OT: Famous Maroon Band

[TheRef]

#1: How many people actually know how the MSU band got the title of the "Famous Maroon Band"?

#2: Would you like the band to perform a show like this? This is from the Drum Corps International World Championships. I realize that this is a MUCH smaller band but I believe we could pull this off for a good show. I just fear that we are too big to be putting on shows like this one. But I digress, here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iGJAaS_d4s

[FlabLoser]

Did anybody see the recent Today Show piece on The Ohio State's band? I just caught the end of it and missed the good stuff. They showed what technology they use to do those awesome shows they've been putting out this year. Apparently, it is easier than most would think to put on those shows. Wish I had caught the whole piece.

[TheRef]

Did anybody see the recent Today Show piece on The Ohio State's band? I just caught the end of it and missed the good stuff. They showed what technology they use to do those awesome shows they've been putting out this year. Apparently, it is easier than most would think to put on those shows. Wish I had caught the whole piece.

There are computer programs that you can imput points during certain parts of the music and you can give each player their own. It shows where each person is to be at certain measures (points) in the song. Currently, the FMB has 300+ members. That's a LOT of points and only 100 yards to put each member in. Now I realize that it is 3 people per yard, but it's a lot harder to organize and make look good. Ohio State's band has 225 members. That's 100 less members to have to give points. Now, Dr. Lance is a great director of the band and I mean this in no way to discredit her. Do I think we need a new marching coordinator? Possibly. But until that point, it looks like we are just going to have to deal with the hand we're dealt. Also, in order to play most of that music, they had to pay copyright fees for the rights to play the music. And from what I understand, the band doesn't have a MASSIVE budget to get all of these songs that most people want.

[Quaoarsking]

#1: How many people actually know how the MSU band got the title of the "Famous Maroon Band"?

#2: Would you like the band to perform a show like this? This is from the Drum Corps International World Championships. I realize that this is a MUCH smaller band but I believe we could pull this off for a good show. I just fear that we are too big to be putting on shows like this one. But I digress, here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iGJAaS_d4s

The Famous Maroon Band practices 4-5 hours a week and does 4 halftime shows each year, and pregame. To have a show of that quality, it would need to put in 100 or more hours of practice just on that show. There just aren't enough people willing to do that at MSU.

People always say that a good high school band is better than the FMB -- well maybe so, but the typical high school band practices 10 or more hours per week, and does one halftime show per year. Even though the FMB members were usually among the best in their high school bands and play better individual than the typical high school band member, the high school shows are going to be so much more complex and polished than the typical college marching band.

But yeah, no question that video is badass. Jacksonville State (used to?) have a DCI group that doubled as their university marching band, and when we played them in 2006, their halftime show was awesome.

[TheRef]

The Famous Maroon Band practices 4-5 hours a week and does 4 halftime shows each year, and pregame. To have a show of that quality, it would need to put in 100 or more hours of practice just on that show. There just aren't enough people willing to do that at MSU.

People always say that a good high school band is better than the FMB -- well maybe so, but the typical high school band practices 10 or more hours per week, and does one halftime show per year. Even though the FMB members were usually among the best in their high school bands and play better individual than the typical high school band member, the high school shows are going to be so much more complex and polished than the typical college marching band.

But yeah, no question that video is badass. Jacksonville State (used to?) have a DCI group that doubled as their university marching band, and when we played them in 2006, their halftime show was awesome.

I know. I was simply pointing out how ridiculous some people were asking the FMB to be transformed into. My brother (trumpet) and his wife (piccolo) were in the Famous Maroon Band. I know how hard they work just to put on a show. I freaking love the band when they perform. I am a true band nerd and I'm not afraid to say it. It scratches my itch for marching. I have many friends and colleagues in the FMB and I wish I had the opportunity to be a part of the FMB. Sadly, I did not have the chance to join.

Jacksonville State does not have a DCI band. They do, however, compete in Bands of America contests in Atlanta and host a contest. BoA is like the DCI minors if you will.

[thf24]

Former FMB member and lifelong musician here. As cool and entertaining as it would be, a DCI-style show would not be possible for the FMB, nor most other college bands, to do. Size isn't even the main issue. Those are age 16 to 21 young men and women in that video who, after a rigorous audition process that only the best of the best pass, spend four months doing almost nothing other than rehearsing or performing that one show. It takes the best musicians, who must be in excellent physical condition, an entire summer of grueling practice to march like that and sound that good while doing it. I don't mean to sound negative and it's not a knock on the FMB in the slightest (which, contrary to what most of the uninformed critics on this and other boards think and say, does a very respectable overall job for us), it's just two different worlds of marching band.

