Welcome to ‘Reg Week’

In mid-August, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band begins a weeklong training program for returning and prospective band members to sharpen their instrument and marching skills before the fall sports season.

This is called Registration (Reg) Week, and at the end of it, prospective band members audition for a role in the Badger Band.

Athletic bands coordinator Olivia Nelson prepares for this far in advance. She helps coordinate special training clinics throughout the summer, where prospectives can learn the distinctive marching style of the Badger Band - a high-knee routine called "stop at the top" - and prepare for their upcoming auditions and hopeful band season.

"I've been through [Reg Week] quite a few times, and I really enjoy getting to see all the new prospective members learning the basics of the marching style," says Braden King, a senior trombone player and rank leader. "[They have] great improvement over the course of the week as they go from not knowing how to do any of it at all to being good enough to be members of the band."

Before Reg Week can begin, student staff, graduate TAs and faculty affiliated with the band meet to discuss roles for the week and beyond.

Student staff members like King help with equipment management and other organizational tasks while TAs review audition videos ahead of Reg Week, providing feedback on their section.

The band's leadership team, consisting of returning members who have the title of rank leaders and guide their sub-section of the band during performances, also return to campus early to help set the tempo for the new band season.

"We actually go to a ropes course," Nelson says. "[The leaders] are forced to trust each other and work with each other."

The rundown of Reg Week

Reg Week, despite its name, is a five-day program that begins on a Friday and wraps on Tuesday. Rehearsals are split into marching fundamentals and music rehearsals, both with and without instruments. (Prospectives audition on a personal instrument.)

Samantha Davis, a third-year saxophone player and rank leader, helped ease the prospective players into the unique Badger Band marching style during this year's Reg Week from Aug. 14 to 18.

"Really anybody [with musical talent] can be in the band," Davis says. "We help them along the way. If they need to learn a new instrument, we help with that."

To balance the serious stakes of Reg Week, returning band players use traditions to make everyone feel welcome. They include dressing up in silly costumes to remind nervous prospective players about the true purpose of the Badger Band: creating a community and bringing joy to those inside and outside of the band.

Participants ultimately spend over 20 hours practicing marching and instrument playing during Reg Week. On the final day, the auditions take roughly three and a half hours.

"We'll meet after the auditions, and we basically sit in a room for hours until we figure out that roster," Nelson says.

Band faculty and the TAs consider playing auditions, marching styles and how each prospective player has interacted with others. Deliberation often extends into the very late evening, because, while the Badger Band is large, there's only so many spots available for new players. The results are listed so late that newly accepted band members wake up to the good news.

"A lot of times we even have to do switches," says Nelson, explaining that some players are asked to join the band on a different instrument than what they auditioned for. "It's a lot of moving people around, trying to get different section numbers to match up."

When King learned he had been accepted into the Badger Band as a freshman, "I felt really proud of myself," he says. "Not everybody makes it, so there was a lot of nail-biting that night before. I was very grateful that the effort that I put in was worth it."

'A rewarding experience'

On the day following the roster list release, the whirlwind continues as new members are issued their instruments, go through a uniform fitting and attend a new member orientation. After that, the real training begins as the entire band prepares to perform during Wisconsin Welcome events and the first sports games.

"We send that email, and then it's off to the races," Nelson says. "We're getting ready for that home football game, and so there's no break for any of them."

The first few performances of the season for the Badger Band are smaller-scale events like the W Project and the New Student Convocation ceremony. These give new and returning players a chance to get settled into their roles before they entertain a packed Camp Randall Stadium.

As a freshman, Sage Kirkpatrick, now a second-year trombone player, experienced the W Project as a regular attendee and was enthralled by the Badger Band. He realized then that he had missed out.

"I was like, 'I should have done the band,'" he says. "Honestly, that was my moment - I'm gonna do it next year."

This season marked Kirkpatrick's first Reg Week as a returning member.

"The pressure and the stress of having to audition and make it in is not there," Kirkpatrick noted before the program. "I'm looking forward to improve my marching, my playing, just have a little more fun and relax a bit."

While Reg Week isn't designed to create comfort in returning or prospective players, the program helps players build confidence in their band skills and encourages them to develop relationships that will last seasons.

"The amount of time that you spend with these people, especially as a freshman, really makes it so you have a built-in group of friends right at the start," King says. "I've built connections that have lasted throughout all four years that are some of my closest friendships now."

The Badger Band has a lot to prepare for in the next few weeks. The first home Badger football game is on Sept. 12, giving players and staff only three full weeks after auditions to rehearse before performing for 75,000 screaming fans.

"It's definitely a rewarding experience to be able to get back into the swing of things," King says. "There's a lot of anticipation toward going back to work every fall. There's exhaustion afterward. It's a lot of fun."