Striking Up the Band
John Jenkins poses with memorabilia in his Fine Arts Center office. The clock’s inscription reads, “The Best Band Conductor in the East.” The band presented this gift at the end of the 1963 season.
Walking past the Fine Arts Center, you can hear the sound of one or more of 16 conducted ensembles practicing. With all that music in the air, it may come as a surprise that band music was not always a centerpiece at UMass Amherst.
Oh, there was music: in early days Music Department chair Doric Alviani founded the Operetta Guild (now UMass Theater Guild). There were student-run bands, the Precisionettes performed at halftime, and there had been a military band before that. In 1950, band director Joe Contino required auditions, founded an annual Concert Band tour, and opened the bands to women.
The volume was turned up dramatically in 1963 when a young man on a mission came to campus. John Jenkins was fresh out of graduate study with the University of Michigan Bands and reserve service in the Sixth Armored Cavalry, when a call came that would change his life–and the sound of music at UMass Amherst.
John Lederle, president of UMass Amherst during one of its most pivotal growth periods, was on the line. Would Jenkins be interested in creating a band program modeled after Michigan, including a marching band to be built almost from scratch?
Jenkins jumped at the opportunity. The job sounded ideal, and he soon proved ideal for the job. Jenkins says any success he achieved was owed to “unqualified support from President Lederle’s administration and the dedicated band members and staff who enthusiastically embraced the band’s new direction.
In the spring of 1964, Jenkins’ Concert Band represented Massachusetts at the World’s Fair in New York, and by that fall, the marching band, double in size and resplendent in new uniforms, was operating at the Big 10 pace with a new show for every game. Jenkins crafted the shows to special musical arrangements by Michigan friend Jerry Bilik.
In fewer than five years, Jenkins and his staff evolved the band to compete alongside the established bands of the Big 10. “We did this,” says Jenkins, “by acting like one-man bands, multiplying our efforts by coming to campus seven days a week and working with our band members–who spread the word, and more musicians signed up.”
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Jenkins developed a wind ensemble and symphony, concert and marching bands; commissioned a series of compositions; and expanded the marching band’s repertoire, bringing to the field provocative choreography and political messages that helped transform marching bands. A highlight was the band’s program following the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. To reflect the turbulence in the country, Jenkins changed the opening of halftime: a tiny brass band played the traditional “America,” soon obliterated by the marching band’s entrance, playing “America” from West Side Story. During student protests in 1970, the band’s “Sounds of Silence: Peace Now” show brought Collegian accolades and standing ovations at home and away.
These signature moments sealed Jenkins’ reputation, and he became synonymous with music at UMass Amherst. After a break to complete doctoral studies, he developed such campuswide programs as the Multiband Pops Concert and The Lively Arts (the university’s first interdisciplinary general education course in the arts). When he moved into the Fine Arts Center administration, Jenkins selected and hired his eventual heir, George Parks.
As we pass the fourth decade of the band experience John Jenkins defined for this campus, it’s clear UMass Amherst owes an enormous debt to him.