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creative:impact - Jason Fettig brings his baton to Ann Arbor

Jason Fettig conducting a musical performance by the University of Michigan Symphony Band in February of 2024.
Peter Smith
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Peter Smith Photography
Jason Fettig conducting a musical performance by the University of Michigan Symphony Band in February of 2024.

Creative industries in Washtenaw County add hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy. In the weeks and months to come, host Deb Polich, the President and CEO of Creative Washtenaw, explores the myriad of contributors that make up the creative sector in Washtenaw County.

Creative Washtenaw CEO Deb Polich at the WEMU studio.
John Bommarito
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89.1 WEMU
Creative Washtenaw CEO Deb Polich at the WEMU studio.

ABOUT JASON FETTIG:

U-M Band Program Director Jason Fettig.
Peter Smith
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Peter Smith Photography
U-M Band Program Director Jason Fettig.

Jason K. Fettig is an internationally recognized conductor of wind band and orchestra and a highly sought-after educator and clinician. Performances under his baton have occurred in forty-nine U.S. states as well as Japan, the Czech Republic, Austria and The Netherlands, and live concerts have been regularly heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and on national television broadcasts from the White House, on “The Today Show,” the “David Letterman Show” on PBS, NBC and CBS. He has worked with an incredibly wide array of artists from across the entire musical spectrum, from internationally renowned classical artists such as pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Joshua Bell, and the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, Broadway luminaries Norm Lewis, Jessica Vosk, and Lea Salonga, to pop superstars including Gloria Estefan, Jordin Sparks and Lada Gaga.

Fettig currently serves as the 8th Director of University Bands and Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan, continuing a substantial legacy of bands at the institution shepherded by William D. Revelli, H. Robert Reynolds, and Michael Haithcock. He conducts the world renown University of Michigan Symphony Band and leads comprehensive masters and doctoral programs in wind conducting. Additionally, he provides the overarching vision and management for the full scope of band activities at the University, from the Michigan Marching Band to numerous ensembles for both music majors and non-majors alike. He also serves on the General Counsel Committee for the University. Prior to coming to U of M, Fettig served nearly a decade as the 28th Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra, where he was the music adviser to the White House and regularly conducted the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the Executive Mansion. He led the musical program for the Inaugurations of President Donald Trump and President Joseph Biden and the State Funeral of George H.W. Bush. He also served as music director of Washington, D.C.’s historic Gridiron Club, a position held by every Marine Band Director since John Philip Sousa.

Fettig has conducted featured performances at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago, the international conference of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles, the Texas Bandmasters Association, and the national conventions of the American Bandmasters Association and the Music Educators National Conference. He has led concerts at prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony Center, Severance Hall in Cleveland, and Boston Symphony Hall, and has twice partnered with the National Symphony Orchestra and their Music Director Gianandrea Noseda for special joint performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He has also collaborated on numerous occasions with legendary composer and conductor John Williams, most recently sharing conducting with Maestro Williams of a gala concert of music at the Kennedy Center in July, 2023. In May 2019, Fettig and the Marine Band, in partnership with the All-Star Orchestra conducted by Gerard Schwarz, won an Emmy at the 62nd Annual New York Emmy Awards for a program entitled “New England Spirit.” Fettig also represented the Marine Corps at the White House when military bands were awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Trump in 2019.

Throughout his career, Fettig has been deeply committed to music education. With the Marine Band, he began an interactive Young People’s Concert series in 2006 and authored, hosted, and conducted this popular annual event until 2015. He has launched innovative new digital programs for world-wide audiences, including a video series entitled the Digital Rehearsal Hall, which provides viewers a behind-the-scenes view into the working rehearsal process of professional musicians. Fettig has served as a clinician or guest conductor at more than three dozen universities and colleges. He frequently teaches at conducting symposia both in the U.S. and internationally, and he has appeared as conductor for numerous national Honor and All-State festivals around the country, leading both bands and orchestras. He has presented at the Midwest Clinic on multiple occasions and has served as adjudicator for major competitions, including the Thailand International Wind Symphony Competition and at the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, The Netherlands.

