Robert Orlando Briggs (August 20, 1927 − September 17, 2008) was the longtime director of the University of California Marching Band. He was the fourth full-time director since the founding of the band in 1891.

Biography

Briggs was born in

Modesto, California Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the List of cities and towns in Ca ...

on August 20, 1927, the great-grandson of pioneer James Briggs, who cofounded the town. He graduated from Modesto High School and briefly attended

Modesto Junior College Modesto Junior College (MJC) is a public community college in Modesto, California. It is part of Yosemite Community College District along with Columbia College. MJC, and Columbia College, belong to the California Community College system al ...

before entering

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1947. Briggs joined the Cal Band, played the

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

and took up the

french horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in music in 1951, he joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and served in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, joining Army bands at

Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, ...

Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...

, and

Okinawa, Japan is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west ...

. Later, he earned a master's degree in music from

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

. After his military service, he landed the post of band director of

Armijo High School Armijo High School is a public secondary school located in Fairfield, California, United States. It is the oldest of the three high schools in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, the other two being Fairfield High School and Angelo R ...

Fairfield, California Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, United States, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The city has a diversified economy, with government, manufac ...

, which he held until 1967, when he returned to Cal to assist Cal Band director James Berdahl. When Berdahl took a leave of absence in 1971, Briggs filled in as acting director before being officially appointed Cal Band director in 1973. Briggs served as the director of bands at UC Berkeley until his retirement in 1995 and was succeeded in the position by Robert Calonico. His retirement was spent starting the ''Solano Winds'', a local community concert band in Fairfield.Much respected music director dies at age 81, By Richard Bammer
/ref> He died on September 17, 2008.

Notes and references

External links

Robert Orlando Briggs 20 August 1927 - 17 September 2008
Cal Band Alumni Association
Beloved Cal Band director emeritus Robert Briggs dies at 81 By Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

Press Release. {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Robert O. American bandleaders 1927 births 2008 deaths University and college band directors 20th-century American musicians University of California, Berkeley faculty UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Modesto Junior College alumni San Francisco State University alumni United States Army personnel of the Korean War People from Modesto, California