Kiltie Marching Band
At one hundred members strong, Alma’s kilt-clad marching band performs intense corps-style shows at all home football games, plus an annual indoor show. The show drill and styles of movement are contemporary and on par with competitive marching band and drum corps performances.
Founded in the fall of 1922 by students, this unique group has evolved from its original pep band status to a contemporary marching ensemble that includes drum majors, brass, woodwinds, percussionists and color guard. Membership in this ensemble is open to all Alma College students by audition.
The band assumed its Scottish identity at the suggestion of the Rev. William (Billie) Malcolm, a Presbyterian minister from Three Rivers. In 1938, the Kiltie Marching Band first performed in its Royal McPherson tartan uniform for a pep rally before an October Football game. Today, members of the band wear the official Alma College Tartan, which is registered in Aberdeen, Scotland.
In addition to performing at all home football games and parades, the band has performed at Disney’s Epcot, The Detroit Thanksgiving Parade, NCAA Division III play-off games, in exhibition for the Hastings Marching Invitational and for public school programs in Michigan. Also, the band hosts the annual Alma College/Hohner Institute of Percussion High School Marching Band Invitational each fall. This event brings more than a thousand young musicians to campus to perform and be critiqued.
For more information regarding auditions and scholarships please contact David Zerbe at zerbe@alma.edu.
