windowsill full of cool plants & a 3D portrait of us gals in the front room.”
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
“Traditions that have been passed down: the deck dollar (a dollar bill wedged into a piece of wood on our deck and hidden there) and the apple sticker wall (a collection of apple stickers that are displayed on one of our lovely purple walls inside)”
“A tradition we have created is you must foster a cat in this house! We are foster moms who have had over 5 different cats stay with us at purple house so far! We also are huge poké fans in this house, so a tradition we’d like to pass down is the “poké in the parlor” birthdays. A final tradition is that purple house is now going to be a designated trumpet/clarinet house, and we cannot wait to welcome the next generation of band folk planning to live here!”
Do you have any other funny stories you’d like to share about living in your house?
“We love purple house! It may not have central AC/fancy gadgets or make a lot of sense layout-wise, but we have tons of space for dance parties, fondue nights & section bonding activities. From the deck to the parlor (just a living room but we call it the parlor) to the scary storage closet and downstairs rooms, we <3 our quirky lil home.”
"Sax House"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
“We are saxes living in both sides of a duplex house. Not all of us are saxes, though. There are two trombones living here this year.”
What are the most iconic items in your house?
“Pirate Santa, who plays trombone when you press the button”
“Our CMB trophies, including ones for CMB football, Mario Kart championship, and Section Olympics”
“A-side's stuffed animals, courtesy of Libby”
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
“Secret Sax-ta, an annual gift exchange”
“Watching Love Island USA”
“Having broken dryers”
Do you have any other funny stories you’d like to share about living in your house?
“Earlier in the semester, A-side's WiFi broke and we had no access to the internet. Some of us started mooching off of B-side's WiFi plan, and they started to get sick of it. One day, during a basketball band rehearsal, all of B-side gathered around to figure out how to kick the A-side residents out of their Xfinity account. They succeeded, and thought little of it. Little did they know, A-side resident Abby had skipped the basketball band rehearsal to stay home and take an online exam. This meant that Abby was without WiFi in her time of greatest need. When asked about the situation in retrospect, B-side resident Brandol replied, ‘Oh. My bad, dawg.'”
"Tuba Heights"
Is there a story behind your house's name?
We (three tubas and a baritone) live in the top two floors of a triplex.
What are the most iconic items in your house?
We have a wall of off-brand Dr. Pepper where we have a bunch of different store brand Dr. Peppers.
We also have a wall of shame where we put things that bring us shame (Covid test, receipt of broken router, syllabus of class I dropped, the first show’s drill chart).
We have a deck with a grill that we always cook on and have tuba bbq. One of my roommates found it on the side of the road and it worked, so we cleaned it up.
We also have a tapestry of Bertram from Jesse.
Does your house have any traditions that have been passed down through the years? What about traditions that you’ve created?
We occasionally have "Dr. Pepper" tastings where we do tastings of the various store brand Dr. Peppers and have group intellectual discussion (only brain cell in house).
DEI Spotlight: Introducing the CDEI
By KYLE HUDGINS and ABBY KUPSTAS
written in collaboration with the CMB CDEI
What is the purpose of the CDEI?
The Committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI) formed during the summer of 2020. The Black Lives Matter movement shed light on the need for representation within the Cavalier Marching Band and inspired marchers to form together to ensure that the CMB served as a safe space for all. An excerpt from the committee's mission statement is below.
"The purpose of the CDEI is to ensure an equitable and inclusive environment within the CMB. The Committee serves as a liaison between the students of the CMB and the directors regarding topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion within the band. The Committee also discusses, plans, and implements projects and actions, as well as educates the band members on DEI-related issues. The CDEI is student-led, with regular consultation to the directors for purposes of general communication and administrative approval of actions."
What does the CDEI do?
In a broad sense, the CDEI functions to uphold an environment that is welcoming to all current and potential members of the CMB. This includes spearheading stances surrounding current global issues, such as their statement against AAPI hate in 2021. Additionally, their activities impact a multitude of the marching band’s daily activities through various subcommittees, including music selection, sustainability, hospitality, recruitment, and media. See more details on their subcommittees below:
1. Song Appreciation
The Cavalier Marching Band performs dozens of pieces throughout the season to audiences of thousands. It is imperative that the band acknowledges and appreciates the history of these songs. The Song Appreciation subcommittee works to raise awareness, highlighting the importance of performing songs authentically and respectfully. Notable work from this subcommittee includes education surrounding the stand tune “Neck,” whose origins trace back to HBCU marching bands. In the 2021 football season, the stand tune was reworked to better reflect the original tune. This season, the CDEI continues to discuss the song's role in a PWI marching band. Moreover, the CMB recently removed the stand tunes “Power” and “All of the Lights” from its songbooks in response to antisemitic remarks made by the artist.
