There's a lesser-known face-off during Arizona's Territorial Cup: The Battle of the Bands

Bragging rights between Arizona State University and the University of Arizona are on the line this Friday — and not just because the schools’ respective football teams will face off in the annual Territorial Cup game.

There will also be a battle of the bands — the Sun Devil Marching Band against UA’s Pride of Arizona Marching Band. Every year, earlier in the day before the football game, the two bands perform their original shows at a local high school in the game’s host city. This year, they’ll be appearing at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe.

Much like a quarterback makes a gameplan, so too does the drum major of a marching band before a halftime show.

For an inside look at that process, The Show recently sat down with Cory Yeager, the head drum major of the Sun Devil Marching Band.

The Show also reached out to UA's band, but didn’t get a response.

Yeager told The Show about his nuanced approach to the Battle of the Bands — which he said isn’t technically a competition.

Full conversation

CORY YEAGER: We call it Battle of the Bands, right. But it's more of an exhibition for both of us. Right. The U of A will come up here and they'll play their show first, we'll play our show second. And it's just kind of an opportunity for us to get together. So it's just a great opportunity to kind of show off what the marching arts looks like at the collegiate level, right.

In Arizona, we have, we have two different circuits that do marching band: ABODA and AZMBA. And the high schools compete. During that, I was, I went to Sandra Day O' Connor High School.

SAM DINGMAN: OK.

YEAGER: So I was competitive in that. Right. Competitive marching band, things like that. We don't do that at the collegiate level. And I think that a lot of kids, when they get out of high school, they don't know what's next. So it's just an opportunity for people to kind of see what we do.

DINGMAN: Yeah.

YEAGER: Right. And it's a recruiting tool.

DINGMAN: OK, OK. Can I ask you, I mean, when you were doing it in high school.

YEAGER: Yes.

DINGMAN: How much of the appeal for you was the competitive element?

YEAGER: When I was in high school, I would think about the competitive aspect and I would review the judges sheets and I would say, OK, OK, OK. When we go to rehearsal, this is what we need to focus on. This is what we need to do. This is what we need to do.

DINGMAN: Like review judges' sheets from previous years or previous competitions?

YEAGER: Yes, from previous competitions ,and the judges tapes as well. So they have judges that they have, like the five, for the five categories like music ensemble, things like that. So I would say that it was a big part of, of what I was bought into.

But I would say more for me. I love sports. I'm a huge fan of letting the band play the fight song. I think it's what makes college athletics college athletics, especially in the ever-changing environment of what college athletics is now, with name, image, likeness and all the things. The transfer portal, things like that.

Jason Wilcox

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ASU School of Music, Dance and Theatre

DINGMAN: That's interesting. There is something uniquely amateur college sports about having a marching band and a fight song that is unique to that institution.

YEAGER: That's right. Yeah. And people spend four years at their university, right. And they buy into it, I would say, more than you would with a major sports team, especially with, you know, 55,000 people in the stadium.

Touchdown score, right. Guy breaks off for 30, 40 yard touchdown. Place's going crazy. Play fight song, play the fight song, let the band play it. It brings people together.

DINGMAN: Brings people together.

YEAGER: Yes.

DINGMAN: It is interesting to me, though. It's one thing to be in the band, it's another thing to lead the band.

YEAGER: Yes.

DINGMAN: What do you like about leading the band?

YEAGER: Yes. Well, the biggest thing for me is that it's not so much about being in front of people. Right. The reason why I drum major, and why I'm so passionate about it, is because I'm passionate about the relationships that it can create for people.

My best friends I met my freshman year of high school, and we're still best friends to this day. Text all the time. I lived with them last year. It's really important to me.

DINGMAN: And you met them through band?

YEAGER: I did, yes. I met them through band. They're my best friends. Being able to build that connection for people matters to me, and I want people to have that opportunity to meet their best friends, to meet maybe their partner, things like that. I met my girlfriend in marching band. We were drum majors together in high school. So ...

DINGMAN: Wow. I want to see that movie.

YEAGER: Yeah. Yeah. Right. So it matters. Right. People might just think about, oh, here comes the marching band. But it's the product that you work together to build through the year. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, whenever your rehearsal schedule is continually getting better, that builds that relationship.

