and rearranged the fight song continuously throughout his career. Falcone drastically increased the visibility of the band through an aggressive schedule of performances and trips. He added 3 US Presidential performances to the band's resume as well as 3 televised Rose Parade and game performances in the 50s and 60s. There was a band shell on the campus where Bessey Hall stands today that was the site of regular band concerts for many years. From 1960 to 1969, Bill Moffit was assistant director of the band alongside Falcone. Moffit developed the "Patterns in Motion" drill movement concept, centered around a 4-person squad system during this time, including the current pregame drill used by the band. After Falcone's retirement, Moffit had started a position as the director of the Purdue All-American Marching Band and in 1984, took the Purdue band to Falcone's neighbourhood the morning before a football game to perform on the street. Falcone retired and took on a role as professor emeritus in 1967, though he remained a fixture around the campus until weeks before his death in 1985. 1970s to modern day The band was the 1988 recipient of the Sudler Trophy for collegiate marching bands, administered by the John Philip Sousa Foundation. In 1989, John Madden became director of the band, and after his retirement in 2017, became the second-longest-serving director in band history, 28 years. During his tenure, the band traveled to 17 bowl games, 2 presidential performances and some foreign. Upon his retirement, he earned the distinction of Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Director of the SMB. The current director is Dr. David Thornton who was a former masters and doctoral student at MSU, and was the assistant director for the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Former band directors A.J. Clark (1907-1916, 1918-1919, 1922-1925) Frederic Abel (1916-1918) J.S. Taylor (1919-1922) Carl Kuhlman (1925-1927) Leonard Falcone (1927-1967) Harry Begian (1967-1970) Kenneth Bloomquist (1970-1977) Thad Hegerberg (1977) Carl Chevallard (1978) Dave Catron (1979-1987) William Wiedrich (1988) John Madden (1989-2016) Former assistant or associate band directors Oscar Stover (1953-1960) William Moffit (1960-1969) Joe Parker (1969) Dave Catron (1970-1973) Thad Hegerberg (1974-1976) Carl Chevallard (1977) William Wiedrich (1982-1987) Isaiah Odajima (2006-2008) Cormac Cannon (2009-2014) David Thornton (2015-2016) Simon Holoweiko (2017) Instrumentation The Spartan Marching Band instrumentation is notable among college bands in the U.S. as being made up of brass, saxophones, and percussion, with no flutes, piccolos, or clarinets. Instead, E-flat