Biography of Clarence Sawhill

CHAPTER VII - The USC Years, 1947-1952

In 1947, Max T. Krone, Dean of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, contacted Clarence Sawhill about the possibility of his becoming the director of the marching band at USC. Krone, also an Illinois graduate, knew Sawhill through their work together at Interlocken in the summer. USC, a private university, was a national football power and the Trojan Marching Band was visible through the popularity of the football team.

Although he loved Illinois, Sawhill decided to take the position in California, so in the fall of 1947, Clarence Sawhill became the band director at the University of Southern California. Ralph Rush, who was the director of the concert band at USC had heard that Sawhill was considering the position. Rush who was the head of the music education department and had been a successful band and orchestra director in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, called Sawhill and told him that if he would come to California he could also direct the concert band if he wished to do so.

The University of Southern California was a private university whose staff consisted of several prominent names in the music field including Ralph Rush, Max Krone, and Ingolf Dahl, as well as Robert Marsteller and other professional players in the Los Angeles area.

The facilities Sawhill found at USC were certainly less than desirable. The first band facility he moved into was an old livery stable on Hoover Street. J. D. Morsch who was a student at USC and became Sawhill's music librarian stated, "It was a stable used by the Cinema Department during the war. We converted it into the band room with the band practicing in the open area in the middle. However, when it rained we were out of luck.”

After two years, Sawhill moved the band into an old two-story barracks building on the west part of the campus. Morsch states that, ""We built storage upstairs and the band rehearsed downstairs where Clarence and Ingolf Dahl had their offices.”

When Sawhill arrived the band uniforms were maroon pants and tops with Pershing-style caps. It was during his second year at USC that the uniform was changed to the famous Greek Trojan look of the helmets and caps. Sawhill stated that, "Tommy Walker was responsible for getting the new uniforms going. We wanted something that would be unique to USC."

Tommy Walker, who was the drum major of the Trojan Band, was also the place kicker for the football team. He would suit up for each of the games and then put a white uniform over his football uniform for the halftime performances. Walker, who later became entertainment director for Disneyland, was helpful to Sawhill in many of the theatrical aspects of the marching band.

Sawhill stated, "During the first year, the USC Band was relatively small and unskilled in marching routines. We had about seventy-five in the band, but they were very enthusiastic about their performance.”

Wayman Walker, who was a student at USC and later became band director at the University of Northern Colorado stated, “The band at USC at this time was primarily made up of male ex-servicemen who were taking advantage of the G.I. Bill. Many who had experience in professional or playing or teaching.”

This was also a time of great interest in college sports, and Saturday afternoons would find 90,000 spectators crammed into the Los Angeles Coliseum to cheer on the Trojan Football Team. The band became a big hit with the fans as Sawhill changed the style of the band drastically that first year. Morsch stated, "The band was in the fashion of a Big Ten Band with that big band sound Sawhill wanted."

Frank Erickson, a trumpet player in the band and also a veteran, began arranging for the marching band. Erickson stated, ""Clarence and I sat down and he described some of the things he wanted in the arrangements, fewer after beats in the horns, better sax lines, a more melodious bass part, and single woodwind lines."

Morsch stated, "The marching band shows were simple, but well thought out. It was a team effort of all the band staff with Clarence having the final say. The music was really different, we even did things like “Purple Carnival” on the field."

The USC Football team was very successful during the 1947 season, and the Trojans were selected to play in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on January 1, 1948. USC was to oppose the University of Michigan. This, of course, meant that the famous University of Michigan Band under William D. Revelli would make an appearance at the half-time festivities.

Sawhill saw this as a great challenge, and stated that, "the students were very excited about this opportunity.” Sawhill and the Trojan Band worked very hard in preparation for their performance. They wanted to be as sharp a unit as possible.

Sawhill stated, "the Michigan Band was excellent as was usual for their shows, but the USC Trojan Band put on a more than respectable show.” It is also interesting to note once again the meeting of William D. Revelli and Clarence Sawhill after an association of seventeen years.

One of the dramatic maneuvers of the USC marching band during this time was their entrance into the Los Angeles Coliseum. The band would march into the Coliseum down the ramps in what was called the peri-style entrance. Sawhill used this as a spectacular setting by performing music such as the march from Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. Four."

In 1948, J. D. Morsch had arranged a concert band setting of the music from the movie "Captain of Castille." Sawhill liked this so much he had Frank Erickson arrange the entrance number for the marching band. This number, "Conquest"' became the entrance song for the Trojan Marching Band and still remains as one of the popular football tunes at USC.

In 1948 the concert band at USC numbered seventy-five performers. Although many were good players, they had not been exposed to some of the better band literature. Sawhill recalled, ""Mr. Harding would loan me his arrangements, including "Psyche and Eros", "Meditation of Thias" and "Ein Heldenleben". The students had never played any band music like this, and they began to develop a great deal of interest in the band.”

By the spring of 1949, Sawhill had developed the University of Southern California Concert Band into an outstanding organization. The literature performed on the concert that spring included ""The Silken Ladder"' by Rossini, "Death and Transfiguration" by Strauss, arranged by Harding, and "Jericho'" by Morton Gould .

Max Dalby, Director of Bands at Utah State University, was teaching in San Diego during this time and heard the USC band on tour. Dalby commented, '"I never had heard a band even remotely approaching this group; all the band directors were tremendously impressed. It was a large band of symphonic proportions, and the musicians were phenomenal."

Sawhill's years at USC were very successful musically, but he remained unhappy with the continued lack of facilities and the limited funds allocated to the program. Sawhill had wanted to model a program after Illinois where music education was paramount. USC was not geared as a teacher education institution and did not give priority to education courses, especially in the field of music. Emphasis at USC was not placed on the band program as Sawhill had known at Illinois. Because of these restrictions, Clarence Sawhill began to feel a measure of discontent.

In 1952, John Vincent, chairman of the music department at the University of California at Los Angeles approached Clarence Sawhill about assuming the position as director of bands at UCLA. Sawhill had met Vincent at Morehead State College in Kentucky while doing clinics on that campus.

Vincent was aware of Sawhill's work at both Illinois and USC, and felt this was the person to fill the UCLA job. He was also interested in bringing to UCLA a top-notch director of national caliber and to model the UCLA program after the fine band programs of the Midwest.

The move for Sawhill was agreeable since he felt he needed to return to a public university. He also saw UCLA as a fast growing institution with a greater number of students to draw from. UCLA was also in the process of planning a new music building and Sawhill welcomed the thought of having adequate facilities in which to work. Sawhill stated, "I told John Vincent if I took this job (UCLA) it would be my last move. "

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