Our best shot at putting on the most appealing and entertaining show, as Flab mentioned, follow the mold of Ohio State's band. The only problem is that our band program is still a little way off from having the resources necessary to pull that kind of thing off. Our band staff does an excellent job given the limited resources they have to work with at this time.

[TheRef]

Former FMB member and lifelong musician here. As cool and entertaining as it would be, a DCI-style show would not be possible for the FMB, nor most other college bands, to do. Size isn't even the main issue. Those are age 16 to 21 young men and women in that video who, after a rigorous audition process that only the best of the best pass, spend four months doing almost nothing other than rehearsing or performing that one show. It takes the best musicians, who must be in excellent physical condition, an entire summer of grueling practice to march like that and sound that good while doing it. I don't mean to sound negative and it's not a knock on the FMB in the slightest (which, contrary to what most of the uninformed critics on this and other boards think and say, does a very respectable overall job for us), it's just two different worlds of marching band.

Our best shot at putting on the most appealing and entertaining show, as Flab mentioned, follow the mold of Ohio State's band. The only problem is that our band program is still a little way off from having the resources necessary to pull that kind of thing off. Our band staff does an excellent job given the limited resources they have to work with at this time.

#1: Thank you for being a FMB member and carrying on the rich tradition of the FMB.

#2: I agree with your assessment full-heartedly. I love the atmosphere that the band brings even with their hands tied because of lack of resources. The future is still bright for this band.

[Political Hack]

Former FMB member and lifelong musician here. As cool and entertaining as it would be, a DCI-style show would not be possible for the FMB, nor most other college bands, to do. Size isn't even the main issue. Those are age 16 to 21 young men and women in that video who, after a rigorous audition process that only the best of the best pass, spend four months doing almost nothing other than rehearsing or performing that one show. It takes the best musicians, who must be in excellent physical condition, an entire summer of grueling practice to march like that and sound that good while doing it. I don't mean to sound negative and it's not a knock on the FMB in the slightest (which, contrary to what most of the uninformed critics on this and other boards think and say, does a very respectable overall job for us), it's just two different worlds of marching band.

Our best shot at putting on the most appealing and entertaining show, as Flab mentioned, follow the mold of Ohio State's band. The only problem is that our band program is still a little way off from having the resources necessary to pull that kind of thing off. Our band staff does an excellent job given the limited resources they have to work with at this time.

I think this is something that's long been overlooked and undervalued. I think the band should be larger and more involved with the game, especially during critical times. There's no reason the band and the big screen couldn't work together on things either.

[Todd4State]

It seems to me like a lot of fans either would like for the FMB to be either like Jacksonville State or like Jackson State. Ohio State is someone that would be actually reasonable to strive for.

1. We can't do a DCI show. The FMB doesn't have the resources even if they practiced six hours a day. The DCI bands are mostly either music majors or hardcore band nerds. Those people are paying thousands of dollars to basically spend the summer at what amounts to a rigorous band camp, sleep on the floors of high school gyms and live out of the back of a Sysco truck. Our band is engineers and farmers. When I was in it, we were lucky if we all showed up- and the directors pretty much conceded that 65% of us were going to be hung over, 15% were going to be intoxicated, and the other 20% were going to make sure the other 80% didn't get lost. Hell, there were stories of the band directors passing out from the early 80's. Those guys at DCI are probably taking PEDS so that they can be in top shape for the band contest. I would say that 95% of us did band to go to football games for free- at least that was why I did it. The other 5% are music majors.

2. We would need a huge music school to pull off a show like that. The IHL is NOT going to let that happen as long as USM has their music dept. The only sliver of hope would be for USM's football program to shut down (actually I have heard some grumblings of that which two years ago was unheard of) which would in effect kill off their marching band. That would force the IHL to farm "marching band" out to either State or Ole Miss.

3. Oh yes, and we would need some sort of tie in with a DCI band. And there are none anywhere near Mississippi.

4. Even if by some crazy miracle God smiled upon us and USM's band program shut down and we got their program and then the Blue Devils decided to relocate to Old Waverly and we actually WERE able to pull off a DCI show- our fans would get "used to it" and then get bored.

5. Cramming "art" down our fans throat at halftime- usually not a great way to go. I find it absolutely hilarious that a lot of these high school band directors seem intent on doing this at places like Possumneck. You have some redneck over the loud speaker going "Annnd now playing selections from the award winning musical A Night in Paris- the D'Lo HS marching Bullfrogs!" Or even better- you'll have some band playing a show with some abstract theme like "Triangles and Cones". WTF? They should be playing something like Chicago. But the band directors think that they are "enlightening" people. No- you're boring the ones that didn't go to the bathroom.

