bandzip

Just got back from marching band spirit night and I have some new information. The student section will wrap arond the south end of the stadium running from 20 to goal line on both sides and the grass hillside. The band will be sitting next to the student section on the East side so we're playing right in the visiting teams ears. This section was chosen to help with overtime games so we have a side we can defend and because the visiting team tunnel will dump out right in the middle of the student section. It was also confirmed that the ribbon board will be located along the length of the East stands though they are really trying to get the money to put it on both sides. The University is also working with the city about using city parking for games if necessary. Enjoy and let the speculating begin!

Wow guys... off topic much? How bout that stadium?

During halftime at the last game in the Rubber Bowl when we played Up, Up and Away. It was the last set and then we marched it downfield and straight into our seats. Someone wasn't paying attention. It was a tribute to the band back in the 70's.

awesome points!I didn't even think about the cost of bussing to and from. not to mention the fact that we whont have to rent a u-haul type truck for this stuff. heres a quick question. where will the band warm up? you don't want to warm up inside if you are about to play outside and warming up infront of the public might not be the most profesional looking thing in the world (or atleast lining up infront of the public) how could we arange it that the entire time in public view is profesional and dress right dress?We'll probably warm up right outside of Guzzetta and then march down to the other end of campus. Yes, it's outside and in public but I don't really see any reason why anyone would be down around that area right before game time.

We're getting some good tips and ideas every couple of posts, especially from people like Aaron. Some people are trying to use it as a bash the band thread and we're just defending it. My guess is that the march through campus will definately happen, especially since we already do it during the week so we all get to rehearsal at the same time. What do you guys think of instead of doing a skull session type thing we do like we did a couple of years ago where we march around the tailgating area? Then you can all keep drinking and partying. Would that work or would a skull session type thing be a better idea? My concern is that not many people will make the trip to memorial hall or the JAR from Buchtel field when they could be drinking. It would have to take place probably an hour before the game and most people don't even make it into the stadium for the beginning of pregame. Suggestions?

We were criticized in another thread for even bringing up the idea. It's too much of an OSU rip off.Rip off of OSU? Who do you think actually started it?........................Thats right, MICHIGAN at an OSU MI game. the band did it in the 90's so who cares? If we don't want it to be a rip off then we won't worry about dotting the "i" That is the real tradition for OSU. Tell me this isn't cool. Just stating a fact man. We were crticized in another thread saying it was too much of a rip off. Here's the link before you you bite my head off.Classic Script ZipsAfter reading that thread again I realize that Root4Roo was complaining back then too. Instead of complaining just give us some reasonable suggestions and we'll listen.You guys were sure as hell making lame excuses and pointing the blame elsewhere back then as well. Really, it's too bad the guy's that actually take responsibility dont post on here more, they are what the band really needs.We said the same thing then we're saying now. We need more money to get instruments that aren't falling apart before we can have a super band. If you can find another D-1 marching band that has worse equipment then we do then point them out. I'd love to see it. There is literally duct tape holding some of the instruments together. Even the two "good" sousaphones we use for the basketball games are in terrible shape. Drummers have had to stop playing on the field because their drums would fall apart. We can't have auditions and cut people until we get people to want to come here. It took 65 million dollars to help the football recruiting and we would only need a fraction of that to help ours. Right now if our numbers go up we're going to have to cut people not because they can't play, but because we don't have working instruments for them to use. I don't know how many times I have to say the same thing before it gets through your thick skull. We aren't making excuse after excuse after excuse. We're trying to tell you how it is and you're being ignorant.

That's almost exaclty how pregame looked last year, minus the horn swing and the fact that we run off the field afterwards.

That's the same view I had, except I closed my eyes right before it happened.

We were criticized in another thread for even bringing up the idea. It's too much of an OSU rip off.Rip off of OSU? Who do you think actually started it?........................Thats right, MICHIGAN at an OSU MI game. the band did it in the 90's so who cares? If we don't want it to be a rip off then we won't worry about dotting the "i" That is the real tradition for OSU. Tell me this isn't cool. Just stating a fact man. We were crticized in another thread saying it was too much of a rip off. Here's the link before you you bite my head off.Classic Script ZipsAfter reading that thread again I realize that Root4Roo was complaining back then too. Instead of complaining just give us some reasonable suggestions and we'll listen.

