Following World War I, the University's military department was reorganized into the Reserve Officers Training Corps and the band became known as the R.O.T.C. Band. The R.O.T.C. band performed at all military functions and a larger Cadet Band, which had a membership comprised of military and non-military students, performed at football games and university functions. Billy Quick became the band's director in 1918, seeing the organization through a period of extraordinary growth in the 1920's and maintaining it's size and quality through the difficult period of the Depression. Mr. Quick was the son of a piano tuner who had moved to Lincoln from Pennsylvania in the 1880's, his only real musical education having been one year in the Cadet Band under August Hagenow and another year in the University's Conservatory of Music.
During Billy Quick's tenure, the band began performing as a concert ensemble as well as a marching unit. The band performed many concerts on campus culminating in weekly radio broadcasts from 1925 through 1927. Mr. Quick was also an innovator on the marching field. He introduced letter formations during halftime performances replacing the traditional military drill.
By 1935 the band's members numbered 162 and the group was reorganized into a Freshman Band and a Varsity Band. New members performed in the Freshman Band under the direction of the Varsity Band's drum major. The Varsity Band continued to perform at football games and fulfilled the majority of the band's obligations at university functions. A smaller pep band performed at basketball games usually under the direction of the drum major.
Because the band was no longer considered to be a strictly military unit, with the student body and football fans wanting more color and pageantry on the field, the gray military uniforms were abandoned in 1936. The new uniform included red pants, a white coat and red and white shakos with white plumes.
Ill health forced Billy Quick to resign his director's position in 1937 and Don Lentz, a native of South Dakota, succeeded him. With the addition of Lentz to the staff, the military department's control of the Nebraska Band ended in 1938. Lentz stated in Pride of the Cornhuskers: "Initially, I directed just the orchestra. My responsibilities with the band were strictly to oversee things. . . All the drill was supervised by a sergeant from the R.O.T.C. . . and the shows, which were basic marching maneuvers and letters, were designed by the student band officers. . . I wanted to stress the music and the pageantry more than was presently being done." Thus, the band became military in name only and that too was eventually changed. The emphasis of the band's performances became exciting and entertaining music and marching that featured formations and intricate designs. Mr. Lentz was one of the first college band directors to design shows with continuously changing designs and non-stop motion.
One of the events in jeopardy when Lentz came on the scene was the annual Band Day. After the Depression, the University was still struggling with the financial after effects, and he saw that this event was in danger of becoming extinct.
This massed band extravaganza had its origins at Nebraska. Throughout the early 1920's the Athletic Department issued an open invitation to local high school and municipal bands to attend home football games whenever they wished. There was no formal planning or format to each band appearance; some bands performed while others did not. The program was an easy way to fill seats in the stadium at a time when the football team was losing.
The football team began to win again in 1929 under new head coach D.X. Bible so there was no longer a need for seat "fillers". Eventually, Coach Bible asked the Athletic Department and the band to limit the participation of the visiting bands to one game per season. Beginning in 1932, bands were invited to a parade through downtown Lincoln and to perform prior to the Homecoming football game. 700 musicians attended the event in 1932 and by 1934 it was officially known as Band Day.
Lentz decided to re-format the event, turning it into both a crowd pleaser that would bring visitors to the stadium and downtown Lincoln businesses and a wonderful recruiting tool for the University. He enlarged the invitation list to include all of Nebraska, not just the immediate area and limited participation to high school bands only. He also moved the massed band performance to a halftime show at one of the games. 17 bands performed on the field in 1939. The show grew every year becoming more and more popular with students and fans alike. Band Day was the only sell-out game of the 1942 season. By 1947, the event was so popular that school were limited to participation once every three years with a maximum number of musicians set at 3,600.
Other conference schools soon adopted the idea and in the decade following World War II, almost every college and university began to host a Band Day. At Nebraska, Band Day was a memorable event until the demand for season football tickets became so great that it was no longer possible to seat such a large number of visiting musicians. Nebraska's last Band Day was held in 1971.
Under Don Lentz, membership in the concert bands was no longer restricted to marching band members only, and in 1940, women were allowed to play in the Symphonic Band. During World War II, women were allowed to march because of the shortage of male musicians, but the marching band became strictly male again afterward, pushing the women back to the concert organizations.
Mr. Lentz had a profound effect on music education throughout Nebraska and the United States. The Nebraska State Bandmasters Association has named it's distinguished teaching award after Mr. Lentz. He turned the marching band over to Nebraska native and former bandsman Jack Snider in 1961, but remained Director of Bands and conductor of the Wind Ensemble until 1973.
Continue on to Jack Snider
All information provided by Rose Johnson and the book:
Pride of the Cornhuskers by Gary Steffens