The Solid Gold Sound of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band represents the university at major athletic and extracurricular events. During the fall marching season, this 250-member band performs at the Rose Bowl for UCLA Bruin home football games. Pregame shows by the band aim to build crowd energy and enthusiasm with traditional UCLA songs like "Strike Up the Band for UCLA", "Bruin Warriors", and "The Mighty Bruins". Throughout the game, the band performs custom-arranged rock and pop songs, as well as the traditional fight songs and cheers of the university. The UCLA Varsity Band appears at basketball games and other athletic contests in Pauley Pavilion.
The UCLA band program, which includes the Marching and Varsity Bands, the Wind Ensemble, and the Symphonic Band, is in the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music. All marching members and teaching assistants in the Bruin Marching Band are full-time UCLA students. Band appearances at athletic events are funded primarily by student registration fees, a direct allocation from the Chancellor's Office and donations to the Solid Gold Sound Club.
In 1993, the UCLA Bruin Marching Band was awarded the Sudler Trophy, an award bestowed on one university marching band every year. Described by a Los Angeles Times reporter as "[t]he Heisman Trophy of the collegiate band world",Deborah Schoch, "The game's other score: Football matters on New Year's Day, sure, but a second set of rivals will march onto the field in Pasadena: the schools' bands." Los Angeles Times, December 31, 2006. the award does not represent the winner of any championship, but rather a band surrounded by great music and tradition that has become respected nationally. In 2018, the Bruin Marching Band was featured on the Muse album "Simulation Theory" performing the Super Deluxe version of the song Pressure.
Style
The UCLA Marching Band marches in a style with low mark times and glide steps. Field formations include fast moving precision drill progressions, letter blocks, pictures, concert arcs, and the famous Cursive UCLA formation. The band performs many different styles of shows, depending upon the occasion.
The exception to the drum corps marching style is the traditional pregame "run-on" where the band rapidly high-steps onto the field into the block letter U-C-L-A formation.
History In 1925, at the Vermont Avenue campus, the UCLA Marching Band originated as a 50-piece ROTC unit under the direction of W. G. Powell. The band was part of the welcoming group when John Philip Sousa visited Los Angeles in 1928, and were directed by Sousa in the performance of "Stars and Stripes Forever".This Month (November) 78 years ago UCLA Today Magazine, November 7, 2006 At that time, the director was Ben Laietsky, a member of Sousa's band. The band remained a military group until 1934. In 1935, under the direction of Leroy Allen, the group became an integral part of campus life, providing music at rallies and games. The original uniforms were military style, with military caps and waist-length capes.
Under directors C. B. Hunt and Patton McNaughton, the band increased in size to 128 members by 1947.
Clarence Sawhill and Kelly James 1952-1982 In 1952, Clarence Sawhill became director of bands. F. (Freeman) Kelly James became the director of the marching band, a position he would hold until suffering a stroke at the UCLA-Cal football game in 1980.1985 In Memoriam: Freeman Kelly James, Jr., Music: Los Angeles University of California (System) Academic Senate, 1985 Sawhill and James grew the UCLA band program to include a 100-piece Concert Band, an 80-piece Symphonic Wind Ensemble, a 144-piece Marching Band, and a 60-piece Varsity Band.
In the 1950s the UCLA Marching Band uniforms were gold/yellow jackets with navy blue pants, blue shakos and white shoes. The band marched in a military style. The band appeared in color on the cover of the November 26, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated. It is one of the few so honored beginning with the University of Oklahoma marching band (1954), the Princeton University Band (1955), and later, The Ohio State University Marching Band (1958). This marks the first appearance by any UCLA organization on the cover of the magazine.
In the 1960s and 1970s the band emulated the Queen's Guard. The band had a similar marching style, including the distinctive arm swinging, but also having the high "chair" step. The uniform pants were school colors blue and black trim, and imitation bearskin (or tall busby) hats. In the early 1960s, the uniform coats were gold. later the uniform coats were dark blue. The shoes were black with white spats.
In 1961, the band made a European Tour which included performances in Denmark, France, Austria, Germany, England and Switzerland.
In 1972, after long resistanceThomason, Andy. Discredited: The UNC Scandal and College Athletics' Amateur Ideal. United States: University of Michigan Press, 2021. pg 33 Jan Boxill, UCLA student and later UCLA professor: 'With several years of marching in the Air Force Band under her belt, Boxill asked the director of the UCLA marching band if she could join. “He looked at me like I had three heads,” she recalled. Women, he told her, aren't strong enough to march and play an instrument at the same time' , women were admitted to the UCLA Band, as well as other college marching bands around the country as a response to the Title IX educational amendment. Many marching bands, including the UCLA Band, had women members or a women's auxiliary unit during World War II, but the bands gradually became all-male organizations after the war.
In 1973, the band wore gold jackets, navy blue pants, navy blue turtleneck sweaters, and no hat, for one game. They were never used after that.
In 1977, the school purchased new uniforms that were royal blue with yellow trim. The large overcoats had a white front with block vertical UCLA letters. There were tall white plush busby hats with blue and yellow plumes.
