Dr. Corey Pompey assumed leadership of the UW Marching Band in spring of 2019, navigating the band through the 2020 Rose Bowl, the challenges of the pandemic and now into the revitalized era of football under Luke Fickell.
Emphasizing passion and prioritizing communication, Pompey shared with The Daily Cardinal his reflections on both his journey and the band’s. He explored band members’ collective struggles, their unwavering determination and their relentless pursuit to excel in their musical roles.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Where are you from and how did you get involved in music?
I am originally from Birmingham, Alabama. I got involved in music because [of] music programs in the schools. I started off in a string program, and eventually I joined the band program [in] fifth grade.
How did this passion evolve into a career?
I didn't know that I wanted to be a band director. When I graduated from high school, I wanted to be an attorney. I knew that you could major in anything you wanted to if you want to be an attorney. I did not want to do English, history, political science… I wanted to do something that I enjoy, and that's music.
I was going to get my music degree, take the LSAT and go be a lawyer. Somewhere along the way, I came to the realization that I might have been kidding myself.
What was it like to transition the culture of the band into a new post-Leckrone era, and how important is it to retain its unique history?
I had a lot of help. Our assistant band director at the time was hugely helpful for me, [and] the students were extremely helpful. If there was anything that was running afoul of tradition, I would hear about it.
There were times when I would ask, “Here's an idea. What do you think?” And sometimes they would be receptive to it. But from a tradition standpoint, it is important to maintain those things that are good. Anything that does not bring harm to the organization, I'm okay with.
I thought the transition went about as well as it could have gone. I've observed other band programs get really sideways.
When I first found out about this job, I was not interested in it. Conventional wisdom tells me you don't take a job following someone that's been in a position for 50 years. But the people that I met prior to taking this job all said, “We will be supportive. We're not looking for a clone of Mike.” That was helpful.
The other thing that was helpful [was that] prior to officially starting the position, I had breakfast with Mike and my other soon-to-be band colleagues. One of them asked Mike, “So Mike, do you have any advice for Corey?” And Mike shook his head and said no, he did not have any advice. Then he said, “Do what you know how to do.”
Even though he said he didn't have any advice, that was his advice: just do what you know how to do. One of the things he talked about being grateful for when he took over the position was that his predecessor was supportive, and he planned to do the same thing.
What do you hope your legacy is?
Honestly, I don’t think in those terms. I hope I do the best job that I can do for the students. If there was a legacy to be had, I hope it didn't burn to the ground and that, somehow, we were able to maintain high musical standards and high marching standards. That's my hope.
I hope we will also be in a position to bring the band in line with some other major bands of the country in terms of resources. The band is not struggling by any stretch of the imagination, [but] there are some bands that are set up in a way that we’re not set up right now. That’s where I hope to get.
I would compare it to programs that started the NIL [Name, Image and Likeness] journey before we did. There is a band in the country, in the conference, [that] started working on [NIL] way ahead of everybody else. Now they're sitting on a nearly $30 million endowment, and that helps to support the program. I’d like to get us into that realm.
What is your relationship with the DJ at football games? Is he receptive to the needs of the band?
He’s great! He and I, we’re great. There's no issue between us and the DJ. He's doing the job that he's been hired to do. When we see each other, it's cordial.
Here's the thing that most people might not know when it comes to the DJ and the band: The DJ plays when he's told to play. The band plays when we are told to play.
I will say that there were a lot of things going on that first game when they said the DJ was playing over the band. Our friends in the athletic department were doing the best that they could do. Were there some hiccups? Yes, there were hiccups. I think we worked a lot of those out over the second game. I am very aware of the public criticism that came down on the athletic department.
I would say no one was acting maliciously that first game. We were all working to put [out] the best product that we could. That's how I would respond to that.
The people that do production for the football games really took the critiques to heart. They worked over those next two weeks to really dial things in. My hope is that people felt better.
Could you explain a bit about what goes into band performances at halftime and the Fifth Quarter?
The first thing that people probably should know is that the marching band is a class on campus. The class meets Tuesday through Fridays in the afternoons. For a game week, we meet nearly 10 hours over the course of the week in order to prepare for the game. On game day Saturdays, we meet in the morning. If it’s an 11 a.m. game, we’re rehearsing at 7 a.m.
If it's a one week game [a second back-to-back week with a home game], we have to figure out how we're going to learn the field show pregame in one week, and they're very stressful. They're not fun. We got one week! We do a different show every game, so preparing a full production in one week can be stressful. In a two week preparation, we'll talk about something that took nearly 18 to 20 hours of rehearsal to be able to do.
If we're preparing for a halftime show early in the process, we focus on the music. Then between the beginning and the end of that preparation period, [we] shift focus from the music to the visual. By the time we get on the back end, we'll mostly [be] working on the combination of the music and the visual. That's kind of how it works.