2. Sustainability
This subcommittee works to ensure the CMB functions in an environmentally-friendly manner. As a large organization on Grounds, the CMB has a great amount of influence when it comes to implementing sustainable practices. Many of the current projects in this subcommittee are centered around the game day experience; putting out compost bins during game day meal times and replacing single-use paper water cups with a biodegradable alternative are two of the committee's top priorities for the current season.
3. Hospitality
In a group of over 200 students, meeting each member’s individual needs is a daunting task. The hospitality subcommittee works to address areas, such as accessibility and dietary needs, in which certain needs are unmet. The CDEI Hospitality subcommittee works in tandem with the CMB's larger Hospitality Committee to ensure equity and inclusion are at the center of all decision-making. Marching can be a grueling task, and providing a comfortable experience in as many ways possible is essential.
4. First-Gen
The First-Gen subcommittee promotes representation for First Generation, Low-Income (FGLI) students in the CMB. This subcommittee hosts events such as study sessions for first-generation students to provide community and mentorship.
5. Recruitment
Maintaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment requires an effective outlook towards the future. The recruitment subcommittee looks to expand the CMB’s outreach to potential new members and communicate that everyone is welcome in the CMB. Much of this impact can be seen at this season’s Band Day, in which the CMB put special efforts into broadening the outreach to high school students. This included reaching out to schools in historically underrepresented areas and reserving scholarships for students who are unable to cover the Band Day costs.
6. Media
It is very important for the inclusivity in the community to be communicated externally. The media subcommittee works with the CMB Media and Communications Committee on several projects that promote the CDEI’s core values. In addition to this article, the leadership highlight video series during the summer was a collaboration with the CDEI. The production of those videos placed special emphasis on raising voices from students that represented a wide variety of perspectives and backgrounds. These initiatives aid in recruitment and community impact outside the CMB.
What other activities does the CDEI do?
In addition to its official efforts for the CMB, the CDEI also directly fosters community through various social events. This season, the CDEI hosted a game night, providing a safe space for all members to have fun. Moreover, a first-gen study session in Clemons Library was recently hosted. At this event, first-generation students were offered the opportunity to study in a communal environment, as well as discuss the shared challenges of attending university as a first-gen student.
Members of the CMB drumline participate in CDEI game night (Photo Credit: Abby Kupstas)
Student Success: Drew Thede
By KYLE HUDGINS
In this month’s edition of the CMB newsletter, we’re bringing back the “Student Success” section! We’ll be highlighting and celebrating the amazing things that our very own marchers are doing around grounds and beyond. Kicking off this revival is legend, icon and star Andrew (Drew) Thede. Drew is a fourth-year member of the saxophone section, as well as a member of the Media and Communications Committee. Newsletter readers may remember his “Sock Wars” article from last month’s issue and CMB members may know Drew from his karaoke performance of Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” among other things.
This edition’s highlight surrounds Drew’s research with the Lampe Biomaterials Research Group at UVA. Throughout the summer, Drew researched the assembly of biomaterials for the purposes of neural cell therapies.
In layman’s terms, Drew and his team are creating hydrogels, which I would best describe as science jelly. When combined with certain materials, these hydrogels have the potential to support cells that remyelinate nerves. Myelin is the wall around nerves, which provides insulation and ensures that nerves can function properly. Multiple sclerosis, more commonly known as MS, is a disease that eats away at myelin in the spine, causing increasingly severe physical effects. As mentioned, the cells in these hydrogels experimentally remyelinate nerves, potentially slowing the progression of the effects of multiple sclerosis and providing relief to patients.
Throughout the semester, Drew has been giving presentations surrounding his research, even taking a trip to Texas and seeing the Alamo! According to Drew, he has gotten “pretty good” at presenting about the topic, so don’t forget to ask him about it if you see him. I even took a field trip to the engineering school to see Drew present, and can confirm his previous statement.
The Cavalier Marching Band is immensely proud of Drew and excited to see what is next in his career as he finishes his final football season with us. It is truly amazing to see what we accomplish as individuals off the field. If you know a student success story that you would like to see highlighted next month, e-mail Kyle Hudgins at kmh5mtk@virginia.edu for consideration.
Drew and his presentation at a conference in San Antonio, TX (Photo Credit: Drew Thede)
Drew at the Orange Bowl in 2019 (Photo Credit: @uvasaxophones Instagram)
KYLE HUDGINS is a third-year studying Marketing and Management at the McIntire School of Commerce. He is the chair of the CMB Newsletter and a member of the piccolo section.
How to Give to the Band
The CMB is so fortunate to have passionate fans among our alumni, parents, family members, and community members. Our students have always been the pulse of our program, who spread the spirit of Virginia on Grounds and in our community. Please consider supporting the students of the CMB with your donation here.