William Revelli

William D. Revelli (February 12, 1902 – July 16, 1994) was an American music educator and conductor best known for his association with the University of Michigan, where he directed the university's bands including the Michigan Marching Band 1935 to 1971.

During his 36 years as director, the Michigan Marching Band won international acclaim for its musical precision.

Revelli is also credited with innovations that moved college marching bands across the country away from rigid military formations.

Among other things, Revelli’s Michigan Marching Band was the first to synchronize music and movement and the first to use an announcer.

Born in Spring Gulch, Colorado, Revelli studied violin as a child, graduated from the Beethoven Conservatory of Music in St. Louis, and received degrees from the Chicago Musical College, Columbia School of Music and Vandercook School of Music.

He also played in various pit orchestras in Chicago before accepting a high-school conducting job at Hobart High School in Hobart, Indiana, in 1925.

Revelli transformed the Hobart High School Band into one of the best small high school bands in the country.

He was music director at Hobart from 1925 to 1935, where his bands won either five or six national championships.

In 1931, Revelli was paid a salary of $5,000 a year, a large sum at that time.

In 1934, Revelli's Hobart band was invited to play at the World's Fair, and one newspaper reported: "William Revelli has developed his Hobart, Ind., class B band to a point where it is ranked by many with the best class A organizations from larger schools."

In 1935 Revelli was hired by the University of Michigan as director of bands.

Revelli almost decided against applying for the Michigan job because the pay was significantly lower than what he was earning in Hobart, but he did apply for and later accept the job, a position he held for 36 years.

One former band member recalled that the “sequence of our attitudes toward him often went from fear to anger to respect to awe to reverence.’” Another recalled: “He was a tyrant who was feared by many, and an educator revered by all.” One of his students from the 1940s recalled the same emotions but noted: “I learned more about music-making in that little class ...

than I had learned in my prior 12 years of private lessons.” It has been said that, if asked, “nearly every student who played under Revelli could vividly recount some memory of him; he left a lasting impression on everyone with whom he crossed paths.”

In December 1964, Revelli described the guiding principles that he sought to instill into his students for 36 years.

In a speech delivered to the Marching Band prior to its appearance at the 1965 Rose Bowl game (and published in its entirety in the October 1994 issue of Michigan’s alumni magazine Michigan Today), Revelli said:

"Demand of yourself! How much do you demand of yourself of what I'm talking about? Not even 10 percent, some of you. ... I want to know how you can dedicate yourself to your forthcoming positions in the musical world, when you can't dedicate yourself right now to what you're doing in a simple little march. ... The world is full of people who do things just about right. Just about. And a few on the top do them just right—most of the time. Nobody's perfect! When are you going to start to demand of yourself what I demand of myself? When are you going to be as uncompromising with what you do as I am uncompromising in what I hear and what I insist on? When? Are you waiting for some miracle? The miracle will be when you demand of yourself everything you've got of yourself. That'll be the day. And I don't only mean 5 minutes of 10; I mean 10 minutes out of 10; I mean 60 minutes out of an hour, 24 hours a day, at least all of your waking hours.

... I don't want it just about right!

To me, just about right is terrible!

... Now, nobody's killed when you play a half-note as a dotted quarter.

But you might, from learning to play a half-note a full half-note, make the difference in the lives of 50,000 little kids.

... You don't piddle with music—it's a good-time-Charlie business, and for me, the wonderful good times come out of hearing somebody play beautifully.

I don't care if it's ‘Stars and Stripes,’ ‘The Victors’ or what it is.

I mean, there's a pride.

And this guy knows he's good!

And nobody can take that away from him.

When they play sloppy and don't care or don't know—a great many of them don't even know, they don't know how bad it is—they can be forgiven, but more they should be pitied.”

Revelli also viewed school bands as a bulwark against juvenile delinquency.

He noted: "We keep our musicians too interested and busy to get into mischief."

On another occasion, he noted, "Young music students have better things to do than get in trouble."

Revelli recruited talented musicians to Michigan like a football coach recruited top athletes.

Revelli required all male wind instrument majors to participate in the Marching Band.

This requirement swelled the number of students in the Marching Band.

Revelli was also known for his use of new music in his performances, often commissioning new pieces.

Interviewed in 1970, Revelli said: "I've been called the Vince Lombardi of Ann Arbor because I just won't compromise. I'm intolerable when it comes to perfection. Sometimes I'm even downright mean about it."

Revelli added that his pursuit of perfection was about more than the music: "This striving for perfection will carry over into other areas of their lives."

Revelli retired in 1972 and was director emeritus until his death in 1994, Under his direction, the Michigan Marching Band was acclaimed for its musical precision, intricate formations and high-stepping style.

The Marching Band under Revelli was “the first to score original music to band shows, to synchronize music and movement, to use an announcer, to do a post-game show, and the first to host a high school Band Day.”

Known on Michigan’s campus as “The Chief,” Revelli was known as a tough taskmaster.

Revelli had a fierce dedication to excellence and drilled the desire for perfection into his band students.