Baltimore's Marching Ravens are the official
marching band
A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ...
of the
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
team. They were founded as the Baltimore Colts' Marching Band on September 7, 1947, and have continuously operated ever since, supporting four separate football franchises. The band first supported the
original Baltimore Colts from 1947 to 1950, but continued to operate even after the franchise disbanded in 1950. After a new
Baltimore Colts franchise was installed in 1953, the band became associated with the newly founded team. The band endured a second relocation when the
Colts moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night in 1984, leaving Baltimore without a team for eleven years. The band became attached to the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...
Baltimore CFL Colts/
Baltimore Stallions during the league's United States Expansion Team Experiment years between 1994 and 1995. Then in 1996, the band became attached to a 4th franchise when the
Cleveland Browns relocated to Baltimore in 1996 and became the Ravens. They are one of two official marching bands in the NFL, the other being the
Washington Commanders Marching Band
The Washington Commanders Marching Band is the marching band for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). Founded in 1937, they are the oldest marching band of the National Football League. They perform the fight song "Ha ...
.
Background
According to an
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
documentary directed by
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
native
Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); '' The Natural'' (1984); '' Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987) ...
called ''
The Band That Wouldn't Die'', band leaders got advance warning that the team was being moved from Baltimore to Indianapolis overnight and were able to remove their equipment from team headquarters before the moving vans arrived. At the time of the move, the band's uniforms were being dry-cleaned. Band President John Ziemann contacted the owner of the dry cleaners, who told Ziemann that legally they could not release the uniforms to Ziemann, but told him that that evening, he should take the company van "for a walk", where Ziemann found the uniforms in the back.
[''The Band That Wouldn't Die''. Directed by Barry Levinson, Severn River Productions] Ziemann and some associates then hid the uniforms in a nearby cemetery, in a mausoleum belonging to the family of one of the band members, until the wife of then-Colts owner,
Robert Irsay, said they could keep them.
From 1984 until the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
relocated to Baltimore in 1996, the band stayed together, playing at football halftime shows and marching in parades, eventually becoming well known as "Baltimore's Pro-Football Musical Ambassadors". The band supported itself and remained an all-volunteer organization until the 2013 season when the Ravens organization was required to pay them. At one point, John Ziemann pawned his wife's wedding ring for the money to buy new equipment.
After the 2012 season, the Flagline and Honor guard sections were dropped from the band.
One of the band's first gigs after the Colts left was an invitation from then-Cleveland Browns owner
Art Modell to play during the halftime show of a Browns game. "They were cheap," Modell said, somewhat jokingly.
When Baltimore was in the running for a
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
franchise in the 1990s, Ziemann enlisted the band's help in convincing the
Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower cham ...
, the state legislature, to approve funding for a new football stadium.
The band played on the steps of the Maryland State House while the legislature was in session one evening, causing a crowd to gather, including then-Governor
William Donald Schaefer, who had been pushing hard for a team and a football stadium. Eventually, the legislature approved the funding.
When the Cleveland Browns announced their planned move to Baltimore, the band wondered if the team had any plans for them. On an episode of a local talk show hosted by
Kwesi Mfume that featured
David Modell and
Johnny Unitas, the host introduced Ziemann to a huge round of applause. Ziemann then asked Modell if the band could become the Ravens' official band, to which Modell smiled and said, "I thought you already were," as the crowd roared its approval again. (In ''The Band That Wouldn't Die'', Modell said that there was "no question" about the band affiliating with the Ravens. Modell had always wanted a team band, and he believed that that such a well-regarded band had stood ready to fill that role for over a decade was a "dream come true".)
For the Ravens' first two seasons, the band retained its name as The Baltimore Colts Marching Band, allowing the band to give what David Modell called a "2-year bow". At the start of the 1998 season, it assumed its current name, The Marching Ravens, coinciding with the opening of what is now
M&T Bank Stadium
M&T Bank Stadium is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium is immediately adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of th ...
in 1998, as well as the
Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 20 ...
making their first visit to Baltimore since their relocation.
For Ravens' home games the band performs a short concert on Eutaw Street and then marches from
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
The Oriole Park at Camden Yards is a baseball stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home field of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the "retro" major league ballparks constructed during the 1990s and early ...
down Ravens Walk into
M&T Bank Stadium
M&T Bank Stadium is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). The stadium is immediately adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of th ...
playing the Baltimore Ravens' fight song and other tunes. Before the game the band performs a pre-game field show and stays on the field for the playing of the national anthem. The band also marches a halftime show during most home games.
The band also had a new fight song for the Ravens, which was drastically different from the old Colts fight song. In 2010, Ziemann announced that the band was considering using the Colts fight song with new lyrics for the Ravens. Fans were allowed to vote online whether they wanted the old Colts fight song returned, or to resume the newer Ravens fight song. Over 10,000 votes were cast, with an overwhelming 79% in favor of using the Colts fight song with new lyrics.
"The Baltimore Fight Song" lyrics
''Baltimore Ravens, lets go/And put that ball across the line''
''So fly on with talons spread wide/Go in and strike with Ravens pride.(Fight! Fight! Fight!)''
''Ravens dark wings, take to flight/Dive in and show them your might''
''For Baltimore and Maryland, you will fly on to victory!''
"Lyrics to Ravens fight song"
''The Baltimore Sun'', August 25, 2010.
References
External links
Baltimore's Marching Ravens website
{{Authority control
Baltimore Ravens
NFL marching bands