Last Saturday, the 141st edition of the Hawkeye Marching Band ran onto Duke Slater Field in Kinnick Stadium for the last time in the 2021 season. Just three months ago, we welcomed 270 marching Hawkeyes to campus for Band Camp, and a few weeks later, nearly half the band felt the roar of 70,000 fans from the field for the first time. As I watched our first and second-year members take the field for the first time, surrounded by our vets, it all felt very familiar… and at the same time, quite different. I thought of everything we endured as a band family throughout 2020, and the enormous responsibility I felt when I realized that over 80% of the band would return for the 2021 season. These students persevered to make it onto the field in Kinnick again, and I wanted to honor their hard work and determination with a season they’d never forget.

I am exceptionally proud of how the Hawkeye Marching Band has navigated our work together throughout the pandemic. We’ve kept our students safe and created some fantastic musical experiences for students and fans alike!

This season featured a number of firsts for the band:

• The band’s brand new game day trumpets took the field in Kinnick for the first time, thanks to generous gifts from John F. Allen and family, and Tim and Kathy Ternes and family
• Our new lines of game day piccolos and clarinets, thanks to the incredible generosity of our alums and HMB family who gave to the Kelly Piccolo Project, in memory of HMB alum Kelly Enstrom
• The expansion of our HMB media team under the band’s first ever Media Manager, Hawkeye Drumline alum John Emigh, who leads our team of photographers and videographers: Max Halverson, Mallory Obenauf, and Brian Sojka
• We held the 52nd annual Band Extravaganza in Xtream Arena in Coralville for the first time, featuring one of the Iowa City high schools as our guest (another first; this year it was The Iowa City West High Trojan Marching Band) with sponsorships from West Music, the City of Coralville, ThinkIowaCity, and Bob Rogers Travel

We’ve presented some fantastic and innovative halftime shows throughout the season, and I’m incredibly proud of the band’s sound production, exciting visuals, and overall performance quality. This season has also been a success thanks to the innovation, focus, and dedication of our graduate teaching assistants, who not only designed the drill for many of our shows, but also arranged a large share of the music we played this year.

I’m also so grateful for the leadership of our Drum Major, Amanda Thomas, who may be in her first year as Drum Major, but has been an outstanding leader throughout her five years in the Hawkeye Marching Band. I also have to commend our Senior Hawkeye Golden Girl, Kylene Spanbauer, and Junior Hawkeye Golden Girl, Ella McDaniel, for the exceptional quality of their performances every week in Kinnick, as well as their leadership and commitment to serving as ambassadors for the band and the university.

It was wonderful to welcome so many of our dedicated HMB alumni back to campus for Homecoming this year. It was a thrill to have the Alumni Band march once again in the Homecoming Parade, and for them to take back the field for Pregame. This year, we also hosted a reception in the Voxman Music Building to celebrate the anniversary of the Hawkeye Marching Band winning the Sudler Trophy, and it was wonderful to personally connect with so many of our alums from different generations! Thanks to School of Music director, Dr. Tammie Walker, for helping to make this reception a reality!

Thank you to our entire HMB family for your support, encouragement, and enthusiasm at every turn. I always say the HMB is more than game day. It’s about representing the best of what it means to be a Hawkeye, and bringing our community together. I’m proud to serve as director, and I’m grateful to each and every one of you for the many ways you show up for us, whether its in the stands at Kinnick or in the comments section on a livestream of one of our shows online.

Thank you, On Iowa, and Go Hawks!

Eric W. Bush
Associate Director of Bands
Director of the Hawkeye Marching Band