Band head to return to alma mater

When the Michigan Marching Band high steps onto the field next fall to christen a new football season, its members will be marching to the beat of a different director.

Marching Band Director Kevin Sedatole turned in his resignation yesterday after three years at the helm of one of the nation's premier collegiate marching bands.

He has accepted the marching band directorship at the University of Texas, his alma mater.

Director of University Bands H. Robert Reynolds named Assistant Marching Band Director James Tapia as Sedatole's successor.

With Sedatole's departure, the band will lose more than just a director - it will lose a man with enthusiasm, good judgment and "class," Reynolds said.

"I think the difference in the band since Kevin took charge is evolutionary rather than revolutionary," Reynolds said. "He always had an unfailing sense of what was the right thing to do. The band plays better, the shows are more current in style and he's successfully continued the great Michigan Marching Band tradition."

Sedatole's contributions included changing the band's pre-game rendition of "The Victor's" to an upbeat tempo similar to the one the band played during the '50s.

Reynolds said that while the band will miss Sedatole's presence, its more than 300 members are "very lucky" to have Tapia assuming control.

"When I think of James I think of a consummate musician," Reynolds said. "The sound of the band, which has been one of the defining qualities of the Michigan Marching Band for decades, will be very important to him. He brings intelligence and a whole deal of maturity to the position."

Tapia, a Michigan native, said he is excited to take charge of a band he has listened to since early childhood. He said he is committed to stay with the band for at least five years.

"My first Michigan football game was in 1969, when I was six years old," Tapia said. "In the band profession there are some pinnacle jobs, and this is one of them."

Tapia said he is not satisfied with merely retaining the status quo and already has several ideas to enrich the band's 100-year tradition.

"I want our show to reach a broader spectrum of the audience," Tapia said. "Over the past five or six years our shows have been in one direction. The end zone people need to be performed to as well as the people on both sides.

"We want to make sure the student section and alumni section get the experience of the Michigan Marching Band playing to them," he said.

LSA senior and MMB trumpet player Mark Scozzafava said that while Sedatole loved what he did, band members never knew how long he was going to stay in his position.

While Tapia brings a lot of the same qualities to the job as Sedatole did, Scozzafava said, he has more Michigan spirit than his predecessor.

Sedatol "knew how to be friends with the students and still retain his authority," Scazzafava said. "But we always got the impression that Sedatol wanted to end up in Texas or as Director of Bands here.

"Dr. Tapia relates to the students even better than Sedatol did, is a more enthusiastic person and he may bring a little more loyalty to the program," Scazzafava said.

Tapia said he also wants to increase community and University awareness of the fight song and alma mater. Every time the band plays these songs during the game, he hopes to have the lyrics projected onto the large stadium video screens.

Alto saxophone player Greg Daniels said he is confident Tapia will be an exemplary band director.

"We'll miss Dr. Sedatole, but we're glad Tapia is taking over," said Daniels, an LSA sophomore. "We're going to be awesome next year. There'll be a few changes and they'll definitely be for the better."

Sedatole

Tapia

03-24-99