Hello again to you all.
With the college football season in full swing, I wanted to get some reaction of anyone out there who is currently or once was a part of a marching band, be it big or small. This would apply to anyone who either played the sousaphone or the marching tuba.
I never participated in a marching band, but wanted to see what it's like when I see everyone on TV every Saturday. If you want to include your experiences in a "pep band" for basketball season, that would be fine too.
Feel free to mention those band camps, the field shows, etc. and the unique experience of having to move a large instrument in so many directions while playing at the same time. Plus, I'm sure the weather plays as a big factor with the rain, snow, and other things Mother Nature brings.
If you have any thoughts on what you're doing now or once in the past, post that note here or send me either a pm or e-mail.
Hank74
College marching bands
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Hank74
- 3 valves
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- Location: Upstate New York
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Jeff Keller
- bugler
- Posts: 198
- Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 10:02 pm
- Location: Washington, DC
- Contact:
UK marching band
Well, My experiences are quite different. Lets start with Marching band and move to Pep band. Marching Band for us at the University of Kentucky can be fun - but its hard to have fun when your football team is the worst in the conference. We bust our butts for our mediocre shows - By the way never buy Jim Daughters arrangements unless you want the band to actually have cheeze oozing all over the field. Our drill is terrible, actually not terrible just extremely boring. When the fans turn on the team and start cussing and yelling at our football team, it makes it kind of hard to be peppy and try to make others peppy.
On the complete other side of the spectrum, my pep band (basketball band) experiences have been the exact opposite. Our Basketball team is pretty good at UK, so naturally there is going to be a better and more positive atmosphere. Being able to travel with the team on the road for the tourneys is one thing in Particular that I wouldn't trade for all the money in the world! The memories that I have and will take on with me are second to none. Being able to step off the plane in an airport and walking through the terminal with nothing but the loudest welcoming cheers from the fans just gets your adrenaline pumping. I remember in particular the SEC tournament in New Orleans in 2003, I never imagined that there would be more UK Blue there than LSU gold.
I walked down Bourbon St, BOUGHT my first drink ever, had my camera ready but all I could hear were the fans getting louder and louder trying to outdo the other fans cheers. I'm glad I had my camera, besides the 30 pep band members that got to go (who got to see it first hand), I was able to bring proof back to all of my other friends and show them what really goes on on Bourbon St. But more than parties, more than trips all over the country, more than the fans cheering ---the camaraderie, the friends and friendship, the best man in your wedding, your wife, all of this I have got to be a part of and I wouldn't trade it for anything! (except for the wife thing- not married nor am I a wife)
Jeff Keller
GO CATS!
On the complete other side of the spectrum, my pep band (basketball band) experiences have been the exact opposite. Our Basketball team is pretty good at UK, so naturally there is going to be a better and more positive atmosphere. Being able to travel with the team on the road for the tourneys is one thing in Particular that I wouldn't trade for all the money in the world! The memories that I have and will take on with me are second to none. Being able to step off the plane in an airport and walking through the terminal with nothing but the loudest welcoming cheers from the fans just gets your adrenaline pumping. I remember in particular the SEC tournament in New Orleans in 2003, I never imagined that there would be more UK Blue there than LSU gold.
I walked down Bourbon St, BOUGHT my first drink ever, had my camera ready but all I could hear were the fans getting louder and louder trying to outdo the other fans cheers. I'm glad I had my camera, besides the 30 pep band members that got to go (who got to see it first hand), I was able to bring proof back to all of my other friends and show them what really goes on on Bourbon St. But more than parties, more than trips all over the country, more than the fans cheering ---the camaraderie, the friends and friendship, the best man in your wedding, your wife, all of this I have got to be a part of and I wouldn't trade it for anything! (except for the wife thing- not married nor am I a wife)
Jeff Keller
GO CATS!
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Captain Sousie
- 4 valves
- Posts: 734
- Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:17 pm
- Location: Section 5
My experience in marching band and pep band have been a big part of my life for the last five years and I am finally out of the "family". I really do miss it in some ways but it was not my whole life.
The sousaphone section at the University of Wyoming became like a family, fights and all. I was the section leader for the last three years and during that time I learned many things about how to be a good leader and how to be a better player.
The best parts of the shows were the sousaphone features where we were out in front of the whole band in our line. Sometimes we would take a knee and "park and bark." At that point the croud would start cheering and your adrenaline would start pumping. That is the best feeling in the world.
Another thing was that we had the best pep band in the conference (most of the time) and we would get the croud into the game by our groove alone. We had the best bass line, (except for the SDSU bass trombone guy, he was a real bada$$) and we made full use of it. Our croud even cheered for the "tubas".
Thanks for letting me post this.
Dedicated to Dr. W, C-Mann, Kelsey, Cy, Bubba, Baby Huey, Itty Bitty, Kim, Jess, H.B., and the Sousie Chicks
Sam Gamgee (Dave)
The sousaphone section at the University of Wyoming became like a family, fights and all. I was the section leader for the last three years and during that time I learned many things about how to be a good leader and how to be a better player.
