Johnson is entering her third year as band director. Photo by Jada Gangazha.
NHU-HAN BUI | STAFF REPORTER | hbui@butler.edu
Even though Zombie Nation’s song Kernkraft 400 is a permanent fixture at Butler basketball games, a live band provides a different atmosphere than music from a speaker. The Butler Athletic Bands have students from all majors and walks of life, yet they come together for a few days per week to do what they love: perform music.
At the head of the program is band director Melissa Johnson, who stepped into the role in the summer of 2021. She earned her masters in instrumental conducting from Butler in 2020 and served as the band’s graduate assistant during her time here as well.
“I’ve been involved with music my entire life,” Johnson said. “I had such a great relationship with my band director [in high school] and realized that’s what I wanted to do for my career. [I] got my bachelor’s in music education [from Hope College], taught music [in Michigan] for a few years and then came down to Indianapolis to do my masters. And here we are.”
Prior to Johnson becoming band director, the program had been paused at Butler due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After her predecessor took a leave of absence and asked Johnson to take over the position, she was left with the task of rebuilding.
“The hardest thing was to just figure out how are we going to rebuild a program that [has not] been in existence?” Johnson said. “How do I recruit new students? Where is all our equipment [and] where is our field? All of that had been moved during [the pandemic] as well. It took maybe two to three years to finally come out of that [rebuilding phase].”
Three years later, Johnson feels as if the band is finally running smoothly. With a leadership team of 25 students — many of whom are juniors and seniors — she has a steady core of support and a reliable group to help her lead the bands. Her hard work has paid off, and she is not the only one who thinks so.
“We always have leadership training before marching band camps start in August, and I had multiple of my students, mainly juniors and seniors, [say] to me [that] it actually feels like [everything is] running smoothly again,” Johnson says. “It feels like all the work that [we have] been putting in the last three years to rebuild has come to fruition this year, so it feels like we can breathe again.”
The juniors and seniors in the band have been through the rebuilding process and have seen firsthand how hard Johnson has worked to revive the program. One of these students is Tyler Ellis, a senior youth and community development major and alto saxophone section leader in the marching band.
Ellis came to Butler and joined the bands the same year that Johnson became director and is appreciative of her efforts.
“[Johnson] had the names of two drum majors and that was it,” Ellis said. “And she had to put on a band camp. She started from ground zero, and she built something that is so beautiful. Seeing how this grew from nothing into this beautiful culture is awesome.”
Although Butler has a smaller marching band program than even some high schools, Johnson has created a non-competitive atmosphere that puts the students’ health first and also gives them a community outside of their major.
Junior sociology major Hailey Palomo, who serves as the undergraduate assistant for the bands, says that Johnson’s unconditional support has helped the band to grow.
“She’s just the sweetest, most emotionally mature person I’ve ever met,” Palomo says. “She really just wants the program to grow. Everything she does is for us, and she makes sure that we know that. The unconditional positivity that she has really helps us as a band, and we feel so welcomed and accepted in this space.”
Ellis agrees with Palomo’s sentiment. He said that Johnson is someone the band can rely on because she can understand everyone’s perspective.
“[In high school] there was not as much a focus on physical and mental health as much as there was a ‘We need wins’ [mentality],” Ellis says. “Professor Johnson was one of the first people that I met on this campus [who] really encouraged us to be healthy. She’s a person that we can come to with our gripes and really helps bring [people from] all these walks of life together to make something awesome.”
Although many students in the bands will not perform again after graduation, they have made connections and memories here that will last a lifetime. The athletic bands are a way for students to let out energy and relieve stress while being with friends and directing the bands lets Johnson do what she loves.
“I love the relationships that I get to build with the students,” Johnson says. “[Building] relationships is always my number one priority with students, and being able to do that with music is just the best thing ever. It doesn’t feel like I’m coming to work.”