What makes UW-Madison different from other schools, programs or bands you've worked for?
The thing that makes us unique is our marching style. We call [it] "stop at the top.” We're the only university that does that because Mike invented it. That is something that's unique to us, and that’s special.
Is it the high knees?
It’s how we do the high knees. A lot of the bands do high stuff. [In the] traditional Big Ten, those schools that were at the beginning of the conference all had a high step.
And in varying degrees, they still do it. But the difference is we still high step for pregame and halftime. Most of the bands of our conference, if they have a high step, they'll do it for pregame but not for halftime.
It's our approach to doing that high-step that's unique, the “stop at the top” aspect of it [where the leg is brought up quickly and pauses at a 90-degree angle, a style exclusive to UW-Madison]. There's some real technical things physically that go into making that happen. That's unique to us.
The other thing that I really appreciate about Wisconsin is people love the band, and I really appreciate that. To me, it's visceral.
They built this later iteration of Union South so that it would be good for the acoustics when the band plays these pregame concerts. Where else does a university build a building so that their band can sound good?
I'm not talking about a music or band building that's designed for them to rehearse. The fact that they took [into] consideration those concerts is totally unique to us, and Union South houses the [Badger Band] Hall of Fame. That’s what I mean when I say we've got great, great support here.
Speaking of that support, how challenging was it to deal with COVID?
Oh my goodness, I’m still trying to forget. Maybe I shouldn't forget.
It was tough. I can't sugarcoat it. Number one, thank goodness we went to the Rose Bowl that year, because if we hadn't gone to the Rose Bowl [for] those seniors, that would have made that year worse. That's really something positive that they can look back on. So we [did] the Rose Bowl in January, and we started practicing for the spring concert that we were expecting to have in April, and that got taken away.
Then you fast forward to the fall. We were a shell of ourselves at that point. We could not meet as a large group, so we were meeting in pods with a maximum of 25 people or so for a whole semester, never having the opportunity to perform as an ensemble.
The students felt a sense of loss. The sense of community was really disrupted during that time. We started that year without the prospect of playing at football games, too.
I have an appreciation for all of the people that joined the band knowing we were not going to play football because they wanted to be a part of the band. I'll always be appreciative of those people, and I'm also appreciative of all the people that stayed because they love the band.
There was a handful of people that said, “We're not doing football? I'm out of here.” But the vast majority stayed. Without their help, we could not have gone through that period.
At a predominantly white institution, what would you say to young Black people or young people of color who may not see a place for them in music in higher education?
Honestly, I think the only thing that I can say is: Give us a shot. We have really good students in the band. They're very supportive, and there are structures in place to support students of color here at this institution.
Come observe, see what you think. Do you like what you see? If so, give us a shot.
I would also encourage them to talk to the students of color in the band to see what their experiences are because we have students of color [who] have been in the band for multiple years. It would be good for future students to have those conversations with them to see what they did to be able to navigate all of this.
On a personal note, there are only two Black band directors in the Big Ten and five in the Power Five conferences. What does it mean to be among them?
I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here, and it means a lot to a lot of people. For that reason, it's important to me. When I'm doing my job on a day-to-day basis, I'm trying to do the best job that I can for everybody. That piece of it is not always on the forefront of my thinking.
I don't want to sound like I'm being dismissive of it, because it is very important. I'm hoping that my presence here would potentially encourage others to come. So it's a big deal, and we'd love to see more people of color in the ranks.
If I am able to inspire or provide encouragement for those people who are also coming up to do this, I would love to do that and am happy to do that to the best of my ability. People do reach out from time to time, and I am able to offer advice.
This is kind of a silly question, but do you like football? Are you interested in that side of things?
Oh, yes…. I love football. I love college football. I follow college football more than I do the NFL. I'm a Packers fan by default. I have several teams that I follow, but Wisconsin is number one.
What is your favorite memory here so far?
Oh, wow. There have been some great memories. The Rose Bowl was magical. Being able to march the parade and then do a halftime on one of the biggest stages of the sport — that was special.
One of the things that was special for me — I had the opportunity to meet Allee Willis. For people that don't know Allee Willis, she was a songwriter [who] wrote “September,” “Boogie Wonderland” and the theme from “Friends.” She graduated from Wisconsin in 1969. She visited campus for the 50th anniversary of her class.
I grew up listening to Earth, Wind & Fire, and to be able to talk to someone that wrote those songs or co-wrote those songs was crazy to me, absolutely crazy.
Unfortunately, she passed that December, so the fact that I was able to have that experience with her was wonderful. She was great to the students — any picture that they wanted to take, she took. And that was awesome.
She conducted the band during halftime, which was an awesome experience. We played some of her music, and she was just really supportive.
