Out stepped the USC Trojan Marching Band onto Cromwell Field, a flood of musicians wearing their trademark sunglasses and short sleeves under the Southern California sun. Standouts in Trojan cardinal and gold, they swung trombones and trumpets in unison as the drum line rumbled with all the flash of Los Angeles' hometown team.
At the same time 2,200 miles away, in wintry Ann Arbor, the Michigan Marching Band practiced last Thursday inside the heated, fluorescent-lighted Oosterbaan Field House, all Wolverine blue and maize, high-stepping with choreographed precision, clashing cymbals, awash in their university's rich musical tradition and Big 10 style.
In the world of collegiate marching bands, these two are the powerhouse equivalents of the football teams they cheer on. Both practice incessantly. Both bring tens of thousands of fans to their feet in song and chants. And each vows to outplay the other at the 93rd annual Rose Bowl game.
But that's about where the comparisons end between the 260-member USC band and the 271 players from the University of Michigan.
When the musically inclined Wolverines and Trojans step out onto the field, their styles are as different as their native climates, and their rivalry mirrors that of their highly ranked football teams. Michigan loyalists call the USC band freewheeling and brash. USC fans describe the Michigan band as traditional, too much like other bands.
"We want to go out and take the Rose Bowl. We don't even want to hear them play," Robert "Lenny" Millan, 21, a USC drum line section leader from Norwalk, said as he prepared for a practice.
A Michigan clarinet player expressed a similar sentiment, albeit in a more charitable tone.
"We always want to be better than the USC band, just because we have very high standards for ourselves," said Lauren LaCross, 20, of Midland, Mich., after finishing eight hours of rehearsal.
Their directors downplay the competitive nature of their band members.
"To say it's like the teams, I'm going to say no, because there's no one keeping score," said longtime USC band director Arthur C. Bartner, who earned his undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees at Michigan's music school.
"I think it's more a matter of pride," he said. "We go out and we want to have the best show -- and Michigan, they want the same."
Both bands know that on Monday, they must play and march at the absolute top of \o7their \f7game.
