Biography of Clarence Sawhill

CHAPTER VIII - The First Years at UCLA (1952-1956)

UCLA, like other post-war university bands, was co-educational with eighty members in the marching band. Nick Curea, a member of the UCLA Band in 1952 stated, "The shows were basically patriotic in nature. Even later when we began doing more Hollywood type productions, Mr. Sawhill always liked the patriotic numbers."

In his second year, UCLA won the Pacific Coast Conference and played Michigan State in the 1954 Rose Bowl. The band had grown to 120 members, and their show for this big occasion was quite spectacular including their rendition of the "Toy Soldier" which became a tradition with the UCLA Band.

Before Sawhill went to UCLA, the band students received no academic credit for their participation in either the concert or the marching band. Sawhill presented a proposal to the university officials stressing the importance of the performance and training laboratory. Beginning in the fall of 1953, the students were given credit for their participation in the band program, both in marching and concert.

Soon, Sawhill began adding additional members to his staff. In 1954, David Baskerville became associate director. Beginning in the fall of 1956, Kelly James became the associate director. James, who came to UCLA as a graduate student, remained to be involved in the band program until his death in 1981.

Photo:
UCLA Associate Director of Bands Kelly James

The concert band program of 1955 lists Robert Winslow, band manager, Eugene Mitchell, Conrad Hicks, and Samuel Terry as librarians; Robert Barnum and Charles Reed as equipment managers, William LeBlanc in charge of publicity, Alan Lasnover, uniforms, and Donald McCampbell, drum major.

By 1955, the UCLA Band had returned to an all-male marching status with females only participating in the concert band program. During the Korean conflict, many of the former servicemen left school for a brief time, but by 1955, the UCLA Band Program was in full swing.

Sawhill was now the director of one of the top university programs in the country. Like USC, UCLA was a major football power and also used the Los Angeles Coliseum for its home games. The football shows during these years were basically pagentry with more and more Hollywood influence.

Photo: The UCLA Band as it appeared in Sports Illustrated magazine in 1956

Kelly James became more involved with the charting and arranging for the marching band. The collaboration was a good one and Sawhill was extremely supportive of James, and was always at the marching rehearsals to assist in any way he could.

Although James would arrange the music and teach the drill for the shows, Sawhill was always active in the musical preparation of the music. Nick Curea stated, "Kelly organized and taught the shows, but Mr. Sawhill was the father figure and teacher who we all turned to when we needed something.”

The concert band program also began to develop quickly upon Sawhill's arrival. As with the USC Band, Sawhill had many outstanding players, and the band began taking on a fine disciplined sound. Programs of these first years indicate that Sawhill used many of the numbers he had performed with the USC Band, including many of the Harding's transcriptions.

One of the interesting performances included that of the Arnold Schoenberg "Theme and Variations, Opus 43a." Sawhill stated,

“When the Schoenberg Variations came out, I didn't understand the piece. I assumed it was sort of a row number, but I couldn't find it. I kept playing it at the piano, but I felt a sense of romanticism in it. I asked the pianist Gwedlyn Kadolsky, whose husband had played a lot of Schoenberg, about this piece. She said 'Any music that is worthy of anything has a certain amount of romanticism in it.' I have never forgotten that; if it doesn't have continuity and a certain sense of romanticism, it is not worth it.”

The concert band program of the spring of 1955 shows a band of ninety-four performers. It was a large ensemble that took on the symphonic proportions of the Illinois Bands of Harding. It is interesting to note that Sawhill used seven flutes, twenty clarinets, three oboes, four bassoons, and six saxophones in the woodwind section. In the brass section he used twelve trumpets and cornets, nine French horns, and four baritones. The literature performed during this program included "Overture for Band" by Mendelsson, "Chorale and Alleuia" by Howard Hanson, and Morton Gould's "Jericho", a Sawhill favorite.

The majority of the literature was original band music; few transcriptions were programmed. Although there were several of the Harding transcriptions performed, the number soon diminished.

Also of interest during this period was the fact that in 1952, Sawhill began a two-year term as president of the College Band Directors National Association. The election to this post led the UCLA Band into a position of acting as a reading ensemble for all new band publications. Publishers sent Sawhill their latest releases for him to read and comment on. His reviews appeared in several publications. This allowed Sawhill to become even more aware of the new band literature, giving the UCLA program an added impetus.

The first five years for Clarence Sawhill at UCLA were very productive and the band program began to take on the status and scope espected of major university band departments. Sawhill established the marching and concert band as the example of the west coast. Many students began coming to UCLA due to Sawhill's reputation. The move from USC seemed to be the right thing for Sawhill and the program was beginning to move into a more established role.

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