6. If we were like Jackson State- I wouldn't have been in the band. A lot of people may not realize it- but if we did that, we would be the laughing stock of the SEC. I do enjoy the groans of the blue heads when the booty dancers get out in the front though. I haven't seen anyone bring it up in this thread, but in case anyone was wondering.

7. Personally, I think the band being big helps us more than hurts us. We don't have a great music program as a school. Being bigger helps us with sound since we aren't getting a ton of DCI caliber players. Also, bigger means less movement in the formation- which is probably good to help out with hiding people that aren't the best at marching. It also helps build a big alumni base- people who are more likely to donate to the band in the future.

8. Ohio State is a good band for us to imitate. I think the FMB could do a show like the Michael Jackson show and pull it off. Ohio is a good state for music. All of their colleges are pretty good- Cincinnati, Ohio, and I think Oberlin is in Ohio. Ohio State is really good too. They probably have a really creative drill writer in house who is actually in touch with pop music or they take suggestions on what to do from band members. I'm sure they have more money than the FMB as well. That helps with props. One year, we used trash bags as flags. When I was in the band, Dan Ryder did the drill for pretty much everything. I think he's pretty cheap.

9. A high school band better than MSU's? LOL. That's about like saying that South Panola could beat USM. Just because you attempt to do an artsy DCI show and maybe have more difficult drill- it doesn't make a HS band "better". MSU's band does at least two different halftime shows- sometimes three, not including homecoming, the Patriotic Show, and Pre-game. If MSU's band did one high school level DCI show- they would ace it. Make a high school do six shows a year and let's see how clean they are compared to MSU's band. Oh yeah- and give them 5-6 hours a week to practice it.

10. The damn Jumbotron covers up the band too much. That's not fair to the band at all- and is pretty shitty on MSU's part. Especially in light of the fact that 95% of the fans are tired of listening to ads.

[Drugdog]

If the FMB were worth a crap, I wouldn't be standing in line to get a nasty ass hot dog and coke.

[Original48]

My brother (trumpet) and his wife (piccolo) were in the Famous Maroon Band.
I don't know much about marching bands or the accompanying instruments. I do hear, however, that Thick is quite proficient on the skin flute.

[Barking 13]

maaaaannnnnnnny moons ago, I played trumpet and marched in the high school band. Like Todd said, most of us were wasted about half the time, but we had some pretty good times. There were LOTs of hours of practice for a 10 minute show, then there were parades, and band competitions, we had to practice for.
Two of the best shows I have ever seen were by high school bands. One was some band from the coast that had "indians" as their mascot. At the start of the show the DM dressed in full war garb (headdress and all) shot a flaming arrow from the corner of the field to the center and when it hit, all hell broke loose into war dance, and then they formed up and broke out into the first song. (you would have just had to seen it)

The next best one was a band, I think it was Grenada, did Frankenstein. They had the drum line all the way down the field and did the solo back and forth from one end to the other like in stereo.. Again, you just had to be there..

Then, there was this one time at band camp.....:cool:

[thf24]

6. If we were like Jackson State- I wouldn't have been in the band. A lot of people may not realize it- but if we did that, we would be the laughing stock of the SEC. I do enjoy the groans of the blue heads when the booty dancers get out in the front though. I haven't seen anyone bring it up in this thread, but in case anyone was wondering.

I'm glad to see someone else gets it on this point. Jackson State's band, as well as most of the bands who employ that style of marching band, is AWFUL. I guess that style is effective for entertaining the average football fan who doesn't know what they're looking at, but between sacrificing any semblance of sound quality for needless volume and the complete lack of discipline, I can barely stand to watch it. We would indeed be an embarrassment in the eyes of the rest of the conference if we tried to mimic them.


If the FMB were worth a crap, I wouldn't be standing in line to get a nasty ass hot dog and coke.

Those of you with this attitude really don't understand just how good we have it. Look at the University of Memphis band. They're a strong music school, have a slightly larger overall enrollment than we do, and have more money and support for the band program, yet they're half our band's size and are distinctly mediocre. If you think our band doesn't play good cheers and stand tunes, just attend the Memphis game this week and see what you think.

Those of you who want our band to be just like Alabama and LSU's, think about it this way... what prevents our football program from being just like Alabama or LSU's? We have good musicians and an excellent staff, we simply lack the money and resources to put that level of product in the stadium and on the field. Hopefully that will change in the future, but for now, it is what it is.

[MrBigStuff]

Yeah, Bark, that was Biloxi High School's band "back in the day". By today's standards about as politically incorrect as you can get with the war dance and the Indian uniform complete with the feather headdress like the ones you could get at the tourist traps in Cherokee, NC. That flaming arrow was pretty cool, tho (I was in the Gulfport East band).