The best parts of the shows were the sousaphone features where we were out in front of the whole band in our line. Sometimes we would take a knee and "park and bark." At that point the croud would start cheering and your adrenaline would start pumping. That is the best feeling in the world.
Another thing was that we had the best pep band in the conference (most of the time) and we would get the croud into the game by our groove alone. We had the best bass line, (except for the SDSU bass trombone guy, he was a real bada$$) and we made full use of it. Our croud even cheered for the "tubas".
Thanks for letting me post this.
Dedicated to Dr. W, C-Mann, Kelsey, Cy, Bubba, Baby Huey, Itty Bitty, Kim, Jess, H.B., and the Sousie Chicks
Sam Gamgee (Dave)
Last edited by Captain Sousie on Fri Oct 15, 2004 4:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I am not Mr. Holland, and you are not my opus!
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Carroll
- 4 valves
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Leland
- pro musician
- Posts: 1651
- Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2004 11:54 am
- Location: Washington, DC
I was never a huge sports fan, so I didn't join the marching band so that I could go to games or even to support the team. The free game ticket (or so it effectively turned out to be) was just a bonus in my mind. If the team sucked, it wasn't my fault; if they ruled, I couldn't take credit. I didn't care how well they played, because I wasn't playing their sport.
My two collegiate band experiences were really different. One had an annual bowl trip to look forward to, and thought themselves to be the best band in the land (no matter how many members were merely average). The other wasn't too bad, had a mediocre football team, but put more complex programs on the field, often with student-written arrangements and drill.
The basketball band in my second college was pretty fun, partly because I don't remember witnessing our team taking a loss (really, I don't, but maybe that's indicative of how little I truly cared.. lol).
Back to the first college I attended --
I had just come back from a pretty successful drum corps season, and I arrived at band camp to find a general attitude that all freshmen don't know squat (which is true in many ways, but not always true on the marching field), that if you marched corps you were disliked, and that if you marched a non-Top-12 corps you really, really sucked. Well, sorry, but after learning the music and drill more quickly & thoroughly than almost all of the upperclassmen (except for the other corps types, that is), I had a right to be annoyed, and I couldn't help but hate that band.
When I went back to college a few years later, it was at the prompting of one of my good drum corps friends, who was arranging music & writing drill for some of the shows. There were a dozen other band members that I had marched or taught corps with, and the director was trying to help the band progress both in content and skill. I got there, they recognized my abilities, and we got started. I got to write some drill (the first time, I decided to ask for the opportunity because one particular show had me yawning from boredom), and I got to help the tuba section become probably the most solidly performing part of the band.
Games? Whatever -- at the second school, when the band was at its peak, there was probably a third of the crowd that was there just for the band and left after halftime. At the first school, I remember hearing 50-60,000 fans clapping & cheering during the pregame show; but for the halftime show, it sounded like a couple hundred people paid attention... and that sucked.
Overall -- was it fun? Was it a learning & growing experience? Sure, yeah, all of the above. If anyone might encounter the possibility of running their own marching band, they need to do it as a participant, whether they learn how it's supposed to be done or they learn what not to do.
My two collegiate band experiences were really different. One had an annual bowl trip to look forward to, and thought themselves to be the best band in the land (no matter how many members were merely average). The other wasn't too bad, had a mediocre football team, but put more complex programs on the field, often with student-written arrangements and drill.
The basketball band in my second college was pretty fun, partly because I don't remember witnessing our team taking a loss (really, I don't, but maybe that's indicative of how little I truly cared.. lol).
Back to the first college I attended --
I had just come back from a pretty successful drum corps season, and I arrived at band camp to find a general attitude that all freshmen don't know squat (which is true in many ways, but not always true on the marching field), that if you marched corps you were disliked, and that if you marched a non-Top-12 corps you really, really sucked. Well, sorry, but after learning the music and drill more quickly & thoroughly than almost all of the upperclassmen (except for the other corps types, that is), I had a right to be annoyed, and I couldn't help but hate that band.
When I went back to college a few years later, it was at the prompting of one of my good drum corps friends, who was arranging music & writing drill for some of the shows. There were a dozen other band members that I had marched or taught corps with, and the director was trying to help the band progress both in content and skill. I got there, they recognized my abilities, and we got started. I got to write some drill (the first time, I decided to ask for the opportunity because one particular show had me yawning from boredom), and I got to help the tuba section become probably the most solidly performing part of the band.
Games? Whatever -- at the second school, when the band was at its peak, there was probably a third of the crowd that was there just for the band and left after halftime. At the first school, I remember hearing 50-60,000 fans clapping & cheering during the pregame show; but for the halftime show, it sounded like a couple hundred people paid attention... and that sucked.
Overall -- was it fun? Was it a learning & growing experience? Sure, yeah, all of the above. If anyone might encounter the possibility of running their own marching band, they need to do it as a participant, whether they learn how it's supposed to be done or they learn what not to do.