Dear Band Director

[UAZip0510]

Did you even read my posts? I basically said my complaints with with the Director, not the band members. Hence - "Dear Band Director". And I'd rather have no band than one who can't take a little bit of constructive criticism to their program.

Yeah, & I'd like to have an audience who goes with what we do rather than complaining about little things that don't matter. The fact of the matter is that mostly everyone I've talked to LOVED Pregame & Halftime. I've sat in class, looking over music for the next shows as well as discussing band stuff with band friends in my classes, & people interrupt me/turn to me when they see/hear this all excited & say that we were amazing & that they were speechless. My RA, my roommate, a girl in my biology lab, random people in my classes, & co-workers turned to me with wide eyes telling me how awesome we were. Sorry if you don't agree, but that's my own opinion.

You're friends, family, and 99% of your acquaintances are always going to tell you you did great...you could run out there, trip and fall, and crap your pants and most people will still say, "Oh yeah, we loved it!". They are being nice. They're not going to - knowing you're in the band - make things awkward by telling you what they really thought. Heck, I wouldn't even tell you the truth in person...it's just awkward for everyone. Just one last thing though...it's the people that seek and consider the advice of those that won't blow sunshine up their you-know-where that really thrive in this world. I'm really done this time...Good luck this year.

[Zip Watcher]

All,I have removed all of the posts and banned permanently the offending user for yesterday / today's infraction.Also, I have unlocked the topic .. please keep it respectful. I've gotten more complaints in the last 2 days on the Band topic than pretty much anything else in the last 2 months.Go Zips! B)

[Aaron]

You missed one important quick and easy suggestion for improvement - keep your horn angles up. The reason you couldn't be heard well in the upper deck is partially acoustics, but also that quite a few of you were looking either down at the field or horizontally right at the director. In a large stadium, you should be watching the director/drum major with your lower peripheral vision, and looking at the field should be kept to a minimum. Obviously this won't fix everything, but I can guarantee it makes a big difference as to how well your sound will carry. You guys have done a great job learning some difficult precise drills during pregame and halftime, and memorizing your music. Now add the last part of it, marching with confidence and with your heads held high, and you have a complete and exciting band.The energy spoken of by myself and others has more to do with body language then by how hard or how well you're playing. In musical terms, a virtuoso playing into their stand isn't going to be heard across the concert hall. The mediocre player who sits up and projects will be. Keep the band feeling good about itself, instill confidence and excitement into your new players and your veterans, and it will show on the field. I don't think the band members realize how the monotonous announcements take away from the exciting music you are playing. The announcements need more feeling behind them - an announcer who is as excited about the band as each band member is. I love you guys, you're great - believe in yourself!

[ZippyTuba11]

Looking back over this thread, I think band members take this too close to heart. We can criticize the hell out of the football team, but the moment somebody does about the band, we get 20 band members on here telling us how hard they work and how much the poster doesn't know anything about music.Does Bain post about how hard he and the team work when somebody complains about the 3-3-5 defense? Or does CJ11 tell people they don't know football when people complain about his bad throws?Band, you're on the big stage now. You're going to have die hard fans, as well as critics. It's important to understand both, with a level head.

[Dr Z]

Does Bain post about how hard he and the team work when somebody complains about the 3-3-5 defense? Does CJ11 tell people they don't know football when people complain about his bad throws?

[maemmfc]

The energy spoken of by myself and others has more to do with body language then by how hard or how well you're playing. In musical terms, a virtuoso playing into their stand isn't going to be heard across the concert hall. The mediocre player who sits up and projects will be. Keep the band feeling good about itself, instill confidence and excitement into your new players and your veterans, and it will show on the field. I don't think the band members realize how the monotonous announcements take away from the exciting music you are playing. The announcements need more feeling behind them - an announcer who is as excited about the band as each band member is.

Finally, a good explanation for the kind of energy you guys are speaking of (at least, to me)! I'm serious, too. Thank you!

[bandzip]

You missed one important quick and easy suggestion for improvement - keep your horn angles up. The reason you couldn't be heard well in the upper deck is partially acoustics, but also that quite a few of you were looking either down at the field or horizontally right at the director. In a large stadium, you should be watching the director/drum major with your lower peripheral vision, and looking at the field should be kept to a minimum. Obviously this won't fix everything, but I can guarantee it makes a big difference as to how well your sound will carry. You guys have done a great job learning some difficult precise drills during pregame and halftime, and memorizing your music. Now add the last part of it, marching with confidence and with your heads held high, and you have a complete and exciting band.The energy spoken of by myself and others has more to do with body language then by how hard or how well you're playing. In musical terms, a virtuoso playing into their stand isn't going to be heard across the concert hall. The mediocre player who sits up and projects will be. Keep the band feeling good about itself, instill confidence and excitement into your new players and your veterans, and it will show on the field. I don't think the band members realize how the monotonous announcements take away from the exciting music you are playing. The announcements need more feeling behind them - an announcer who is as excited about the band as each band member is. I love you guys, you're great - believe in yourself!

