GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As fireworks are to the Fourth of July, college football goes best with a marching band.
When the Calvin University football team took the field for the first time in school history on Saturday, the institution's first-ever marching band played the fight song from the sidelines, doing so on only two rehearsals-worth of practice.
"Fast. Fast. Fast," said director of athletic bands Dr. Steve Sudduth. "Learning the ropes and learning this new animal called the marching band."
Prior to start of the 2024-25 academic year, Calvin hired Sudduth to begin the band. The man with master's degrees in trombone performance and composition had established them at other schools, including Dickinson State University.
"As long as I live, I'll always play," Sudduth said. "I love music that much and, to me, music is a gift from God."
Piecing together an ensemble from scratch takes three things, according to Sudduth: Time, patience and enthusiasm.
In a Thursday afternoon practice at Calvin's fine arts facility, Sudduth's enthusiasm was clear. He played his trombone with the band, shouting and singing along to songs like "Crazy Train."
"People are doing things that are hard together, and when people do hard things together, they just they connect," said Jason Perez, a senior.
Perez was trained on the trumpet, but switched to the mellophone when the need arose. Thursday's practice was his fifth day with the instrument.
"It's so different from the trumpet, but it's so fun," Perez said.
The marching band is still accepting members and will wait until future years to enter competitions and design and order traditional uniforms. During basketball season, they'll play as a pep band. Right now, the focus is on working with what they have and taking it to the football field.
"If the football players can do it, we can do it," Sudduth said. "They're gonna be in the heat, we're gonna be in the heat. They're gonna be in the frigid cold. We're gonna be in the frigid cold. We can do it."