In addition to his many live performances, Fettig has conducted or served as lead producer for over 20 publicly released albums of both traditional and contemporary band and orchestra repertoire. In 2014, Fettig launched an ambitious project to re-record all of the marches of John Philip Sousa and provide free performance and educational materials online to schools and ensembles worldwide. His steadfast focus on preserving and celebrating historic band repertoire and performance practice is complemented by a fervent advocacy for contemporary American music. He has commissioned and/or conducted the world premieres of more than forty works, including substantial new pieces by James Stephenson, Jacob Bancks, Jennifer Higdon, David Rakowski, Stacy Garrop, Narong Prangcharoen, Peter Boyer, Zhou Tian, Jessica Meyer, Michael Gilbertson, Dominick DiOrio, Donald Grantham, and Jonathan Leshnoff. This initiative has continued in his tenure at the University of Michigan, where nearly every concert includes a newly commissioned work for winds.

Fettig holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in both clarinet performance and music education, and a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Maryland, College Park. His honors and awards include the 2023 Medal of Honor from the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic and an honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts from his alma mater, UMass. In 2014, he was elected as a member of the prestigious American Bandmasters Association. He serves on their Board of Directors, along with the Board of the John Philip Sousa Foundation, and he is the current President of The National Band Association.

RESOURCES:

University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Profile: Jason Fettig

Press Release: "Jason Fettig named Director of Bands"

"The President's Own" United States Marine Band

TRANSCRIPTION:

Deb Polich: Welcome to 89 one WEMU's creative:impact. I'm Deb Polich, president and CEO of Creative Washtenaw and your host. Thanks for joining us every Tuesday to meet interesting, creative people who choose to call Washtenaw County home. Jason Fettig is one of those people, and I'm excited for you to meet him. This past January, Jason joined the University of Michigan faculty as the Director of Bands and Professor of Conducting. Jason, welcome to the neighborhood and to creative:impact!

Jason Fettig: Thanks, Deb! I'm so happy to be here!

Deb Polich: So, yours is a fascinating and, I must say, impressive journey. When people hear of U of M band, the image they conjure is that of one of the most storied marching bands in the land, taking the field at Michigan Stadium--that is, in the land of college football. In the land of the United States, though, probably the most recognized band is The President's Own, the United States Marine Band. It is also, at 226 years old, the oldest military band. You served as the director of the Marine Band for ten years before coming to U of M. If bands had genealogy, you'd be tied directly to John Philip Sousa. You retired as a colonel with many honors from the Marines last December. I'd like to go back to when you enlisted. Were you immediately subscribed to the Marine Band? And how does it work? Do you audition before or after you enlist? Tell us about that.

Jason Fettig: Yeah, I was immediately assigned to the Marine Band. I didn't know a lot about military bands myself. I knew The President's Own was very famous as an American institution, a great musical organization. But, other than that, I just auditioned like you would for any other professional orchestra. The band is structured to attract the most talented musicians in the country on their musical talent. So, I auditioned, and I was offered a position with the band that was not in the Marine Corps. And then I enlisted in the Marine Corps specifically to serve with the Marine Band. All of our musicians are what we call permanent duty station. They spent their entire careers with the Marines there because of our association with the White House, and I need to be in Washington, D.C. all of the time.

Deb Polich: So, you're not in a typical term of service like many other enlisted members of the military. Correct?

Jason Fettig: We actually are. We're on a four-year enlistment. So, everything about the service is very structured--very similar to any other Marine. The major differences are we joined the Marine Corps specifically to be musicians and that we spend our entire time in one unit. But I served. I signed up for an official term of four years. I didn't know at that point that I would be commissioned an officer within that first enlistment and then move on to a different job, but I was fully prepared to potentially spend our 20-plus year career as a clarinet player in the band.

Deb Polich: Wow, that's so interesting! And can you remember what that was like back when you first got there? I mean, you're in, as you mentioned one of the most famous bands.

Jason Fettig: I remember my very first rehearsal, I was very lucky to get into the band right out of college. In fact, I won the audition just before I graduated, and I hadn't even done my student teaching to earn my education degree, which I did later on. But I remember the very first rehearsal sitting in the clarinet section, and we happened to have a very famous conductor guest conducting the band during that time, Leonard Slotkin, who was the director of the National Symphony Orchestra and then later the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

The conductor of the United States Marine Band directs musicians during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.
Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II
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U.S. Department of Defense
The conductor of the United States Marine Band directs musicians during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.

Deb Polich: Right, right, right.