I don't think it's really so much to do with posture as most of the people who said they had trouble hearing were in the GA area, up top behind the band, and even they commented that they could hear us on the "Hey UA" cheer when we turned to play towards them. I did notice a handful of people with poor horn angles, but most of them are put as alternates until they build up the endurance. It wasn't really enough to make that big of a difference. I think more of the problem may have been confidence. We only had two rehearsals in the stadium, unlike the Rubber Rowl where we spent most of band camp the last two years, so that was probably a contributing factor. Having the first audience be a sell out crowd may have been a little more than some of the freshmen expected as well. I'm sure it will only get better for the rest of the season.Does anyone have any details on this Rowdy meeting taking place Friday? I was just wondering if we might be able to set something up to teach new students the cheers and the sequence to pregame so they know what's coming next.

[Aaron]

The energy spoken of by myself and others has more to do with body language then by how hard or how well you're playing. In musical terms, a virtuoso playing into their stand isn't going to be heard across the concert hall. The mediocre player who sits up and projects will be. Keep the band feeling good about itself, instill confidence and excitement into your new players and your veterans, and it will show on the field. I don't think the band members realize how the monotonous announcements take away from the exciting music you are playing. The announcements need more feeling behind them - an announcer who is as excited about the band as each band member is.

Finally, a good explanation for the kind of energy you guys are speaking of (at least, to me)! I'm serious, too. Thank you!

Happy to help Listen to what Dr. Karriker is saying to you guys, and you'll be fine. He knows what he's doing

[tbozeglav]

Does anyone have any details on this Rowdy meeting taking place Friday? I was just wondering if we might be able to set something up to teach new students the cheers and the sequence to pregame so they know what's coming next.

All i know is that its taking place in the field house. You'd have to get in contact with those running the Rowdies to find out if a mini-band would be able to show up and teach the students the progression of the pregame show along with all the cheers you guys do.

[goodthts]

"I have seen video from both sides of the field for Saturday and I can understand how it seemed unenergetic from the General Admission seats. Those are a long way up there and it is very hard to hear the band. Most of the quieting in the GA section was probably due to people trying to hear the band, from the other side it wasn't a problem at all. I think if you were sitting on the pressbox side of the stadium you would have a very different opinion of at least pregame."I agree with you, however, i wasnt sitting on the pressbox side. Neither were 15,000 or so other fans (minus a few Morgan State fans). My group stayed in our seats for the halftime events hoping to see a good show and were disappointed. We could barely hear the band. The announcer helped only in telling us what was being played. My opinion is this: It would have been nice if the band played to the whole crowd. I would have liked to see the band do more movements thats "circled" their sound around the stadium. The formations looked great, the uniforms looked snappy, yet the overall performance lacked because we could not hear you.my 2 cents only....

[Aaron]

I WAS sitting on the pressbox side of the field, on the north side near the bottom of the second deck (the family section), and it was difficult to hear the band there as well. It seems the acoustics of the stadium are not favorable to marching band performances - the sound funnels down, not up.

[bandzip]

"I have seen video from both sides of the field for Saturday and I can understand how it seemed unenergetic from the General Admission seats. Those are a long way up there and it is very hard to hear the band. Most of the quieting in the GA section was probably due to people trying to hear the band, from the other side it wasn't a problem at all. I think if you were sitting on the pressbox side of the stadium you would have a very different opinion of at least pregame."I agree with you, however, i wasnt sitting on the pressbox side. Neither were 15,000 or so other fans (minus a few Morgan State fans). My group stayed in our seats for the halftime events hoping to see a good show and were disappointed. We could barely hear the band. The announcer helped only in telling us what was being played. My opinion is this: It would have been nice if the band played to the whole crowd. I would have liked to see the band do more movements thats "circled" their sound around the stadium. The formations looked great, the uniforms looked snappy, yet the overall performance lacked because we could not hear you.my 2 cents only....

It's a really hard problem to fix, but I understand. The downfield stuff during pregame is designed so both sides can hear, and it works. The Hey UA cheer where we flip the UA logo and playing Win for Akron to the back side before heading downfield I think are both great steps in the right direction. We did turn around for most of the last song during halftime, hence the grad student on the ladder on the back sideline. If we did continually flip back and forth people would complain they could only hear parts of the song. I know the average fan sits in GA, but most of the people who pay a lot of money to be there and are there for almost every game are on the pressbox side. If we played to the East Stands the whole time you would see ten times more complaints.

