Decades of Dedication
By Lisa Knox
The role of Saint Mary’s Students in the Fighting Irish Band
Nearly every evening of every fall, as the sun begins to set, more than five dozen Saint Mary’s students make their way to a practice field across the road. They arrive with clarinets, tubas, and piccolos; saxophones, cymbals, and trumpets. They’re part of the Notre Dame Band of the Fighting Irish, and for 54 years, their involvement has played a crucial role in the organization’s success.
Rosemary Crock ’73 was an SMC senior when she auditioned for the marching band. A music major at Saint Mary’s, Crock remembers it as a really exciting time. “I was very lucky; at the right place at the right time,” she said. “Though we’d been performing in the Notre Dame Concert Band since 1970, to join the marching band in the fall of ’72 was thrilling.”
From that moment on, Saint Mary’s students have not only auditioned but have become fully part of the band’s structure, holding key leadership positions along the way.
“Saint Mary’s students are in every part of the band’s make-up,” says Donelle Flick (ND ’03), director of band operations. Flick, once a member of the manager section, has been on the marching band staff since 2003. Over the past two decades, she has worked with more than 1,200 Saint Mary’s students, watching them flourish alongside their peers from ND and Holy Cross College.
“When you earn a spot in the marching band, it no longer matters what institution you’re from,” she said. “If you have the talent, personality, and skills to lead a section or the entire band, you will be recognized.” Saint Mary’s students represent their school particularly well. According to Flick, they often stand out as some of the brightest and hardest working players, and she loves watching their transition each year as all of the band members form into a single community.
That camaraderie is a big part of the organization’s attraction. Each year, high school seniors take a look at what their college prospects have to offer. If marching band is on their list of priorities, Notre Dame has a reputation steeped in tradition, and the band is also fun and welcoming to all. When Saint Mary’s first-year Victoria Mac ’28 auditioned in late summer for a spot on the drumline, she was already aware of how closely connected Saint Mary’s students were in the marching band. It’s why she chose to attend the College.
“But, when I found out that the captain of the drumline was a Saint Mary’s student, I was so very happy and proud to be there,” Mac said. “Hannah (Weese ’25) has a really big responsibility, and the fact that she’s representing Saint Mary’s was a wonderful thing to see.”
Working through her audition jitters, Mac landed a spot as one of only nine students who play the cymbals. Now, as her first regular marching season is behind her and the football team gears up for post-season play, Mac looks forward to being part of all that lies ahead.
the marching band on her first day at band camp.
Senior Kassandra Chang ’25 gets it. She wakes up each day knowing that until her head hits the pillow again, she’ll be focused on two things: her classes and the clarinet. Being part of the marching band has been one of the most valuable parts of her education, grounding her when the stress of her schedule is overwhelming. She’s an environmental studies major enrolled in the SMC/ND dual degree engineering program. Because being part of the band extends beyond the fall—in the winter, she joins her friends in the basketball and hockey bands—the friendships and the fun have become lifelines.
Coming from Honolulu to Saint Mary’s, being part of the band wasn’t on her radar until a friend told her about it. So she auditioned. “I fell in love with the marching band from the first day of band camp,” Chang said. In her four years, she has been proud to represent Saint Mary’s. “We’re just like a huge family,” she said. “It’s really amazing, because everyone makes you feel so relaxed, so comfortable. And then as you get older, you can influence the younger members and help them figure out their way too.”
Flick said the comfort that Chang feels is key to the band’s success. “Band practice should be the favorite part of their day,” she said. “If it’s not, then we’re doing something wrong!”
"When you earn a spot in the marching band, it no longer matters what institution you're from"
– Donelle Flick, Director of Band Operations
The Tradition
Band of the Fighting Irish.
This year, 64 Saint Mary’s students are among the 350 members of the Marching Band of the Fighting Irish. For nearly the entire time they have been allowed to audition, this number has stayed fairly consistent.
The way in which members of the tri-campus were brought into the fold is something of a legend, said Larry Dwyer (ND ’66), assistant director of bands and de facto historian of today’s marching band. As the story goes, Dwyer said, none other than Father Sorin decided, in 1845, that Notre Dame should have its own band. Music lessons began that fall, and by the spring of 1846 the newly formed Notre Dame Band played at the University’s first Commencement. Later, in 1887, when ND’s new football program played its first game against the University of Michigan, the band was there. For decades, the all-male band often needed additional members to round out various sections like the clarinet and piccolo, but University rules restricted band membership to only Notre Dame students, who were all men.