You want to do...the OU one? I'm just curious what you find interesting about it. I personally don't like it because it kind of bores me, all they do is move forward & backward. Then again, that's just my opinion! I'm no Michigan fan, but if you changed a few things here & there, I think their pregame would be pretty good. Again, this is just me.The OU one is clean and professional. It also gets the crowd going. The Michigan one looks like a bunch of fairys prancing all over the place, the last thing we need is to look gay when our band comes onto the field.I'm also confused as to how the sloppy marching style we use is "harder than OU's"? I honestly dont care how we march, as long as everyone looks on the same page and not out of sync like we are 99% of the time.OU basically stomps around the field. It makes the sound suffer really bad since your upper body is bouncing all over the place. We do a chair step, kind of a mix between a glide and show band step which makes it a lot smoother. The idea is it keeps your upper body perfectly straight with your horn about parallel to the ground and allows you to have a much steadier airflow and posture leading to a better sound. The problem is that if you don't do it completely right it's really uncomfortable and to make everyone look uniform it takes a lot of concentration and you get tired pretty quick. If you slack off at all it looks like crap. Hope that helps! If you've ever listened to them you'd hear that they are the loudest band in the MAC and one of the loudest in the country. There is not one person with any knowledge of College football or marching that would agree that their sound is anything but loud and projected.In terms of you guys marching the way you do, you really should find something that everyone can handle because what you do now is already too tough it seems. A tougher marching style like Grambling State or Ohio University would be great just most bands cant handle it.The problem is that you're equating a "loud" sound with a "good" sound. There is definately a difference. Listen to the video again really carefully you'll hear people sticking out and out of tune bad. That's why they get the reputation they do from people who know music. Can't has the same problem, except they aren't big enough to compensate for it. I know you don't care because you're going to be drunk and you want them to be loud and pump up the crowd, but a lot of people do.

You want to do...the OU one? I'm just curious what you find interesting about it. I personally don't like it because it kind of bores me, all they do is move forward & backward. Then again, that's just my opinion! I'm no Michigan fan, but if you changed a few things here & there, I think their pregame would be pretty good. Again, this is just me.The OU one is clean and professional. It also gets the crowd going. The Michigan one looks like a bunch of fairys prancing all over the place, the last thing we need is to look gay when our band comes onto the field.I'm also confused as to how the sloppy marching style we use is "harder than OU's"? I honestly dont care how we march, as long as everyone looks on the same page and not out of sync like we are 99% of the time.OU basically stomps around the field. It makes the sound suffer really bad since your upper body is bouncing all over the place. We do a chair step, kind of a mix between a glide and show band step which makes it a lot smoother. The idea is it keeps your upper body perfectly straight with your horn about parallel to the ground and allows you to have a much steadier airflow and posture leading to a better sound and it doesn't screw up your lips. The problem is that if you don't do it completely right it's really uncomfortable and to make everyone look uniform it takes a lot of concentration and you get tired pretty quick. If you slack off at all it looks like crap. Hope that helps!

We need some more of these posts! Though I don't agree with everything you said there are a lot of great ideas that we'll be sure to look into. Thanks Aaron!

We were criticized in another thread for even bringing up the idea. It's too much of an OSU rip off.

I went to the Union for lunch and noticed that a few panels of that Tyvek stuff blew off and they were up on there putting it back on.

Worst idea on this thread yet.

I agree...personally i believe OSU might be a little overrated considering the ridiculous amount of praise everyone keeps heaping on them. There are plenty of great college marching bands out there that are better than OSU, we just are familiar with them and they have a perennial power house football team so they seem better.They do a good job of hyping themselves and they have an identity. That's why people are bringing them up.I want our band to have an identity. I don't care if it's a traditional marching band style or if they exclusively play Sting songs, so long as they find something they can be known for and then commit to doing it extremely well. The whole "trying to please everybody" thing will never work.Personally, when I think of what a "college football" band should sound like I think of the College Gameday music on ESPN.You might want to rethink that, have you thought about how a hundred plus people playing Sting might sound?! The horror!No one was talking about OSU's band until Tressell called them out after they won the national championship.

Isn't that an awful lot like what we've been doing at the Rubber Bowl? Most of you were probably out tailgating during pregame, not that there is anything wrong with that. The percussion comes out doing their thing and then the band would do a run on onto the field. Then we do an Akron themed fanfare and march downfield to the fight song. We would probably run in from the parking lot if we were allowed, but they made us line up on the sidelines because it blocked people from getting in and around the front entrance. I know there is going to be the big tunnel into the Info, but are there going to be any other entrances onto the field?sorry I wasn't clear enough. what I was talking about would be an intro to our pre pre game in the JAR if you do one. the JAR has four entrences on the arena floor and if you guys did a show in the JAR I think that would be the way to go without a doubt.I'm all for it! I thought you were talking about pregame and that sounds exactly like what we do for pregame.

Isn't that an awful lot like what we've been doing at the Rubber Bowl? Most of you were probably out tailgating during pregame, not that there is anything wrong with that. The percussion comes out doing their thing and then the band would do a run on onto the field. Then we do an Akron themed fanfare and march downfield to the fight song. We would probably run in from the parking lot if we were allowed, but they made us line up on the sidelines because it blocked people from getting in and around the front entrance. I know there is going to be the big tunnel into the Info, but are there going to be any other entrances onto the field?

The last show in the Rubber Bowl was a tribute to the history of the band. We can do a tribute to the ROTC Band, but my guess is RootForRoo won't appreciate that too much. Back in the day they just had twenty people or so who played John Phillip Sousa marches over and over again.