Jason Fettig: Yeah. Leonard was on the podium, and I remember him dropping a downbeat on the very first rehearsal where the band is sightreading the music, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing around me. I remember not being able to play for 10 seconds, because I was so shocked at how great it was right out of the gate. And I knew then that this was going to be a very special place to make music. I didn't know then how special it was going to be on so many other levels as well, as far as being part of history, having a front row seat for so many amazing events at the White House and around the country. But it was an elation that I had never felt before as a musician. And that continued all the way through my career.

Deb Polich: How exciting! And then again, how fortunate! You know, there is, at least from my side of the glass here, it's the pomp and circumstance---the tradition--of a military band is certainly there. What's it like to be in the middle of all of that?

Jason Fettig: Well, that's one of the things I grew to love so much about my particular service in the Marine band is that there's such an amazing feeling about the visceral power of music. And it has to do not only with the music we play and the quality of the performance, which is a tradition we have here in Michigan as well, but also just the representation of what it means to have to be able to provide a soundtrack for these great American traditions, whether it be state funerals for a fallen president or inaugurations or playing at Carnegie Hall and on tour or playing in a gymnasium in Nebraska. There's this beautiful symbolism with the uniforms that you see and the history, as you mentioned, of the band, and just tied all up into an anthem culture and artistic identity. And so, the visual aspect of it, the historic aspect, becomes as important as the actual music we play. And I felt that very much in the very wide range of things that we would perform, playing at Arlington National Cemetery for our fallen heroes or playing at the highest echelons of government and providing that soundtrack. And I felt that as a musician when I played and then later on when I became a director and had the opportunity to choose those moments and lead those moments, it was amplified even more.

Deb Polich: I can hear the respect for all of it in what you're telling us. 89 one WEMU's creative:impact continues with Jason Fettig, who, after serving as the director of the US Marine Corps Band, has brought his baton to oversee the family of bands at the University of Michigan. So, your trajectory took you to, eventually, I'm not quite sure how many years, but to becoming the director. How long did that take?

Jason Fettig: I was in total service of 26 years. So, after about 17 years, I was appointed director. I actually became an assistant conductor in 2001, which was just about three-and-a-half years into my career. So, I felt like I was shot out of a cannon. I just got into the band, was getting my feet on the ground as a clarinet player, and this opportunity arose to audition again to become one of the junior assistant directors. And, to my shock, I won that audition. And I was appointed as an assistant director. I spent 13 years kind of being an assistant, learning the job, conducting the band and the orchestra on multiple occasions and then, in 2014, was handed the baton. And to be honest with you, that responsibility freaked me out a little bit. I had been in the band for 17 years and then be charged with leaving this American institution and continuing to build on the work of those who had come before me. It took me a little while to get used to the idea that I was indeed in the same position that John Philip Sousa once held in the 1880s.

Deb Polich: Remarkable! Remarkable! And to carry that, I have to ask. I'm sure, or I suspect, many situations where the same song is always played--obviously The Star-Spangled Banner at everything. But is there much room for modernization or to bring your own imprint into the band?

Jason Fettig: Oh, yeah! One of the hallmarks of the Marine Band, which I was so proud of, is that we were the caretakers of all of that. We were caretakers of tradition and the music that is so central to our American identity from a couple hundred years ago. But we also were incredibly prolific at commissioning new music. I think during my time as director of the band, we commissioned and premiered 36 pieces by living composers and pieces that were specifically for the band. One of the most beautiful things about the organization was to play a concert where you might have a brand new piece of music that was just written for the band and being heard for the very first time and put it up against some classic repertoire, patriotic repertoire, of Sousa marches and to find an eloquent way to bring those worlds together is something the Marine Band has always been very, very good at.

Deb Polich: And does that new music become part of that repertoire going forward?

Jason Fettig: It does. You know, I think the Marine Band has been very fortunate to work with some of our most prominent conductors, both in America and across the world, and bring pieces into the repertoire that other bands then play, and they become the new classics to add to what we already have. I want to tell you one little story, too. You talk about music that we play over and over and over again. I probably conducted The Star-Spangled Banner and The Stars and Stripes Forever thousands of times after 26 years in the band.

Deb Polich: I bet!

Jason Fettig: And people ask me, "Do you get tired of that?" And the answer is always no, because every audience we would play that wonderful sacred music for, they might have been hearing it for the first time, especially played by The President's Own. And you feel that energy. You feel that appreciation in that community that's made by these pieces that have become central to our culture. And I will share with you. When I retired from the band and I conducted my last concert in December, when I conducted The Star-Spangled Banner for the final time with the Marine Band, I actually started to tear up on stage.