Per Todd's post, DCI is the worst thing to happen for high schools bands. I live in an area where the bands are very competitive in the BoA contests. To compete, the bands basically have to mimic DCI. Halftime shows are treated as dress rehearsals for the contests. When my kids were still in high school, I used to tell my wife (loud enough so the band parents could hear me) that if I have to "hear" another woodwind "solo" in a halftime performance, I'm going down there and kick the band director in the backside. Lots of dirty looks from those band parents. You know it's bad when you hear folks say 'what are they playing?' Someone else says 'I don't know but they are supposed to be good, YAY'.

[biscuit]

If they would quit playing "Ease on Down the Road", I would be happy. What does that song have to do with MSU. It's always annoyed me......really bad.

[curmudgeon]

Jacksonville State does not have a DCI band. They do, however, compete in Bands of America contests in Atlanta and host a contest. BoA is like the DCI minors if you will.

Well, you are wrong. Spirit of Atlanta is basically the Jacksonville State band with a few from other colleges and universities. They also have a band dorm. They are a band of music majors and a few super band nerds. My sister was a "ballerina" there. Even they are band nerds. They have to play an instrument during non-marching season to be a ballerina.

Mississippi State tried one year to do something unique. Todd may remember, I think it was 96 or 97. They brought in a corps guy from A&M and did a military precision march during pre-game. It was awesome, but the 80% of MSU band that is just there to go to football games and get a little scholarship money didn't have the give-a-damn to keep that going.

Honestly, the band that we need to copy is Auburn. They are one of the best at keeping the crowd interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh2NkNyiL7w

[TheRef]

Well, you are wrong. Spirit of Atlanta is basically the Jacksonville State band with a few from other colleges and universities.

All I know is what the Jacksonville State Marching Southerners site told me. They said that the compete in BOA but not DCI. Also, DCI does not use woodwinds. The Jacksonville State band does use woodwinds.

[SnakePlissken]

Those of you who want our band to be just like Alabama and LSU's, think about it this way... what prevents our football program from being just like Alabama or LSU's? We have good musicians and an excellent staff, we simply lack the money and resources to put that level of product in the stadium and on the field. Hopefully that will change in the future, but for now, it is what it is. While it isn't the most critical part of the band but can someone tell us why we dropped he majorette line? Most bands still have them and we just dropped them out of thin air a few years ago. The majorette is forefront in bands and all you have to do is look at bama's majorette line, Auburn's majorette line, or even LSU's dance line to see how much of an impact that they make on a band

[Todd4State]

Yeah, Bark, that was Biloxi High School's band "back in the day". By today's standards about as politically incorrect as you can get with the war dance and the Indian uniform complete with the feather headdress like the ones you could get at the tourist traps in Cherokee, NC. That flaming arrow was pretty cool, tho (I was in the Gulfport East band).

Per Todd's post, DCI is the worst thing to happen for high schools bands. I live in an area where the bands are very competitive in the BoA contests. To compete, the bands basically have to mimic DCI. Halftime shows are treated as dress rehearsals for the contests. When my kids were still in high school, I used to tell my wife (loud enough so the band parents could hear me) that if I have to "hear" another woodwind "solo" in a halftime performance, I'm going down there and kick the band director in the backside. Lots of dirty looks from those band parents. You know it's bad when you hear folks say 'what are they playing?' Someone else says 'I don't know but they are supposed to be good, YAY'.

You are totally correct. It's all about the contest.

[Todd4State]

Well, you are wrong. Spirit of Atlanta is basically the Jacksonville State band with a few from other colleges and universities. They also have a band dorm. They are a band of music majors and a few super band nerds. My sister was a "ballerina" there. Even they are band nerds. They have to play an instrument during non-marching season to be a ballerina.

Mississippi State tried one year to do something unique. Todd may remember, I think it was 96 or 97. They brought in a corps guy from A&M and did a military precision march during pre-game. It was awesome, but the 80% of MSU band that is just there to go to football games and get a little scholarship money didn't have the give-a-damn to keep that going.

Honestly, the band that we need to copy is Auburn. They are one of the best at keeping the crowd interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh2NkNyiL7w

That was 1997 I think. I thought we pulled it off OK. I'm not sure why we stopped- maybe because we didn't want to pay the guy to come back out there?

[Todd4State]

While it isn't the most critical part of the band but can someone tell us why we dropped he majorette line? Most bands still have them and we just dropped them out of thin air a few years ago. The majorette is forefront in bands and all you have to do is look at bama's majorette line, Auburn's majorette line, or even LSU's dance line to see how much of an impact that they make on a band

Last time I saw, we had three majorettes. The reason we don't have a big majorette line- scholarship money. If Bama offers to pay for most of your school and we pay for your books...

[curmudgeon]

And the fact that high schools are starting to do away with majorettes.