Obviously...

Already been posted under the 54 page stadium thread...

If OU can do it with 110, I say we shoot for 110. We don't need a big, sloppy band just to cover the whole field. We need a more elite group of precision marchers, who take the band seriously, and who play loud. Likewise, OSU's band isn't a huge band, is it? However, they may get away with having fewer members because, if I'm not mistaken, they only allow brass and percussion in the marching band, am I correct? Thus the high volume they produce with a smaller number of precision marchers.If we would actually DECREASE the size of our present band, it may have the effect of making a position on the marching band a prestigious position? Something that must be earned? thus, decreasing the number of openings in the marching band may produce the effect we're desiring?OU has around 200 now. They say the 110 stands for giving 110%. OSU has a WAY bigger school population than us. They have tryouts and cut people from the marching band. They march exactly 225 or something like that, all brass and percussion. We take everyone because to put it simply our school isnt' big enough yet. You can cut people but we only have about 180 now. Give the kids a reason to want to come here. The university needs to show they care about the band program. We need instruments that work without duct tape holding them together and a place where we can all fit to have music rehearsal and meetings. When highschool students come and see instruments and uniforms that are falling apart and the fact that we take yellow school buses to the Rubber Bowl it gives them a bad impression. If the band gets any bigger we aren't going to have an indoor area where we can practice at all. Blame it on the students or the directors all you want but it all comes back to getting better funding.

first of all I am very much on your side in thinking the band needs more support and also think that they need more time to practice. as far as "the rookie band being soft" give them a break they've had an intern director for the past 2 years now and both years they were different people. I agree that the marching band should stray away from classical music seeing as we have three different concert bands for that but like I said before I don't wany them to turn into a group that just plays simply cheesy music all the time (like the band out east) they should be more profesional and again having a place to duck out of sight will help with that so there not just standing around for hours on end. it did upset me that they were goofing off during the rubber bowl closing ceremoney and I don't like how they file (mill) back into the stands. I too have a lot of problems with the way the band is run but I like the drill style they just need to find a way to bring more energey into it (sorry but swinging the horns is a terrible idea that sends the music to hell) again this style of marching is all about finding that fine line between musicality and entertainment.and please point out how I'm wrong about OU being flush and trash. they dance around (flush) but in doing so play jr high music (trash)haha so i guess we are basically on the same page. The only things i have to add is: Why the heck did they let some director skip town for 2 years? What does that say about the band that they just let someone else run this thing for the last 2 years when we have a guy that obviously does not have the time to put into the band?Also I think the 110 is the most entertaining band i've ever seen and i've seen many of the best (literally). Their "flush" is awesome, i like seeing a band in unison and energetic that's what they are supposed to be! BTW, I never was in marching band or anything so i'm just a plain old football fan, though i may be a little more studied on the subject than the average fan because i have some college marching band friends/girlfriend. Now about them playing trash, i dont see it or should i say hear it. As an "average fan" i see a band that is LOUD (WAYYYY louder than Akron) and one that plays very well while moving around and exciting the crowd more than our crowd gets excited by you guys. It's really uncomparable right now, maybe/hopefully things change. They need to.Our director is at Michigan State University finishing up his doctorate in conducting, probably so he can take over when the current head director retires. He'll be back this fall. The 110 is entertaining, but Akron's school of music focuses much more on the academic bands. The classical show last year was a final project for one of the grad students. Last I heard OU's trumpet teacher doesn't even let his performance majors join the marching band because all of the horn swinging and jumping around while playing destroys your chops and ruins your ability to play well.

1) not every major college band has nothing to do for practicly the entire time they're there and with the down time they do have they have a place to duck out of sight2)what OU does is flush and trash so for them to remember the notes is like asking a 5th grader to remember what the color blue is first of all second the UA band only has three days a week for class. now if the U bumped up the credits and added a few days things would probably be different but to learn one show perfome it then learn another show in another week and keep the old show fresh from last week in order to perform it at some high school band concert thing and then go back to the new show again your gonna need a little help with only three days a week. as far as pregame goes they should have that down.I think a lot of the standing around issue will be solved once we are on campus and have some places to duck out of sight insted of just standing at attention for hours on end.Someone who knows what they're talking about! That's pretty much exactly what I was trying to say. Usually when we do pregame the only people who use music are the alternates who are filling in for people who aren't there. We only have three hour and a half rehearsals a week to learn 3 to 4 new songs and drill for all of them.

I agree with the character comment, but you also have to realize that there have been days where we get to the Rubber Bowl at 9:00 am for a 2:00 pm game. They would bus us over for a gameday rehearsal and then we had no where to go for a couple hours prior to the game. They'd feed us and then we would sit in the stands for an hour and a half to two hours before we finally went to warm up. The problem with getting rid of the music is asking almost 200 kids to learn a new show and drill for a game in less than a week. Most of the band members have their drill moves written in their music.