that we're putting on in the Cole Center.
They're coming to see us, and that really means a lot.
What happens to all these musicians
once they're done here at the University of Wisconsin?
Do we have anybody that's ever gone on
to become a rock star or big in music?
What happens to their musical careers after this?
Well, it depends on what they like to do.
You know, most of the students in the band
are not music majors.
In fact, very few of the students are music majors.
So most of them are not going to go into careers.
Most of them not going into professional music careers
is what I'm saying.
And so most of our students will go on
to lead productive lives.
They're going to be professionals
and contributors to their community.
But for a lot of our students that leave,
they still maintain this connection to the band.
A lot of our students still play recreationally.
You know, we've got an alumni band.
They have events that they play for.
They come back every year to perform at football games.
There's a group, there's a jazz group
outside the Milwaukee area.
Most of those people were in the UW band.
They just get together, play, because they enjoy playing
and they perform publicly and different things like that.
We've got former members of the band
that perform for the Green Bay Packers on a weekly basis.
So they go out and do a lot of things,
but mostly not in music.
But one of the things that I do hear about
from time to time from the students is how significant
the experience of being in the band was
and how those experiences transfer
or applicable to what they are doing professionally.
And I'd be curious to know what keeps a band director
up at night?
Oh boy, the evil laugh.
Well, all of it can keep one up at night.
You know, if we, I talked about the one
week preparation, one week preparation
and we've had our Friday rehearsal
and you think to yourself, I don't think we're as prepared
as we'd like to be.
That can keep you up at night
or we're in Tampa for the bowl game
and we're staying on the beach.
I hope everybody gets back in one piece.
You know, we don't want to be the band
that had someone, you know, go out into Tampa Bay
and the water I'm talking about specifically,
have something happen.
Those are the kinds of things that keep me up at night.
So sometimes they're related to the quality of the performance
that we're getting ready to do.
And sometimes it's just wanting them to be safe
and make good decisions.
So it's, it's, there are a lot of things
that can keep one up at night.
But I'm grateful to be able to say
those situations are few and farther away
between them.
My little question, where do you take this band from here?
Where do we take it from here?
Well, we always want to march well.
We always want to play well.
And I feel like we've been able to do that
for the most part.
So where would I like to take the band?
We're doing well for ourselves.
The band is doing very, very well
in the grand scheme of things.
But there are some bands that have an endowment
of nearly 30 billion dollars,
which means they are in the position
to not only do the things that they need to do,
but they're in the position to do things
that they want to do and then some.
Now again, that's not to say
we're not in a good position.
We are.
But wouldn't it be nice to have
a 30 million dollar endowment
so that, you know,
this might fall under the category
of first world problems.
But you know, if new uniforms,
if we were to say we want to get new uniforms,
well, I can already tell you
that new uniforms are going to cost nearly half million dollars.
Well, if I got a 30 million dollar endowment,
I can just say we'll get new uniforms
and that's it.
Well, if we want new uniforms,
I got to plan a little bit.
We could get them.
I got to plan a little bit.
So I'd love to be able to see us get at that level.
And now I'll look two or three bands at that level.
But that's where I'd like to see us.
See us go.
So in terms of performing,
yes, we'd love to keep the stop at the top.
But we'd love to do more pictures
and different things like that.
And we're always trying to improve
what we're able to do technically
in terms of how we perform music.
I think it's safe to say the best is yet to come.
Frank Sinatra,
if people come to our spring show,
they might be a little bit of the best as yet to come.
Corey Bonape, UW Band Director,
thanks for joining us on Infocus.
Thank you so much, Merv.
It's been a pleasure.
Nice job, guys.
All right, cool.
So I'm going to keep rolling.
So just stay where you guys are,
just for a little room.
Good stuff, man.
So we kind of buried here.
I'm not sure what this is.
No, I just hope I didn't get into trouble with it.
We're going to find out.
We're going to find out, won't we?
Corey, what happened, Corey?
Yeah, I think they're planning on hearing this one.
I think they're trying to coincide it with the spring concert.
Wonderful.
What is that?
That's the next month, right?
That is next month, 19th and 20th of April.
Yeah, I think they're talking about bringing this one out around that time.
No, wonderful.
I'll let you know.
Sure, let me hear it.
It should be in its entirety.
Okay.
Even your filibuster in the beginning.
I'm going to put some crickets or something in the beginning.