Marching Band
The St. Ambrose University Fighting Bee Marching Band is a corps-style marching ensemble dedicated to musical and visual excellence.
The Fighting Bee Marching Band is a highly visible organization on campus, throughout Eastern Iowa, Western Illinois, and the Quad Cities.
Students of any major are welcome to join!
Interested in Marching Band, Guard, or Drumline/Front Ensemble? Click here For Admitted Marching Band Students
Marching Band Scholarship
All members of Marching Band, Indoor Marching Arts, and Drumline/Front Ensemble receive an automatic $2,500 scholarship for every academic year you are a member. No auditions. No cuts. If you have a great attitude and are willing to work hard, we will find a place for you in this group!
Bee Part of Something AWESOME
The Fighting Bee Marching Band is growing by leaps and bounds with more than 80 musicians in the band, drumline, and colorguard. Bee part of this amazing group.
SAU Marching Arts
Put your relentless dedication, hard work, and musical talents to work when you join SAU Marching Arts!
More Information About Marching Band
Part of Marching Band is the Pep Band that performs in the spring for all home games of men's and women's volleyball and basketball (approx. 5 games per sport).
All woodwind and brass players who receive an Athletic Band Award are required to participate in pep band. Our two pep bands rehearse together once a week. Rehearsals begin mid-fall semester and continue through the spring. The two pep bands have members of equal playing ability; two bands allows students to work around their academic and extra-curricular schedules.
There is NO AUDITION required to participate and this ensemble is OPEN TO ANY STUDENT regardless of major. Game performances are run by either the Athletic Band Director or drum majors and both bands use drumset players.
Any student on campus is allowed to join this ensemble, however, those who only participate in pep band do not receive a scholarship.
Signing up for Pep Band is easy! Enroll in MUS-126 A/B Pep Band during spring registration. Students register for either 1 CREDIT or 0 CREDIT. Participation in this ensemble fulfills the required general education fine arts credit.
Our pep band program prides itself on entertaining our crowds and supporting our athletes.
Most of our music encompasses current pop tunes, classic rock, and funk.
We perform a large book of repertoire that is constantly updated in hopes of never hearing the same song twice in one game.
The Fighting Bee Band prides itself on providing opportunities for students across campus to develop real-world skills through working within the musical medium.
We are an organization dedicated to ensuring that our student members and staff graduate with knowledge and passion that will fuel the rest of their lives.
Our student leadership work every day to ensure our organization is growing and developing in a healthy way. GO BEES, GO BAND!
Professional Staff
Director of Indoor Marching Arts
Marching Percussion Director
Megan Hobbs is the newly appointed Director of Athletic Bands and current Director of Indoor Marching Arts at St. Ambrose University, which houses both a competitive Winter Guard and Indoor Percussion program.
Ms. Hobbs has been involved in the marching arts since 2007, participating in marching percussion in her hometown of Kenosha, WI. Her introduction to drum corps was with the Kilties Drum & Bugle Corps in 2010. As a member, she went on to win the DCA I&E marimba competition in 2011. She also attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she pursued a degree in percussion performance and music education.
Her world class marching experience includes the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps and Rhythm X. She has also enjoyed being a part of professional entertainment ensembles including the Milwaukee Bucks Drumline and Tundraline, the official drumline of the Green Bay Packers.
Her previous educational appointments include work as a technician, coordinator, arranger, and consultant. Her experience spans front ensemble and battery instruction with various high schools in Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa; ConneXus Percussion, the Kilties Drum & Bugle Corps, and the Colt Cadets Drum & Bugle Corps, where she is currently the percussion caption head.
Ms. Hobbs has been with St. Ambrose University since 2019 when she began working as a battery technician. Since then, she has spearheaded the addition of a front ensemble to the Fighting Bee Marching Band, as well as starting the competitive Indoor Marching Arts program at SAU. Under her leadership, the SAU Indoor Percussion ensemble was a WGI A Class World Championship Finalist in their first year of existence. She will also be taking an educational role in the Music Department, running chamber percussion ensemble and lessons. Ms. Hobbs is excited to lead the Fighting Bee Marching Band, and help facilitate the growth of percussion studies throughout the greater Quad Cities area.
Coordinator of Events and Performances for Athletic Bands
Golden Lund has three degrees in tuba performance: B.M. from the University of Utah, M.M. from Indiana University, and a D.M.A. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His studies also include two summers at the Aspen Music Festival and one summer at the Round Top Music Festival.
Dr. Lund has been teaching music at the collegiate level for over 10 years at three different institutions: BYU-Idaho, Augustana College, and St. Ambrose University. His primary focus has been teaching applied low brass students, but he has also taught music theory, aural skills, brass techniques, and music appreciation.
He began teaching at St. Ambrose as the low brass instructor in 2016 and is now expanding his horizon as the newly appointed Coordinator of Events and Performances for Athletic Bands where he serves as the assistant director of the marching band and pep band director.
Additionally, Lund is the appointed low brass coach for the local Quad City Youth Symphony. He has coached and conducted a variety of different collegiate ensembles including wind ensemble, symphony orchestra, low brass ensemble, tuba quartet, brass quintet, a woodwind quintet, and a saxophone quartet.
Dr. Lund is very excited to now be working full time with the wonderful students of St. Ambrose University and to help expand the influence of the Athletic bands on campus and in the greater quad cities community. His mission for his students is to cultivate a passion for music, give them a greater sense of their potential, and help them become life-long supporters and advocates for the arts.
Contact
Megan Hobbs, Director
Davis Hall Office 26
518 W. Locust St.
Davenport, IA 52803
563-333-6120
HobbsMeganM@sau.edu