WKU Big Red Marching Band History

The first band at the Western Kentucky Teachers College (WKTC) was formed in 1925, as a student organization and was led by student director, Joyce Felts. There were 20 members. By the next year, a faculty director, Franz J. Strahm, was employed, and the band had grown to 30 members. That same year the college spent $2,000 on band instruments. The band continued a steady growth over the next ten years, gradually expanding the number of services provided to the university.

By 1939, the band had grown to 110 members and was a regular feature at WKTC football games. The most advanced concert performing group through this period of the band's history was called the Concert Band. Several different conductors served as the band's director including: John Vincent in 1939-1940, and 1943-45; and Hugh Gunderson 1940-1943, 1946-1949, and 1952-1956. In 1956, Ed Knob assumed the position of director of bands which he held for nine years. Under his leadership the marching band had up to 100 members and a wind ensemble was formed.

Dr. David Livingston assumed the directorship of the WKU bands in 1965, and served in that capacity until 1969. Dr. Livingston's tenure included the largest marching bands to that time (up to 116 members), large concert bands, and an all-female jazz band called Gemini 15. Roger McConnell became band director in 1969, a position in which he served for two years. Under the leadership of Kent Campbell, who held the directorship from 1972 to 1993, the longest tenure on record, the WKU band program enjoyed the largest participation in its history until the 2010s. Dr. Campbells’ marching bands contained up to 170 members and the Concert Band, later called the Chamber Band, had a membership of up to 80 members.

John C. Carmichael accepted the position of Director of Bands in August 1993. During his 14-year directorship, the Chamber Band became known as the Wind Ensemble. Dr. Carmichael started the Southern Kentucky Concert Band, a summer band at WKU, and also founded the Department of Music’s PRISM Concert. In 2007, Dr. Jeff Bright was hired as the new director of the BRMB, and a year later Dr. Gary Schallert was hired as Dr. Carmichael’s successor as Director of Bands. During the 2010s, the WKU Band program witnessed unprecedented growth and gained greater national prominence with performances of the Wind Ensemble at the 2016 CBDNA Southern Division Conference, three performances at the KMEA Professional Development Conferences (2012, 2016, 2020), two international tours, and the addition of the WKU Campus Community Concert Band, WKU’s third concert band. During the Schallert/Bright era, the Big Red Marching Band enrollment grew to 280 members, the largest in program history, and the largest band in the state.

Mr. Allen Kennedy was hired as Interim Associate Director of Bands serving from 2018 to 2020. After a national search, Dr. Matthew McCurry was named WKU’s new Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Big Red Marching Band beginning his tenure in the summer of 2020.