Brighton Resident Named Leader of World Famous College Band

Big news for Brighton Resident, Brendan Schultz, named as Drum Major for the Purdue University

“All-American” Marching Band. Brendan is studying Mechanical Engineering at Purdue and will be entering his final year of his undergraduate degree this Fall. Brendan has participated in Purdue’s Marching Band for the past four season as a section member and Student Leader for the Alto Saxophone section.

Purdue’s Marching Band is a world famous program that is highly regarding as a top caliber ensemble among the college marching community. The program originated in 1886 as a University military band. Since that time the band has expanded to over 400 marching / supporting members and has become a pioneer for the Marching Band world. This program’s innovative spirit has included several “Firsts” such as being the first marching band to break military ranks (To form a block P), First to perform a lighted halftime show (October 5, 1935), and First College Marching Band invited by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to perform in Beijing (leading up to the 2008 Olympic Games). The Purdue Marching Band also received the Sudler Trophy in 1995, considered to be the most prestigious award a college marching band can receive. Currently, the “All-American” Marching band is the only program without a school of music to have received this award.

In the “All-American” Marching Band the Drum Major serves as the ad-hoc student leader for each of the sections, they will coordinate and conduct tunes/cheers in the stands during football games, lead the Band in parade marching and conduct during on-field performances, among other responsibilities. The audition process for this position started back in early January with a written application and interviews for all the candidates. This was followed by a “game-management” phase where candidates conducted stands tunes and cheers to mirror in-game situations. The final phase was a physical portion and included drill teaching, mace spinning and the traditional Drum Major Strut, Slow March, and Back Bend. After this process was completed; both Brendan Schultz (Brighton, Michigan) and Lucy Bays (Zionsville, Indiana) were named as the Drum Majors for the 2019 season.

Brendan comes into this position with prior experience. He is a former 2-year Drum Major of the Brighton High School Marching Band and also served as a Drum Major instructor for the Smith-Walbridge Drum Major Clinics at Eastern Illinois University for three summers. Brendan says that he is “Incredibly excited and honored to be able to fill the role of Drum Major next season”. He believes that next year’s “All-American” Marching band will have a phenomenal season!

Brendan and Lucy made their first official appearance as Drum Majors for the Purdue Spring Football Game on Saturday, August 6th in Ross-Ade Stadium. The 2019 edition of the “All-American” Marching Band will debut their season at home against Vanderbilt on Saturday, September 7th.