And when it's time for the season to end or it gets close to the end, you really buy into it and you say, you know what? We had a great year. We had a great year. I'm coming back. Right. This matters to me.

DINGMAN: So if I'm hearing you right, you like being a steward of that.

YEAGER: Yes. Yes.

DINGMAN: OK. So coming back to the Battle of the Bands, even if it's not a formal competition, level with me.

YEAGER: Oh, yeah.

DINGMAN: Is there some sense of rivalry just for you personally or within the band? Like, do you want to put on a better show than UA?

YEAGER: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Without a doubt. Without a doubt. And I'm sure people down south can tell you the exact same, is that when you get into the rivalry, you might not understand it at first.

And for me, I came to ASU. I think we had won I don't know how many years in a row that we had held the cup for. And it was a huge point. They had a billboard set up on the way down to Tucson. How many years we had won in a row. And they had to come up and look at it. And it was just a big deal, right.

And we went down there my first year and we lost. And, yeah, it's challenging hubris. Yeah. And their fans are passionate about it. They call it Hate Week, right. Hate Week. Rivalry Week. I mean, it's a big deal.

DINGMAN: It's a thing.

YEAGER: Yeah, yeah. It's a huge deal. So of course we want to put on a better show. And we'll always tell you that. Yeah, man, we got them this year. We got them this year. And they're going to say the same thing. We got them this year, we got them this year.

So it's just, it's fun. It's fun. But of course we do. Of course we want to show that we're a better band. And of course, I think that's true. But they have a great program.

DINGMAN: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, look, and we, you know, we gave them the opportunity to come in here and do this as a three-way conversation. So they're not here. So you can say whatever you want.

But what does that look like for you as drum major? Like, I mean, obviously you're there in rehearsal, but are you then in your off time, are you, like, reviewing video? What does that process look like?

YEAGER: Yeah, all the time. All the time. We use this app called UDB, Ultimate Drill Book, and it's what sets all of our dots. And I go through it, I watch the dots, I watch how it comes together. I watch how it lines up to the music.

Jean Clare Sarmiento

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KJZZ

DINGMAN: Tell people who might not know who are listening what drill is and what the dots are.

YEAGER: Yeah. So drill is basically what you see on the field. Like, that's the product. Right. So Page 1 to 2, we're going to move four steps to the right. We're going to move four steps to the left, right? So we'll go. All right, let's go. Page 1 to 2. It's going to be however many counts to get there. So I think our closer has about 27 pages of drill. So just. Yeah, something to, that's what drill is. Yeah.

DINGMAN: OK, so on this app, you're watching how it's supposed to go.

YEAGER: How it's supposed to go.

DINGMAN: OK.

YEAGER: Yes. Yeah, it's a digital, like, it's got the, it's got the fake little guys on there that I watch.

DINGMAN: Yeah, yeah. So then you have that in your head next time you're with the band. And you know the marks that they need to be hitting.

YEAGER: Yes, yes.

DINGMAN: And do you have the music memorized?

YEAGER: I do. Yeah, actually, I do. And I, as a, as a drum major, I spend a lot of time with the percussion part as well. That's where I find my time from. So I'm very, very familiar with the percussion part.

DINGMAN: How do you memorize the music? Does it just happen or do you have a prescribed method?

YEAGER: It's just listening to it over and over again. Yeah, I got about a 40-minute drive in to school. OK. So just over and over again, just listening to it. Just listening, you know, where am I? OK, this is. Then this is happening then. OK, this needs to be bigger here. Things like that, right.

DINGMAN: So do members of the two bands hang out together after the Battle of the Bands?

YEAGER: Yeah, so we spend about probably maybe a half an hour just doing like a little meet and greet, you know, "hey, how was your season?" Things like that.

DINGMAN: So it is notable to me that it's like, yeah, we hang out, we spend about 30 minutes together.

YEAGER: Yeah, yeah, we try. I mean, we try. I, it's, we really do. We really do try. I try and take my, my rivalry cap off just to be respectful, and they deserve it as well.

DINGMAN: Cory Yeager is the head drum major for ASU's Sun Devil Marching Band. Cory, thank you for this conversation, and good luck on Friday.

YEAGER: All right, thanks so much.