Deb Polich: I bet!

Jason Fettig: Because it hit me that this was my last opportunity to play this wonderful piece that I have conducted thousands of times, and that finality really hit me at my core emotionally, even though I was moving on to something wonderful to come here to the University of Michigan.

Deb Polich: What a memory to keep! And speaking of memories, you served as director, I believe, for Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden. And you also served as their musical advisor. What does that mean?

Jason Fettig: Well, we are the musical experts for the White House. Presidents come and go, as you know.

Deb Polich: Right.

Jason Fettig: But the band does not and has been at the White House since the time of President John Adams. And so, this tradition we have of providing the soundtrack for the White House is so important. We play at the White House over 300 times a year. So, nearly every event that's held at the White House has music, and that music needs to be carefully curated depending on the situation, the political climate, the theme or the desires of the President and the staff to communicate a certain emotion. And so, when there would be an event, a lot of times I would get a call from the staff. And they would say, "Here's the event. Here's the kind of emotion we're trying to convey. Would you please recommend an ensemble or recommend music for this?" And our role, traditionally, as directors of the Marine Band is to be the eyes and ears of the President and their staff on artistic issues and to make sure that we do it appropriately. We have close relationships with musical experts to make sure that we never choose any music that might embarrass the President or cause some sort of kerfuffle. Rather, we want to have the opposite effect. We want music to be something beautiful that always communicates diplomacy and always illuminates the event. And so, the Presidents have often relied on the directors of the Marine Band to provide that counsel on the musical front.

Deb Polich: Remarkable! And so much responsibility! 89 one WEMU's creative:impact continues with Jason Fettig, who is now the director of the University of Michigan's family of bands. Jason, I guess you would after that position that you held as the director of the Marine Corps Band, you could have landed or chosen a position anywhere. What attracted you to the University of Michigan?

Jason Fettig: Well, as I said earlier, I got a degree in music education. I planned on being a teacher. And, in a weird way, I got sidetracked by this opportunity with The President's Own. I had no idea where it was going to lead. And, certainly, I didn't know I was going to be a director someday, but I always knew when I finished there and I was going to be young enough that I could move on to a second chapter of my career, I knew I wanted to teach. I have had such respect for the University of Michigan for decades. The kind of musicmaking that happens in this institution, the faculty, the creativity, the forward thinking nature of the curriculum and, most importantly, the alignment that Michigan's band program has with the Marine Band. It's structured similarly. It has a similar artistic intent. In fact, many graduates from University of Michigan end up in the Marine Band. It's probably one of our largest communities of graduates is from Michigan. So, honestly, Deb, if you asked me when I left the Marine Band, if you had said, "Pick any institution in the country that you'd like to go teach. Pick anyone you want," I would have picked the University of Michigan. So, the fact that I ended up landing here and I was the best candidate to take over this storied band is really unbelievable to me. It's the absolute perfect place I would want to be. And it was such an incredible community, as you well know. So, I was so looking forward to having a second chapter at a place that had a similar tradition and quality of excellence and motivation for sending out professionals into the world to influence the next generation. I could not imagine a better place than this university. So, I'm thrilled to be here!

Jason Fettig conducting a musical performance by the University of Michigan Symphony Band in February of 2024.
Peter Smith
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Peter smith Photography
Jason Fettig conducting a musical performance by the University of Michigan Symphony Band in February of 2024.

Deb Polich: Well, now as the eighth, I believe, director of the University of Michigan's band program, we're going to look forward to you staying in our neighborhood for a long time and enthralling us with everything that you do with your partners there at the University of Michigan.

Jason Fettig: Thanks so much! I will be here for quite a long time. This will be my last job, I promise you! And what a treat to have had two jobs in my life and have them be at these two incredible American institutions!

Deb Polich: Well, thank you, Jason! That's Jason Fettig, who, as of January this year, became the eighth director of the University of Michigan's band program. Find out more about Jason and his history playing for the President's Band at wemu.org. You've been listening to creative:impact. I'm Deb Polich, president and CEO of Creative Washtenaw and your host, Mat Hopson is our producer. Please join us every Tuesday to meet the people who make Washtenaw creative. This is 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti. Public radio from Eastern Michigan University.

If you'd like to a guest on creative:impact, email Deb Polich at deb.polich@creativewashtenaw.org.

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Polich hosts the weekly segment creative:impact, which features creative people, jobs and businesses in the greater Ann Arbor area.
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