Ensembles

Marching Band

The Notre Dame Marching Band, also known as the Band of the Fighting Irish, is the oldest university marching band in continous existence. Entering its 180th year for the 2025-2026 academic year, the Band of the Fighting Irish performs for hundres of thousands of college football fans and is seen by millions more on national television for every home Notre Dame Football game. The Band was at the first Notre Dame Football game against Michigan in 1887 and has been on hand for every home game, numerous away games, neutral site home games, pep rallies, and bowl games ever since.

The 380+ members of the Marching Band represent all 50 states, numerous contries throughout the world, all 3 schools in the tri-campus community, and every academic major on campus. Every year band mambers are recognized as distinguished graduates in their respective fields of study.

The marching band rehearses Monday through Thursday nights during the fall semester for 1.5 hours. On the Friday before a home game the band will also perform a "march out" from the Main Building to the Ricci Family Field for an open rehearsal, followed by a Midnight Drummers Circle, open to all fans who wish to attend and kick off a home football weekend at Notre Dame. On game days the band will have a closed rehearsal, followed by an appearance at the Player's Walk, numerous section performances including Trumpets at the Dome, a pre-game Concert on the Steps at Bond Hall, and concluding with a march out from the Main Building to Notre Dame Stadium to officially start the game.

Concert Bands

Notre Dame has a rich tradition of concert performances, with more than 200 student musicians participating in the 3 concert bands at Notre Dame each year. Throughout the year the groups perform several concerts, provide music for the annual Commencement excercises, and travel on both a domestic and international concert tour. Recent international tours have included performances at the Sydney Opera House, the Mozarteym in Salzburg, Austria, the Beijing Concert Hall, and the Teatro Amazonas in Brazil. Domestically, the band has gone on concert tours to California, throughout the midwest, and Pittsburgh, as well as performed in some of the United States' finest concert halls such as Severance Hall in Cleveland and the world-renowned Carnegie Hall in New York City. On campus the band performs at Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, one of the finest performance venues in the country.

The 3 concert bands are made up of two audition-only groups, Symphonic Winds and Symphonic Band, as well as a larger non-auditioned University Band that is open to students, alumni, faculty, staff, and members of the local community. During the fall semester both Symphonic Winds and Symphonic Band rehearse for 1 hour on Thursday afternoons prior to marching band rehearsal and the University Band rehearses for 1 hour on Monday evenings after marching band rehearsal. In the spring semester Symphonic Winds and Symphonic Band rehearse twice a week for 1 hour each and the University Band rehearses for 1.5 hours on Monday nights.

Jazz Bands

The University of Notre Dame has three auditioned jazz ensembles made up of two big bands and one New Orleans Brass Band. Each year the ensembles perform at several concerts and events on campus and also participate in a spring jazz tour. The Jazz Bands also help host the annual Collegiate Jazz Festival, the oldest annual jazz event in the United States, which features top-level jazz groups from universities across the United States and world class professional judges. Recent judges have included John Clayton, Jeff Clayton, Terrell Stafford, Marvin Stamm, Jon Faddis, Nnenna Freelon, Peter Erskine, Jim McNeely, Jamey Aebersold, and James Carter.

The two big bands each have 5 saxophones (2 alto, 2 tenor, 1 bari), 5 trumpets, 4 trombones, and rhythm section (piano, bass, guitar, drum set, and vocalist) and perform a variety of music ranging from Duke Ellington and Count Basie standards to the original charts from bands such as Buddy Rich, Woody Herman, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis, Clayton-Hamilton, and Gordon Goodwin, as well as contemporary music. The New Orleans Brass Band has 3 saxes, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, sousaphone, banjo/guitar, and drums, and plays new arrangements in the style of groups such as the Youngblood Brass Band and Rebirth Brass Band. Auditions for all three groups take place virtually over the summer, which consists of playing a song along with a background track. Students are encouraged to improvise, although it is not required. All three groups rehearse in the evenings once a week.

In addition to the three jazz ensembles, the program also sponsors two courses related to jazz that are open to all students at the University: an Introduction to Jazz course in the fall semester and a Jazz Improvisation course in the spring semester, both taught by Associate Director of Bands Professor Larry Dwyer.

Varsity (Pep) Bands

Each year more than 300 students participate in the Notre Dame Basketball and Hockey Varsity (Pep) Bands. Basketball Bands are split into 2 groups that each play at an equal number of Women's and Men's Basketball home games and the Hockey Band performs as one group at all home Hockey games. Members of both groups are eligible for post-season conference and NCAA tournament travel when applicable. There is no audition to join, and the groups are open to all students, including those not in marching band.

 

Section Ensembles

During the spring semester each section of the band meets once a week to practice their playing, arranging, and conducting. The groups will work on various chamber music works throughout the semester, culminating in a combined Section Ensembles Concert in late April. There are no auditions to join, and the groups are open to all students, including those not in marching band.