ALUMNI BAND


Former Hawkeye Marching Band (HMB) members carry on beloved musical traditions and friendships through Alumni Band.

Members perform favorite songs such as “Hey Jude” and the “Victory Polka” at key university events, including the annual Homecoming parade and Iowa football pregame show. The Alumni Band also raises funds to enhance the Iowa band experience for current students. You can make a gift to support those efforts.

For updates, follow the University of Iowa Alumni Band on Facebook.

Alumni Pep Band Performances

You're invited to participate in three alumni pep band performances at Carver-Hawkeye Arena during the Iowa men’s and women’s basketball seasons.

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Iowa women's basketball vs. Purdue
2 p.m.

Monday, December 30, 2024

Iowa men's basketball vs. New Hampshire
6 p.m.

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Iowa women's basketball vs. Maryland
5 p.m.
*This performance will be dependent upon enough people registering.

Registration is free and will be on a first-come basis. Due to seating restrictions, we are only accepting 100 registrants per game. Register online by Tuesday, Dec. 3, to perform again in Carver-Hawkeye Arena!

Music will be provided digitally via the FlipFolder app. No hard copies will be available. Once you register, you will receive instructions to access music via your smart device. This will give you an opportunity to review and practice the music 30 days before the event.

For more information, email alumni.engagement@foriowa.org.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires accommodation in order to participate in this event, please email alumni.engagement@foriowa.org.


During the summer of 2023, the UICA collected alumni band photo memories. If you were unable to attend the reception, enjoy the video and a walk down memory lane. Thanks to all that submitted photos. See you in 2024!


OUR LEADERSHIP

The Alumni Band Leadership Board is recruiting for additional members. If you are interested in becoming a board member, please apply using the link below.

The Alumni Band Leadership Board was created to expand the base of volunteers organizing our band, and to support the following purpose:

Open to all former Hawkeye Marching Band members (HMB), the Alumni Band Leadership Board (Board) assists in the lifelong relationship between the university and band alumni. With appreciation for the university so integral to the experiences of its students, the Board seeks to advocate for and enhance the experience of current Hawkeye Marching Band members through networking, mentorship, and fundraising. Additionally, the Alumni Band participates in key university events on and off campus, including the Homecoming Parade and football pregame and pep band performances.

To serve on the leadership board, you must:

  • Be an exemplar of ideal engagement for our constituents and current students
  • Promote alumni engagement through social, educational, and philanthropic initiatives and programs
  • Attend full board meetings and participate in committees and other board projects between regular meetings.
  • Serve a three-year term.

I’M INTERESTED IN REGIONAL BANDS

Regional pep bands perform for I-Clubs and other organizations and provide live music at watch parties across the US. If you’re interested in leading a band or playing, submit your name to the recruitment form at the link below, and we’ll get in touch with you about next steps.

photo of regional band
photo of regional band
photo of regional band
photo of regional band

Alumni Band Nostalgia and Resources

Watch this 2018 pre-game performance by the Alumni Band inside historic Kinnick Stadium.

Listen to These Classics

Remember those classic tunes you used to play on the field? How about the "Iowa Fight Song?" It doesn't get any more nostalgic.

Or maybe you recall this special song played during your downfield march at pregame! "On Iowa" is a classic.

Alumni Band Sheet Music

Former Iowa band members can find marching band and pep band sheet music for their instruments listed under each song.