It wasn’t until 1970 that band director Robert O’Brien broke tradition by receiving permission from the University to invite women from Saint Mary’s to audition—at first for the concert band. “He could see that the band’s numbers were dwindling, particularly in some of the woodwinds and he was sure that many women played flute, clarinet, and oboe,” Dwyer recalls. “The first woman to apply was Rosemary Crock, a music major from Saint Mary’s. She came to that first audition—and she played the tuba, which always caused director O’Brien to laugh.” By the fall of 1972, when Crock joined the marching band, there were eight others behind her, and soon the concert band was a blend of Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s, and eventually, Holy Cross students.
These include Saint Mary’s student Linda Batista, who in 1980 served as the band’s first female drum major. A couple of years later, Laura Halland Murphy, Saint Mary’s Class of 1984, was the first female elected as president of the ND bands.
Dwyer, a music educator for over 60 years, has a personal connection to the College. While he earned his degree from Notre Dame, he took all of his education classes at Saint Mary’s, an experience that changed the course of his life. He always loved music. “I took my academic and music classes at Notre Dame,” Dwyer said. “But band director Robert O’Brien advised me to also take education classes, so that I could teach music. Notre Dame didn’t have education classes, and Saint Mary’s did.” After a long career teaching high school music, he became part of the marching band staff in 2001, and has now coached legions of Saint Mary’s students.
has played the tuba all four years at Saint Mary’s
Molly Kearns ’25 is one of them. A nursing major from Los Angeles, Kearns joined the ND marching band not knowing how to play the tuba, but her years of playing the drums in high school, combined with the encouragement from Saint Mary’s students ahead of her, gave her the confidence to try it.
“That is the cool part about the marching band,” Kearns said. “I wanted to play something different. I came to the audition, and the students in the classes above me taught me how to play.” This fall, it was her turn to pay it forward when she got to teach a new student to play the tuba. For Kearns, studying nursing (she plans to continue her education, earning her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree) and playing in the ND band have been life-changing. “There is someone in the clarinet section who is also in nursing at Saint Mary’s, and so we have connected over that a ton,” she says. “I would tell a rising senior or senior in high school that they should definitely consider Saint Mary’s,” she said. “I mean, it’s the best of both worlds. You get the big college game day experience—that Notre Dame experience—and you also get the class sizes and connection that Saint Mary’s has to offer. No matter who you talk to in the band, someone is going to know someone from Saint Mary’s.
Blazing her way through the Fighting Irish Band
There are few Saint Mary’s alumna with a band story quite like that of Laura Halland Murphy ’84. As a first-year, Laura joined the Band of the Fighting Irish on the flute and piccolo, eager to become part of its history and tradition. As Laura’s years at Saint Mary’s advanced, the Education major became more involved in the band’s leadership, eventually landing the role of Social Chair in her junior year. By her senior year, she was elected to be the president of the University Bands—the first-ever female to serve in that position. Laura relished her trailblazing role, representing her peers with the administration. Laura met numerous fellow band members along the way and formed friendships that she would cherish forever. One of those bandmates was her husband, Bill Murphy (ND ’85). Bill played the tuba and shared her commitment to the band and their classmates. In fact, Bill would become the band’s president the following year. The two married in 1987, settled on Long Island in New York, and had four daughters. In time, three of the four daughters would attend Saint Mary's: Kristin Murphy Burkart ’15, Elizabeth Murphy-Delaney ’15, and Colleen Murphy Aversa ’20. Daughter Kathryn Murphy Sonnick (ND ’13) would earn her degree from Notre Dame. Not surprisingly, each daughter followed their parents to the band, sharing in the traditions that made their parents so proud. In turn, each daughter married their own Notre Dame bandmate, something that Laura finds remarkable, but not all that surprising. “The Band of the Fighting Irish is a special family,” she says. “Being part of it requires a lot of dedication but the rewards are great. To this day, I’m so proud to be connected to it.”
You’ve read Laura’s SMC / ND band story, now it’s your turn! What made your experience in the marching band so memorable? What would you tell a future SMC student about it? Let us know! We’d love to hear from you.
