There’s one group of Spartans and Wolverines who won’t be pelting each other with insults this weekend - the marching bands.
One band may hail to the victors while the other goes right through for MSU, but the rivalry between the Michigan Marching Band and the Spartan Marching Band is respectful, not rancorous.
“We don’t think that way at all,” said Jamie Nix, director of the Michigan Marching Band. “The rivalry exists on the football field. As far as the bands go, we both want to put on good shows for each other. We both respect each other.”
MSU band director John Madden agreed and said the “battle of the bands” exists only in the fans’ minds. College marching bands began in the Midwest, he said, and both schools are known nationally for excellence and tradition.
“There’s a tradition in the way both bands have been national leaders influencing college bands all over country for over 100 years,” he said.
Many band members from both schools are friends from high school, and last May two opposing marchers even married.
Ami and Aaron Freudigman went to Bloomfield Hills’ Andover High School together, where they both played basketball and marched in the band. When their senior year ended, Ami Freudigman headed for Michigan, Aaron Freudigman for MSU.
Each joined their respective school’s band, and the relationship continued despite the distance and opposing uniforms. Ami Freudigman said sometimes her bandmates would tease her and say,“Why are you dating that guy over there?” But for the most part, the rivalry was no big deal.
“I just thought it was fun,” she said. “It was my favorite game of the year. We would meet each other on field if we could. It was like an extra pick-me-up, extra good luck.”
But the relationship isn’t all smiles and hugs.
At U-M, Nix said his marchers come to practices with a “quickness in their steps.” At MSU, sophomore tenor sax player Chris Lamar said there’s a higher expectation from Madden and the squad leaders to outplay the Wolverines.
“We want to impress them,” he said. “We want our music to be perfect, especially their fight song. We want to play it better than they do.
“Sometimes, when I hear their melody, I’m like, ‘Ugh, I hate it.’ So I just try to play my part as loud as possible so I can’t hear it.”
MSU bands traveling to Ann Arbor have had problems with U-M fans, not the Wolverine band. Madden said after the first year he went there, he realized he needed a plan to avoid U-M students.
“We strategically stay away from the student section,” he said. “We don’t want marshmallows thrown at us. I’ve designed the whole day so that we can walk around there without going in that corner. It only took one time of having the student section throw bottles and marshmallows to figure that out.”
Avoiding the Michigan band, however, is not on the agenda. In fact, after the game, both bands traditionally meet at a reception with punch and doughnuts to watch videotapes of their performances.
And neither band said it plans any unique chants for the big rivalry game. MSU uses the same “series” when it marches to stadiums for each game, with the same chant - “Go State, beat the (insert team).”
“We say that for every game, like, ‘Go State, beat the Irish,’ Lamar said. “But ‘Go State, beat Michigan,’ is just more inspiring.”