Thomas Lee and Gordon Henderson In 1982, Gordon Henderson was appointed Director of the Marching and Varsity Bands.
In 1985, the band ordered newly designed uniforms, in the current military style. These uniforms were designed with band member input to replace the brightly colored 1977 uniforms. The uniforms consisted of navy blue wool trousers and coat with gold trim and white, knee-length, gold capes on the left shoulder. The shoes were changed to white. White gloves were standard as well. The large bearskin hats were replaced by Shako hats with white 12" feather plumes. An all-powder blue uniform was prototyped, but rejected in favor of the navy blue. The color guard did wear powder blue uniform coats and skirts similar in style to the new uniforms for two years.
In 2007 the band was outfitted with new uniforms at the USC game. The coats were the then official "True Blue" color adopted by UCLA in 2004. Other elements from the 1985 uniforms were retained.
In 1985, Thomas Lee came from the University of Texas to be the director of bands and director of the wind ensemble.
The UCLA Bruin Marching Band was the 1993 recipient of the Sudler Trophy, presented by the John Philip Sousa Foundation in recognition of the Band's tradition of excellence and innovation.
The band became part of the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2007 when the departments of Music, Ethnomusicology and Musicology were combined. Musician and recording executive Herb Alpert gave $30 million to UCLA in November 2007, the single largest individual gift to music higher education in the western United States.Pasles, Chris - Herb Alpert hits a UCLA high note. Los Angeles Times, November 16, 2007
Lee retired from UCLA in 2012, and Dr. Travis Cross was appointed the new Wind Ensemble conductor in 2013.
Henderson retired in 2020 as Director of Bands after 38 years of service to UCLA.
Kevin McKeown was appointed the interim director of the Marching band and served from 2019 through 2022.Kevin McKeown. UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts, viewed February 12, 2026
Ken Fisher Ken Fisher was appointed the new Marching Band Director in 2023, following being appointed the associate director in 2022.Meet Ken Fisher, Associate Director of that Solid Gold Sound. UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, September 28, 2022
Justin McManus Justin McManus, former director of the UConn Athletic Bands, was appointed the new marching band director in 2025.Justin McManus to Lead UCLA Marching Band. UCLA Herb Albert School of Music, June 11, 2025 He is also the director of athletic bands and associate director of bands at UCLA.
Traditions For the football pregame show, the UCLA Marching Band traditionally opens with the Bruin Fanfare, an adaptation of the 20th Century Fox Fanfare. Then follows Strike Up The Band for UCLA, a gift from George and Ira Gershwin to UCLA. It was adapted from their showtune "Strike Up the Band", and was presented to UCLA at an All-University Sing held in Royce Hall during Fall 1936. The Star Spangled Banner is played by the band in concert formation. Then the band moves into the script UCLA formation to the tune of Bruin Warriors. The band marches off the field to The Mighty Bruins, composed in 1984 by Academy Award-winning composer Bill Conti to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UCLA Alumni Association.
Following all athletic contests, the band plays the UCLA Alma Mater "Hail to the Hills of Westwood". After victories, this is followed by "Rover".
Away game appearances While UCLA was in the Pac-12 conference, the entire UCLA Bruin Marching Band traveled to the San Francisco Bay area each fall for either the Stanford or Cal football game. This tradition began in 1931, when the band traveled to the Stanford game by ship from Los Angeles. Beginning in 1989, a portion of the band has taken regular season trips to football games at Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Miami, Ohio State, Colorado, Illinois, Washington, Arizona State, Oregon, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.
In 2006, the entire UCLA Bruin Marching Band traveled to South Bend, Indiana, for a game at the University of Notre Dame.
Bowl game appearances The UCLA Bruin Marching Band has made appearances at major post season college football bowl games throughout the country:
Rose Bowl game, the "Granddaddy of them all" played in the Rose Bowl stadium, the home stadium of the Bruins in Pasadena, California. Aloha Bowl, Honolulu, Hawaii Silicon Valley Bowl, San Jose, California Las Vegas Bowl, Las Vegas, Nevada Freedom Bowl, Anaheim, California Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee Fiesta Bowl, Tempe, Arizona Bluebonnet Bowl, Houston, Texas Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas Cotton Bowl Classic, Dallas Emerald Bowl, San Francisco, California Holiday Bowl, San Diego, California Alamo Bowl, San Antonio, Texas Foster Farms Bowl, San Francisco, California Cactus Bowl, Phoenix, Arizona LA Bowl, Inglewood, California
In 1980, 144 members of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band performed together with the Oregon State University Marching Band at a regular season football game for the Mirage Bowl in Tokyo, Japan.
1984 Olympics In 1984, 125 members of the band performed in the 736-member All American Marching Band at the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles under the direction of Arthur C. Bartner. UCLA Bruin Marching Band director Gordon Henderson served as an assistant director and drill designer and was in charge of the 144-member trumpet section. A small group of these students performed at various sports venues during the games, including those for cycling, gymnastics, archery, modern pentathlon and tennis.
Other events
The UCLA Bruin Marching Band has entertained crowds at NFL professional football games on many occasions, for the Los Angeles Raiders, the Los Angeles Rams, and the San Francisco 49er's.