The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music at the University of Miami announces a gift for 115 new marching band instruments and a full set of newly designed uniforms with a sleek, reinvented image. The instruments and uniforms will be debuted by the Frost Band of the Hour at the University of Miami Hurricanes opening home game at Sun Life Stadium on September 5.
Judi Prokop Newman, B.B.A. ’63, and her husband, Robert Newman, made a significant major donation this summer to support the equipment and uniform purchases, announced Dean Shelly Berg of the Frost School of Music. Judi Newman is a University of Miami trustee, alumna and Frost School of Music advisory board member. Robert Newman is an honorary alumnus ’08 and member of the University of Miami’s Entrepreneurship Programs Advisory Board.
A special recognition ceremony with the Newmans will take place on November 21, 2015 during the Frost Band of the Hour’s University of Miami football halftime show at Sun Life Stadium.
Robert and Judi Newman are longtime and beloved major supporters of the University of Miami, including a gift that named the 72,000 square foot Robert and Judi Prokop Newman Alumni Center. The Newman Alumni Center opened October 10, 2010 and has become one of the most popular gathering places on the University of Miami’s Coral Gables, Florida campus. At the Frost School of Music, the Newmans are major donors to the William Hipp Endowed Scholarship Fund, named in honor of the former music dean. They also provide substantial support to the school’s annual Winter Wonderful holiday gala, benefiting music mentoring scholarships for the Frost School’s Shalala MusicReach Program.
The 2015 Frost Band of the Hour is taking marching band to new heights with its custom musical arrangements, inventive drill choreography, and a re-vitalized focus and energy. The Newmans are excited to contribute to the growth of UM’s pageantry arts under the visionary leadership of Professor of Music and Director of Athletic Bands, Jay C. Rees.
New York costume designer Michael Cesario fashioned the new Band of the Hour uniform for manufacturer Fred J. Miller, Inc. (Blue Devils, Carolina Crown, Cavaliers, Phantom Regiment). Cesario is a member of the Drum Corps International Hall of Fame, best known for popularizing a new era in the look of modern bands. FJM’s revolutionary ‘Cesario Collection’ is recognized for comfort, innovation, craftsmanship, and performance.
Cesario’s distinctive look for the University of Miami highlights the school’s green and orange colors, complemented by an asymmetrical shape with crisp tailoring for impact, versatility, and shimmering style. Even the white feather plume of the shako hat is tipped in orange. The band’s drum major, also known as field conductor, is similarly outfitted in white.
Rees worked closely with Cesario to create a uniform that is “slimming, eye catching, and representative of who we are today.” He praises the designer’s work and vast experience for Broadway, television, theatre, drum corps, and marching bands across the country.
“The Band of the Hour’s new uniform adds excitement to our field choreography, and it sparkles under the lights,” said Rees. “It is constructed with a durable, washable fabric and removable parts, making the care and cleaning much easier for our students.”
Rees not only promises to excite audiences with the band’s sleek, sophisticated appearance, but with the group’s sound impression as well. “We take pride in bringing entertainment value to the college football experience,” he said.
Along with new uniforms, the Frost Band of the Hour will be marching with new instruments purchased through Jupiter Band Instruments and Mapex Marching Drums. The Frost School’s bulk order of marching brass, woodwinds, and drums is one of the largest ever placed in the history of the instrument company.
The order of ninety-six new Jupiter wind instruments includes marching French horns, marching trumpets, pro line trumpets, marching euphoniums, trombones, four-valve and three-valve sousaphones, and alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. Nineteen new Mapex marching drums include snares, multi-tenors, and bass drums. “Jay Rees is one of the most dynamic and innovative athletic band directors in the world,” said Dean Berg, “and this magnificent gift from Judi and Bob Newman will empower a sound and style befitting the great work of Professor Rees and his students.”
The Frost Band of the Hour is the marching and pep band at the University of Miami. It is the largest and one of the most exciting, visible, diverse, and involved student groups on the UM campus, performing challenging custom musical arrangements and contemporary drum corps-style drill design. For more information about the Frost Band of the Hour, visit www.bandofthehour.org.
The University of Miami’s mission is to educate and nurture students, to create knowledge, and to provide service to our community and beyond. Committed to excellence and proud of our diversity of our University family, we strive to develop future leaders of our nation and the world.
About the Frost School of Music
The Phillip and Patricia Frost School of Music is one of the largest and best music schools located in a private university in the U.S., and one of the most comprehensive and relevant in all of higher education. With over 700 students and 100 faculty members it a top choice for instrumental, keyboard and vocal performance as well as composition, music business, music education, music engineering technology, music therapy, songwriting, jazz, studio music, and more. It is one of two schools created in 1926 when the University of Miami was founded. The naming gift from Dr. Phillip and Patricia Frost in 2003 was a historic occasion.
The mission of the Frost School of Music is to foster musical leadership by providing an innovative, relevant, and inspiring education; advance performance, creativity and scholarship; and enrich the world community with meaningful outreach and brilliant cultural offerings.
The Frost School has pioneered new curricula and was the first in the nation to offer professionally accredited Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Business and Music Engineering Technology, and was among the first to offer degrees in Music Therapy, as well as Studio Music and Jazz. Renowned for its Instrumental Performance programs, it is the home of the Frost Symphony Orchestra, Frost Wind Ensemble and Frost Concert Jazz Band and is a leader in vocal training with the Frost Opera Theater, Frost Chorale and other notable choirs.
Frost is the exclusive home of the Frost Experiential Music Curriculum which fully integrates performance, music history, ear training, and composition through chamber music and skills ensembles; the Henry Mancini Institute which provides Frost students with cross-genre performance opportunities in real-world professional settings; the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation’s Ensemble Scholars program which provides free tuition, room and board to 19 academically strong and highly talented undergraduate music students; and the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program which develops the creative skills of talented young artist/songwriters by immersing them in the diverse traditions of American songwriting.
