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Crook County High School graduate and current U of O band drum major Eli Johnson helped direct the marching band during their performance at the 2012 Rose Bowl game.
During his days in the high school band, Eli Johnson never played his tenor saxophone during sporting events.
Crook County High School didn’t have a marching band when he attended the school and he never performed in the pep band.
On Monday afternoon, he helped lead the University of Oregon marching band during its performance at half time of the 2012 Rose Bowl game.
Although performing during Oregon football games is part of the gig for Johnson, he would probably call it a perk as well.
“I was born and raised a football fan,” he said, “born and raised a Duck fan my whole life.”
When the Ducks won the game — their first win in three attempts at a Bowl Championship Series victory — Johnson felt the same elation and relief as most other fans. He performed in the Ducks’ 2010 Rose Bowl loss as well as their 2011 national championship game defeat, so a different result this time sweetened the experience.
“It’s good to see a win,” he remarked, “because it’s been a long three years waiting for that win.”
Johnson and his more than 230 other band mates spent a full week out of town participating in the Rose Bowl and some of its peripheral activities.
“We bused down to L.A. in two days,” Johnson recounted. “We had a rehearsal down there and we had a couple gigs (such as pep rallies) and we went to Disneyland. We had a gig down there, which was a lot of fun.”
Since the Rose Bowl draws a lot of exposure, the band worked especially hard to perfect their marching routine.
“We want to look good, so we do a lot of rehearsing on these trips,” Johnson said.
As it turns out, the former Crook County High School band member played an important role in making the latest performance look good. This year, his fifth and final year in the college band, Johnson made the switch from tenor sax to drum major — one of four in the entire band.
“I conduct the band on the field for the shows,” he explained. “We start the songs, end the songs, set the tempo — stuff like that.”
The leadership role intrigued Johnson and prompted him to audition for the part. He is glad he did it.
“It’s a nice change of pace for sure,” he said. “This has probably been my favorite year in this band.”
Although the drum major role adds more responsibility to an already-busy game day schedule, Johnson still manages to indulge his football fandom. As he puts it, it’s not enough to overtake watching football. In fact, he’ll have a tough time giving up his unique access to the games next year when his band days are over.
“I’ll miss being able to have a guaranteed seat at every single home football game and some away games,” Johnson said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I wasn’t in the band.”
But the games are not the only thing he’ll have a tough time saying goodbye to.
“I’ll miss the band a lot,” he said. “I’ll miss the people. The people in this band are great.”
