Members of the University of Minnesota Marching Band thought they were about to get lectured. Their director, Betsy McCann, collected every student’s phone at the band banquet in mid-December and started giving a “weird speech” about how technology tends to take over their lives. Then she made an announcement that the band was not allowed to text, tweet, or even say for more than six weeks: The band would be marching with Justin Timberlake in the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
“Everyone went crazy,” sophomore Ava Crowley said, finally, after the Super Bowl performance on Sunday.
If term papers are turned in late, that’s because the band rehearsed around 54 hours over the last three weeks—some days, for 8 hours at a time. But the journey actually started back in October.
Band members were talking about how cool it would be to be part of the hometown Super Bowl—there's often a marching band somewhere in the big game festivities—so they decided to do something about it, creating the hashtag #UMNmarchwithJT. Tuba player Owen Luterbach posted it in an 8,000 member Big 10 marching band Facebook group and on the internal band page, simply asking people to tweet their support. “I didn’t think many people would,” Luterbach says. But within a few hours, there were hundreds of tweets from friends, family, and other bands campaigning for the U to be in the Super Bowl. Buoyed by the support—and aware that JT is big on social media—they created a video asking the general public to join in their “Pride of Minnesota” campaign. After more than 42,000 views, 1,000 shares, and a Kare 11 TV interview, the call came from the pre-game and halftime cast field director. She was interested. Confirmation came to McCann (who happens to be the Big 10’s first female marching band director) a few weeks later.
Rehearsals began two weeks ago. The band met Timberlake for the first time on Saturday, January 27 during a practice at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds coliseum. They started working with him directly on Wednesday, January 31—along with several other local squads: U of M dancers, University of St. Thomas dancers, Vikings cheerleaders, and some high school dance teams—about 800 participants in all.
“I don’t think I ever realized how much work goes into it, how many moving parts,” says Crowley, a clarinet player. As the show came together, Timberlake's team decided they only needed brass instruments, so Crowley and many of her bandmates were assigned other roles in the show: being the front row "fans" and holding up mirrors for the "Can't Stop the Feeling" finale.
While the stakes were higher than any other game in their marching band career, the 13-minute show was actually less physically taxing that a college game, McCann says, since all band members had different roles and no one was on the field for the whole show. "The biggest challenge for us was honestly the preparation process. We were working and coordinating with so many people, which is very different from our usual band show. The field director and field staff were amazing to work with though, and they made it a great experience."
The students were on the field at U.S. Bank Stadium on Wednesday for Timberlake’s birthday celebration, which the singer shared on social media. Wife Jessica Biel and son Silas waved from the sideline. The week leading up to the Super Bowl consisted of three all-day practices. JT bought s'mores and hot chocolate for the band after one long rehearsal.
"He constantly let us know during rehearsals how much of an important part we had in the show," says Kyle Rounds, a freshman tuba player.
And then came game time.
“It was a really surreal feeling to walk onto the field,” Crowley says. “I’ve never been in a position like that.”
At first, says Luterbach, it just felt like one of the dozens of rehearsals. "We rehearsed it so many times, that it wasn’t insanely special right away. But when we were marching off and everything was a bit blurry, it was the weirdest feeling ever. The tears started coming,” he says. “I just realized, this is an experience not many people get in their lifetime. I was one of them, and I got to experience it with my best friends.”
Adds McCann, "It was a very rewarding 13 minutes for me as a teacher."
At risk of a major letdown after performing at the biggest game in the world, Luterbach says the band plans to keep the momentum going. They’ve started a Crowd Fund campaign to raise money for travel to away games—something the U of M band hasn’t been able to afford since 1996. “We’d like to continue sharing our marching band with the rest of the country,” the campaign statement says.
Meanwhile, Luterbach is holding onto an email from Timberlake’s trumpet player. Could a future collaboration be possible? Stay tuned.
