Marching into new era

Josh Gillen, new director of the Pride of the North Marching Band, brings fresh ideas — and new technology — to the marching field

On a hot Friday afternoon, Josh Gillen and the students of the Pride of the North Marching Band were assembled for a final run-through at the practice field just west of campus.

“We’re just going to do that one more time, just to get the step sizes,” Josh Gillen said through a megaphone to a group of more than 150 students in the Pride of the North Marching Band.

With a few measures of metronome clicks the students were off, instruments in hand. The brassy blasts from the trumpets and thuds of the bass drum accompanied their carefully choreographed routine.

Gillen, the new director of the Pride of the North Marching Band and assistant director of bands for the Department of Music, watched and listened carefully as students marched right and left across the field. The band and its director were in the midst of the annual weeklong band camp, but spirits remained high with plenty of smiles visible between songs.

“Oh my gosh, it’s been like a freight train,” Gillen said with a laugh. “You do all the things you can to try to be ready, but once camp starts, you’re just going.”

He arrived on July 16 — just weeks before camp — and this was his first time meeting most of the ensemble. Yet as students lined up to form a helicopter in motion, it was clear he and the band were already clicking.

For many students, the Pride of the North Marching Band camp is a way to prepare for the strenuous academic year with a handful of 11-hour days that get them into gear. But, for Gillen, this year’s band camp was the official start to a new chapter in his career and a warm welcome to frosty North Dakota.

Marching from Alabama to Grand Forks

A native of Opelika, Ala., Gillen grew up immersed in southern football culture, where college marching bands number in the hundreds. After graduating from Auburn University with an undergraduate degree, Gillen taught high school and elementary bands but he soon felt the trumpet blasts and bass drum thumps pull him back to marching bands.

“I loved teaching at that elementary school,” he said. “It was a great time, but it made me realize how much I missed marching band.”

Before long, Gillen had moved to teaching high school and elementary marching bands before returning to Auburn, as well as higher-ed institutions in North Carolina and Alabama to instruct their marching bands. Throughout his career, Gillen has discovered a knack for planning out intricate animated routines for his bands.

“One of my favorite parts of the job is drill writing — being able to map out and coordinate where people are and how we make pictures,” he said. “I’d say animated [drill] is my favorite to write, and we’ve got some cool plans for this year.”

The animated routines, which feature band members forming images that move across the field as they shift positions will debut this fall in a flight-themed halftime show that nods to UND’s rich history in aviation. The Alerus Center’s high sightlines and video board make animated drills pop, Gillen said, playing in to his expertise.

In all, Gillen is joining the Pride of the North Marching Band with plans to stage three halftime shows and a refreshed pregame, guided by veteran drum majors and section leaders whom he credits with leading the band and keeping morale high.

Old trade, new tools

As one might expect, getting more than 150 students to form a moving helicopter is no easy task no matter how dedicated a group. It requires clear and careful planning on the part of the director. In years gone by, this planning was done with pen and paper, but Gillen has embraced technological improvements that streamline the process.

In his office, Gillen keeps a map of the Alerus Center football field, complete with a grid that helps him visualize the field’s layout and student placement. But he prefers to use tech-savvy tools like the marching band software Pyware, a tool for writing marching band drills which eliminates the need for pen and paper drill writing.

“I’m a big fan of technology, and Pyware really helps with one of the things that I pride myself most on: drill writing and being able to map out and coordinate how we’ll make our pictures,” Gillen said.

But, Pyware isn’t the only new tool Gillen is introducing to UND this fall. An app called Ultimate Drill Book, which individual students can use to track their paths in drills, was another tool Gillen brought to the band’s practices.

Instead of mapping out individual movements using pen and paper, Gillen can use the app so that each student can follow their own individual path as they practice. Each marcher can pull up their “dot,” coordinates and counts on a phone, which speeds up learning and cleaning.

“We use Ultimate Drill Book with our Pyware files. It lets us send each drill to students’ phones. They can pick their dots and follow along where they’re supposed to go,” which really helps for practice outside of band camp, Gillen said.

Because UND lacks the 30-foot practice tower common at other programs, Gillen uses a telescoping pole and OBS Studio to live-stream an overhead view to staff iPads and phones — providing real-time feedback on the band’s spacing and formation.

Tackling the same mission in new ways

Even with the new technology Gillen brings to the University, Gillen and the Pride of the North Marching Band’s goals remain the same: support athletics, entertain audiences and give students a meaningful experience.

“At the end of the day, those are our big goals,” he said. “If we can make games more exciting, create shows that the community loves and give our students something they’ll never forget — that’s success.”

And, just a few months into his tenure as the band’s director, Gillen said he admires the spirit and work ethic of his students. He credits much of the early momentum to veteran drum majors and section leaders — and to the foundation built by longtime director Rob Brooks.

“Rob did such an amazing job building this — I’ve been calling it his baby — because he really built this thing from the ground up through his career,” Gillen said. “I’m really appreciative of his work, because he’s left this program in a really, really great place.”

As the UND football season begins and the first snare drum cracks echo across the Alerus Center, Gillen and his Pride of the North Marching Band students seem to be achieving those goals. Students were no doubt eager to show crowds their hard work as a final whistle snapped and instruments lowered during their rehearsal.

“It’s already good,” Gillen said to his students as they prepared to run a drill one last time. “And we’re going to make it great.”

And that greatness, as Gillen notes, is ultimately up to the students he will be working with for years to come.

“At the end of the day, it is the students’ band,” Gillen said. “I’m grateful for our drum majors and section leaders who keep things consistent even as we embrace some new ideas.”

Below, take a peek at a drill Gillen created for one of his previous schools.