Dr. Elliot Cleveland runs Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band students through an exercise clinic as part of the Marching Health program on Aug. 10. Photo by Ben Hensley

The smell of freshly cut sod. The heat of the summer sun pounding on brass and sunscreen. The rhythm of fall being pounded out by the drumline and echoed by the horns.

It’s that time of year again when colleges and high schools across the country spring back into action, preparing for the upcoming semester of classes and experiences, not to mention the loudest and most visible activity on campus.

If you were thinking football, you’re on the right track — just not quite in the right section of the stadium.

Steve McKeithen, associate director of bands at Fresno State, has been hard at work preparing the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band for the 2024-25 season — a year that will culminate in another appearance at the Rose Parade in Pasadena. It will be the second time the band has performed at the parade in the last three years.

This time though, thanks to a partnership between the band and Marching Health — an organization that focuses on the wellness of participants in the marching arts — the band hopes to be more prepared than ever, not only for the Rose Parade, but for all six home football games and a possible championship and bowl game appearance.

Marching Health offers specialized workouts for high school and college level marching bands, as well as in-person clinics.

The program focuses on the needs of a forgotten realm of athletes — the marching band member. Founder of Marching Health, Dr. Elliot Cleveland, said that while the needs of athletes are met in many activities and sports, marching band and marching arts have lagged behind, often being considered more “musician” and less “athlete.”

“These are performing artists and athletes,” Cleveland said. “Most of the time we gravitate towards one or the other and not realize — we have to have a hybrid of both.”

Cleveland said that the field of sports medicine has somewhat sidelined the marching arts by labeling them as such, not taking into account the physical activity.

He added that by neglecting to acknowledge the physical requirements involved, the sports medicine field is forgetting about a very large group of athletes. Marching bands are also typically up to five times as large as most of the athletic teams on any given campus.

 

“There’s a large number of students that really have sports medicine needs and fitness needs and need that coaching along the way,” Cleveland said.

Marching Health aims to fix that problem. By tailoring workout routines to fit the needs of each program, Cleveland works with student leaders to develop techniques to reach the goals of programs across the country and around the world.

Cleveland is himself a former drumline participant and instructor at Wando High School in South Carolina — a school known for its marching arts. He worked with his leadership team while at the school and combined his physical therapy knowledge and background with drumline and marching band-related needs.

The results spoke for themselves over the course of just a single year.

“We went from 20 kids dropping out a day to two — and both of those kids had medical issues, so we knew exactly what to expect,” he said. “We spread the word on social media, it blew up, and we’ve had tens of thousands of followers from across the globe.”

Cleveland said the company, which started in 2017, now does a summer tour, working with schools to implement plans similar to the one at Fresno State. They have done 57 clinics this summer alone and 120 overall.

Locally, McKeithen said the band members at Fresno State have latched onto the concept already, with many of the band’s members having made the trip to Pasadena in 2023 the last time the band performed at the Rose Parade.

Student leaders have also grasped the opportunity to lead the band back to the Rose Parade in even better shape (physically and musically) than 2023. Drum majors Ellie Flynn and Danielle Densmore, both of whom marched in Pasadena in 2023, said they are looking forward to the return trip.

“In years past we’ve kind of done our own thing and were trying to work out as best as we can, but having professional guidance that’s structuring us in this way to give us the best outcome possible is going to be really nice as we do this long march,” said Densmore, one of the band’s three drum majors.

 

McKeithen, who is entering his tenth year with Fresno State, said the parade was great last time and that some specific marching band-focused video feeds were still able to see the band.

“It was a very proud moment — probably one of the top moments of my career was watching them do what they do,” he said. “They absolutely crushed it. I don’t think we could have done it any better than we did.”

In 2023, the Bulldog Marching Band was not seen on the national televised broadcast due to technical issues; this year’s invitation to the parade will act as somewhat of a consolation for the university not being showcased nationally in its initial visit.

But McKeithen and the band know it’s another opportunity to showcase their craft, an opportunity the band and its leaders do not take lightly.

“We’re happy to do it again, but it is expensive,” McKeithen said. “We’re lucky that the president sees this as a great stage to showcase Fresno State and the Central Valley and certainly the marching band.”

Cleveland and McKeithen both hope that Marching Health will not only be something to take the Bulldog Marching Band’s performances to the next level, but that the band’s members — many of which are studying to be music educators — will pass the lessons learned with their experiences to their future students.

“That gives them a chance to practice their motivation skills, their speaking skills and become better communicators who also hold themselves accountable to giving that type of physical effort and mental effort throughout the season,” he said. “That’s really what helps groups get to the next level and build the culture of health fitness and leadership.”

Marching Health has a large social media presence, with accounts on all major social media sites. Programs interested in booking clinics or learning more can do so via Marching Health’s social media sites or by email at elliot@marchinghealth.com.