The Northern Arizona University Lumberjack Marching Band practices high in the mountains of Flagstaff to prepare for a Saturday football game. (Tucker Sennett/Cronkite News)
FLAGSTAFF – Staples are part of every college experience. These include football, dorm life and independence. But one thing can tie the whole thing together: the sound of a traditional and talented marching band.
Northern Arizona University’s Lumberjack Marching Band – locally known as the LMB – provides that and more for the school and community at the base of the San Francisco peaks in Flagstaff.
Throughout the summers, football seasons, basketball seasons and more, the people of Flagstaff can hear the LMB as it brings a combination of classics and modern music to the Walkup Skydome.
In 2025, the band will be rewarded for its efforts after being selected to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. And that’s no small accomplishment, especially for a lesser-known university like NAU.
“There’s over 100 applicants every year and they select 10 and not all of those are college marching bands,” NAU marching band director Brent Levine said. “We were really fortunate to be selected by the committee.”
The LMB will join the bands of Alcorn State University, University of North Alabama and Temple University as the collegiate representatives in the parade. The parade began in 1924 and has included marching bands and drumlines since 1926.
Levine’s humbleness embodies the personality of the band as a whole. When people think of NAU, they think of a college high in the mountains of Arizona. They think of lumberjacks. They probably don’t think of an elite marching band playing songs from Broadway musicals like “West Side Story.”
Levine knows what the highest level of college marching bands looks like.
“I did my doctorate at Ohio State, and this is actually my first job after completing that program,” he said. “When I arrived, the band was actually already quite strong.”
Ohio State’s marching band can be seen forming words and performing raucous renditions of popular music on Saturdays in Columbus, something Levine wanted to replicate on a smaller scale in Flagstaff.
“We’ve done things like have a giant spider crawl across the field when we played Spider-Man last year,” he said.
But every great story has adversity. The Lumberjack Marching Band lost a significant number of members during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Levine and his core leadership members worked hard to rebuild the band better than ever. They just did it in a new way.
“We have 78 majors spread across the marching band, which is absolutely insane,” baton twirler Madelyn Cleis said. “We always want to create a culture that everyone can be a part of.”
NAU Lumberjack band director Brent Levine gives commands to his group during a practice sessions in Flagstaff. (Tucker Sennett/Cronkite News)
Inclusivity and diversity are staples of the band. The diversity ranges from ethnicity to academic interest to hometowns to music or marching experience. The spectrum is wide. Levine and his group of leaders quickly and smoothly molded that mix into one of the nation’s most exciting shows.
“I come from a small town in Eagle River, Alaska,” brass captain Avery Caldwell said. “I was in a band of maybe 40 people and we did not do any marching thing or basically any pep band thing.”
Caldwell mentioned his surprise about the community aspect of the band and the school.
“This is what is possible with the community and the support of everybody around you,” he said.
While Levine tried to guard his excitement about the Macy’s performance next November, Caldwell and other band members were visibly giddy when discussing their big moment.
“It is mind-blowing that this band is able to be a part of something as big as Macy’s,” Caldwell said. “It really isn’t this exact band that’s going to Macy’s, it’s next year’s band. But the only reason we’re going to Macy’s is because of the band from two years ago, so it takes a village to accomplish something like that.”
The work that goes into preparing for a weekly football game is intense. The 200-plus band members practice outside at the NAU Student-Athlete High Performance Center, which was finished in 2022, on the football team’s practice field three days a week, weather permitting. However, the work begins over the summer for the ensuing football and basketball season for Levine and his directors.
“The design process for the staff starts … in May and June, we select music and figure out what we want to do and we know pretty much how many folks want to do this by about mid-July,” Levine said.
Without the aid of student leaders, the Lumberjack Marching Band wouldn’t have the success it does. The drum majors, who essentially are Levine’s coaches on the field, make that possible.
“We go up on these big podiums and we actually conduct the marching band,” drum major Samantha Fagan said. “Everyone on the field, about 200 people, are looking at us … most of the pizzazz and the amazing work is done by everyone on the field.”
As for learning the routines and marches, the preparation requires dedication and focus like any other sport. On top of that, training at altitude is difficult for most athletes at first, so marching has the same challenges in many ways.
“It’s definitely a unique process and there’s not a lot I could compare it to,” Caldwell said. “It is very mental and very physical, just marching, moving around and making sure that you’re in unison with everybody around you, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever done and I think that’s what makes it so special.”
The arts can breed competition. It’s human nature to want to compete with others. The LMB is different in many ways but a lack of unhealthy competition is certainly one of them.
“I would say that the best thing about NAU and the LMB is how little competition there is,” Caldwell said. “Everybody is so supportive of everyone else. … I think that’s one of the greatest things about this band.”
Even at the high school level, things can be more competitive than they are at NAU within the LMB. One member of the band from Phoenix area explained the difference.
“I went to Mountain Ridge High School and … the culture was kind of different … we were competitive,” drumline captain Mia Rodriguez said. “We don’t compete so it’s a little more relaxed here but I enjoyed it either way in high school.”
That uniqueness stretches beyond just the band. At most universities, the athletes focus on athletics and the band focuses on the band. At NAU, that relationship is very different.
“The band’s primary goal is to support what’s going on with our athletics program here at NAU,” Levine said. “We work together to make this a really cohesive experience for the two programs. So for example, during camp, we … taught the whole football team the fight song.
“The first thing that happens when we win at NAU, the football team comes up and most of them just run up into the stands to hang out with the band. We play the fight song and the alma mater and celebrate together.”
The combination created by the two groups is special and intentional, Levine said. The two programs have a beneficial relationship and know it. That acknowledgment is rare.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the LMB is the fact they are heavily funded by the students who choose to participate.
“We’re fundraising every dime to make this happen,” Levine said about the band having larger opportunities.
While the trip to New York is a year away, the LMB will do everything it can to make its dream a reality and march from Central Park and West 77th Street to Macy’s Herald Square on Thanksgiving.
For now, 6,950 feet above sea level in the mountains of Flagstaff, Levine and his Lumberjacks will continue to hone their craft and prepare for their big moment.