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L.A.-based artist Charles Ray to receive CLAS Alumni Fellow award, give talks this month. Unpainted sculpture by Charles Ray, 1997, fiberglass and paint, 60x78x171 inches. Photograph by Josh White and courtesy of the Matthew Marks Gallery. Charles Ray (75BFA) was walking through the UI physics and astronomy department one day when he came across an inspiring scene. Ray, an art student whose curiosity extended far beyond the studio, hoped to hitch a ride out to the observatory for some evening stargazing. Instead, he found a group of students constructing a satellite bound for a space mission. "It just blew my mind," recalls Ray. Just as mind-blowing were the sculptures Ray was creating across the river, years before he would establish himself as one of the world's most important artists. For one physics-defying piece, he fashioned a 2,000-pound slab of concrete atop a slender tree trunk. For another, he dropped a massive wrecking ball onto a crumpled steel plate, as if Sputnik had just crashed outside the old Art Building. Charles Ray "It was such a formative experience for me," the Los Angeles-based sculptor says of his time in Iowa City. "It did something to my soul and my brain. Even though I was young, the university and my mentors gave me a great deal of independence. My curiosity was endless." A professor emeritus at the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, Ray returns to campus this month to speak and receive the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Alumni Fellow award. Rather than just waxing nostalgic about his time at Iowa, Ray has organized a three-day lecture series April 16-18 with two fellow art scholars. Iowa native Graham Harman, a philosophy professor at the Southern California Institute of Architecture, will open the series by discussing his theory of aesthetics known as object-oriented ontology. On the second day, Ray will speak about the nature of sculptural objects. And Richard Neer, an art historian at the University of Chicago, will bookend the series by lecturing on the question of provenance, or art's origin. Ray will also give a separate public lecture April 17 in Art Building West titled "My Soul is an Object." Recognized as one of the leading artists of his generation, Ray is known for his strange and enigmatic sculptures so loaded with nods to the past that they've been called "catnip for art historians." His 2014 Horse and Rider, for example, is a 10-ton solid stainless steel work in the tradition of a war memorial, but depicts the artist slouch-shouldered atop a weary nag. Ray is also famous for his wry re-imaginings of familiar objects, like the 47-foot-long replica of a red toy fire truck that he parked in front of New York's Whitney Museum of American Art for a 1993 biennial exhibition. Ray and his studio team often spend years working on a given piece, which can fetch as much as seven figures at auction. His sculptures can be found at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Art Institute of Chicago, among other major U.S. museums. Ray is currently preparing for a retrospective show in Paris next year?one of several upcoming international exhibitions. Isabel Barbuzza, UI associate professor of sculpture, describes Ray's work as beautiful and witty, while using scale in unexpected ways. Ray's 8-foot-tall Boy with Frog?commissioned for a prominent spot in Venice, Italy, then removed after some controversy (a version now stands outside the Getty Museum in Los Angeles)?is among Barbuzza's favorites. "His sculptures have a presence you can only see when you're in front of the work," she says. "They're very moving, and to me it's interesting what happens with scale?the viewer relates to the piece in a very profound way." Steve McGuire (83MA, 90PhD), director of the School of Art and Art History, says few others have contributed more to contemporary art than Ray. "This is a big deal for us to be able to celebrate his career," McGuire says of presenting Ray with the alumni fellow award. "I think it's pretty meaningful to him, and of course it's really meaningful for our school." A Chicago native, Ray arrived at Iowa as a gifted artist but hardly a model student. Ray's dyslexia made schoolwork a chore, and his parents had sent him to military school with the hopes of straightening out his academics. It was at the UI, however, where he finally found his language in the studio and, in turn, his footing in the classroom. "Through the syntax of sculpture, I could express myself intellectually for the first time," Ray says. "That gave me a kind of confidence." Ray studied under UI art school pillars like Wallace Tomasini, Julius Schmidt, and Hans Breder. But it was his bond with Roland Brenner?a South African professor and former pupil of sculptor Anthony Caro?that proved to be the most influential. Ray still remembers his first sculpture in Brenner's class, a steel configuration with long stems and discs at the end. Its bouquet-like resemblance didn't sit well with Brenner. "That showed me you made something, but didn't want to discover something," Ray recalls Brenner telling him. "Don't ever do that in my class again." The two would become lifelong friends. Iowa City is a different place today than the 1970s, particularly the transformation of the arts campus after the flood of 2008, Ray says. Still, his visits back to campus over the years always remind him of those crisp and clear Iowa nights at the observatory and gazing out the studio window while exploring the frontiers of sculpture. "It feels like you can see right through the galaxy when you look up," Ray says. Handheld bird by Charles Ray, 2006, painted steel, 2x4x3 inches The UI is home to six pieces by Ray, all found in the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building and displayed through the university's Art on Campus program. Among them is Handheld bird, a tiny but ornate piece depicting a creature in an embryonic state. Lunchtime Lecture Series What: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences fellow Charles Ray and two guest art scholars?Graham Harman and Richard Neer?will deliver a series of public lectures this month at the UI. When, where: 12:20 p.m. April 16?18 at Art Building West, room 240, 141 N. Riverside Drive, Iowa City More information: events.uiowa.edu/26915 My Soul is an Object: Artist Talk with Charles Ray What: A public lecture by renowned sculptor and UI alumnus Charles Ray When, where: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 17, at Art Building West, room 240, 141 N. Riverside Drive, Iowa City More about Ray: charlesraysculpture.com/ Support the UI School of Art and Art History

The leadership of the University of Iowa Center for Advancement

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