Corey Pompey, the new University of Wisconsin-Madison marching band director, takes the baton and replaces a legend

MADISON - Corey Pompey stood at the top of a red ladder as hundreds of University of Wisconsin band members, their hats turned backward to signify a victory, twirled, cavorted, danced, hopped and acted crazy.

Without a word he pointed to his watch and band members knew it was time to play "The Rocky Horror Picture Show's" "The Time Warp."

It was homecoming weekend, the Badger football team had just defeated Michigan State and in a way, it was a time warp because, for the first time since 1969, a new director leads the UW band.

Pompey, 37, has made some minor changes in music selection and halftime drills, but fans in the stands and the pregame party at Union South probably haven't noticed much of a difference.

He tries not to think about following in the huge footsteps of Michael Leckrone, who retired earlier this year after half a century of leading the Badger band.

"I am well aware of all of Mike’s accomplishments and everything that he’s done. But if I try to think about that while trying to do the job it would become too overwhelming for me," Pompey said in a recent interview in his campus office.

Pompey met Leckrone for breakfast after he moved to Madison in July and asked if Leckrone had any advice.

"He said 'No, I don't have any advice. You do what you know how to do.' And that was very reassuring."

Pompey's music selections, chosen through brainstorming sessions with Assistant Director of Bands Darin Olson, have included Beyoncé, the Jonas Brothers, The Killers and Adele. Shows have featured Billy Joel and Elton John, songs from TV shows celebrating anniversaries and a Broadway tunes package during homecoming that included songs from "Dear Evan Hansen," "The Wiz," "Hamilton" and "Waitress."

Though the football team is in Champaign to play the University of Illinois this weekend, the band will travel to Lambeau Field on Sunday to perform pregame and halftime shows at the Packers-Raiders game as well as a Fifth Quarter.

To a discerning eye, the halftime drills look a bit different, with musicians frequently marching in diagonal lines. But otherwise the band continues to perform its mission of wowing audiences and pepping up crowds to cheer on the football team. The size of the band remains the same — 248 at halftime and 208 to 210 for pregame.

It still plays "On Wisconsin!," "Varsity" and "You've Said It All." It still performs the Fifth Quarter. Tubas still march around the stadium single file in the second half. The "stop at the top" marching style is unchanged.

Drum section leader Scott Underwood gets lots of questions from strangers when he wears a UW band T-shirt. Folks ask what the new director is like.

"It's good to be able to tell people we're enjoying Dr. Pompey. It doesn't mean we love Mike Leckrone any less," said Underwood, 21, a mechanical engineering major from Mt. Horeb.

"I feel like we're getting the chance to practice fresh ideas and grow as a band while still holding on to our core values," Underwood said before a recent practice.

All band members are now memorizing their music instead of carrying music onto the field for each show. 

Drum major Justine Spore, 21, of Shorewood, said the biggest change has been the music selections. Noting that the band played "Waving Through a Window" from the musical "Dear Evan Hansen" and "Opening Up" from "Waitress" for homecoming, Spore said, "I don't know that we would've played those songs last year. (Pompey) kind of refreshed our playbook."

Pompey and his staff are trying to choose music to appeal to a broad audience from older alums to teen-age students. So far, after five home games, the feedback has been positive, he said.

"We're trying to look at the entirety of the season and just come up with as wide a variety as we can so that at some point each demographic, in their various tastes, can find something that they like," said Pompey.

The Alabama native didn't grow up thinking he would someday lead a college band. His path to the top of a ladder on Camp Randall's sidelines was circuitous and involved many instruments.

As a fourth grader in the Birmingham public school system he signed up for a string program and chose, or was steered, to violin. Pompey had seen orchestras on TV and was not happy to learn he would have to stand to play the violin in class.

"There was a cellist who moved away and I said to myself, 'they get to sit' and I switched to cello," he said.

He played cello for a year or two and started on trumpet in his fifth-grade band. Trumpet was chosen for him because they were available and his mother, not knowing he would be serious in music, was not yet willing to invest in an instrument. The next year he finally got to play what he really wanted, alto saxophone.

Pompey also picked up other instruments when there weren't enough players.

"I was that kid. We don't have those instruments? OK, I'll learn them: trombone, tuba. I wouldn't say I played any of those well but if it was needed, I could fill in."

Which turned out to be great training for a future music educator who must learn, or at least become proficient, in the basics of all band instruments. He decided to major in music education at the University of Alabama but only as a means to go to law school. But by the end of his first semester, he realized he wanted to be a music teacher.

Meanwhile, he played tenor sax and later performed as drum major in the University of Alabama marching band at a time when 'Bama was not the powerhouse it is today. His first season, in 2000, the team finished with a 3-8 record.

He earned his bachelor's and master's in music education at Alabama and later a doctorate in musical arts at the University of Texas-Austin. He was a music teacher and band director for middle and high schools in Alabama for seven years before applying for a position at Penn State as assistant director of bands.  

Pompey spent two years at Penn State before moving to the University of Nevada, Reno. Last November, the phone rang in his office in Reno. It was Scott Teeple, director of bands at UW-Madison, asking if Pompey knew about the opening in Madison and might he be interested?

Pompey was not. He had just started as Reno's marching band director, he was happy and figured he would be there for a long time. And the UW position carried its own set of baggage.

"I had no intention of applying for this job. I knew the job was open. Everybody knew the job was open," said Pompey. "My mindset was good luck to whoever that person was. You can have it, not for me, no thanks."

Pompey is quick to say that his lack of interest had nothing to do with the quality of work being performed by the Badger band. It was that he didn't want to follow someone as beloved as Leckrone, who remains an active supporter of the band.

He was not the only potential candidate to feel that way. Throughout the application period, Teeple estimates he sent more than 1,000 emails and called 100 to 120 people. While there were likely a myriad of reasons people were reluctant to apply, Teeple said certainly Leckrone's longevity and close relationship with the band deterred many prospective applicants.

"I think people were extremely cautious about applying," Teeple said in a phone interview. "I called people I thought would be interested in the job, people who might be once they heard more, people I thought would know people I should call.

"What I didn't want to do was talk someone into a job they didn't want," said Teeple.

Pompey spent a few weeks thinking about the UW gig and talked to mentors and friends. They told him Big Ten marching band directing jobs are coveted positions that don't open up very often. They also mentioned the excellence of music programs in Big Ten schools and the rigorous academic standards.

Eventually, he decided to apply, submitting his application with hours to spare on Dec. 31. A few months later he traveled to Madison for meetings with band members and faculty, conducted the wind ensemble and handled a practice with volunteers from the band.

"Corey just hit it out of the park," said Teeple. "He didn't come in and talk about changing things. He just came in and got to work. When he started to work with the students, he immediately started at their high level and his answers to their questions catered to their intellect."

Teeple phoned Pompey in late April telling him he had gotten the job. Pompey got married in Texas on May 26 and by July he had moved to Madison.

Leckrone changed things and started traditions over the five decades he held the baton and it's likely that Pompey will eventually mold the band. But right now, Pompey has no plans to radically change anything.

"I'm just trying to get through the year for now. Traditions happen organically," said Pompey. "You don't say ‘We're going to start this and all of a sudden it's going to be a tradition.’ ”