[goodthts]

"I have seen video from both sides of the field for Saturday and I can understand how it seemed unenergetic from the General Admission seats. Those are a long way up there and it is very hard to hear the band. Most of the quieting in the GA section was probably due to people trying to hear the band, from the other side it wasn't a problem at all. I think if you were sitting on the pressbox side of the stadium you would have a very different opinion of at least pregame."I agree with you, however, i wasnt sitting on the pressbox side. Neither were 15,000 or so other fans (minus a few Morgan State fans). My group stayed in our seats for the halftime events hoping to see a good show and were disappointed. We could barely hear the band. The announcer helped only in telling us what was being played. My opinion is this: It would have been nice if the band played to the whole crowd. I would have liked to see the band do more movements thats "circled" their sound around the stadium. The formations looked great, the uniforms looked snappy, yet the overall performance lacked because we could not hear you.my 2 cents only....

It's a really hard problem to fix, but I understand. The downfield stuff during pregame is designed so both sides can hear, and it works. The Hey UA cheer where we flip the UA logo and playing Win for Akron to the back side before heading downfield I think are both great steps in the right direction. We did turn around for most of the last song during halftime, hence the grad student on the ladder on the back sideline. If we did continually flip back and forth people would complain they could only hear parts of the song. I know the average fan sits in GA, but most of the people who pay a lot of money to be there and are there for almost every game are on the pressbox side. If we played to the East Stands the whole time you would see ten times more complaints.

I have season tickets in GA. I WILL be there for every game. Yep, those richy old-timers UA alumni get all the perks. Maybe have the band split and have a 2-sided formation playing to both sides simultaneously! Just a suggestion.

[Aaron]

It's a really hard problem to fix, but I understand. The downfield stuff during pregame is designed so both sides can hear, and it works. The Hey UA cheer where we flip the UA logo and playing Win for Akron to the back side before heading downfield I think are both great steps in the right direction. We did turn around for most of the last song during halftime, hence the grad student on the ladder on the back sideline. If we did continually flip back and forth people would complain they could only hear parts of the song. I know the average fan sits in GA, but most of the people who pay a lot of money to be there and are there for almost every game are on the pressbox side. If we played to the East Stands the whole time you would see ten times more complaints.

So the only solution is to have TWO marching bands, one to play to each side of the stands I'm certain that a combination of having Karriker back, recruiting, and the stadium and student excitement will bring many good things to the band soon, as well as a ton more people.All in all, these are good problems to have. At the rubber bowl, the echo from the empty seats allowed everyone to hear the band very clearly. Now, we have a 'middle' season where we no longer have an echo (hooray) but also don't have the extra band members that bigger crowds and more student involvement inevitably bring.

[bandzip]

"I have seen video from both sides of the field for Saturday and I can understand how it seemed unenergetic from the General Admission seats. Those are a long way up there and it is very hard to hear the band. Most of the quieting in the GA section was probably due to people trying to hear the band, from the other side it wasn't a problem at all. I think if you were sitting on the pressbox side of the stadium you would have a very different opinion of at least pregame."I agree with you, however, i wasnt sitting on the pressbox side. Neither were 15,000 or so other fans (minus a few Morgan State fans). My group stayed in our seats for the halftime events hoping to see a good show and were disappointed. We could barely hear the band. The announcer helped only in telling us what was being played. My opinion is this: It would have been nice if the band played to the whole crowd. I would have liked to see the band do more movements thats "circled" their sound around the stadium. The formations looked great, the uniforms looked snappy, yet the overall performance lacked because we could not hear you.my 2 cents only....

It's a really hard problem to fix, but I understand. The downfield stuff during pregame is designed so both sides can hear, and it works. The Hey UA cheer where we flip the UA logo and playing Win for Akron to the back side before heading downfield I think are both great steps in the right direction. We did turn around for most of the last song during halftime, hence the grad student on the ladder on the back sideline. If we did continually flip back and forth people would complain they could only hear parts of the song. I know the average fan sits in GA, but most of the people who pay a lot of money to be there and are there for almost every game are on the pressbox side. If we played to the East Stands the whole time you would see ten times more complaints.

I have season tickets in GA. I WILL be there for every game. Yep, those richy old-timers UA alumni get all the perks. Maybe have the band split and have a 2-sided formation playing to both sides simultaneously! Just a suggestion.

I don't know how feasible that is, but High School Band day is this Saturday, so for the last couple tunes there will be approx. 900 musicians on the field. Will that work for now?

[goodthts]

"I have seen video from both sides of the field for Saturday and I can understand how it seemed unenergetic from the General Admission seats. Those are a long way up there and it is very hard to hear the band. Most of the quieting in the GA section was probably due to people trying to hear the band, from the other side it wasn't a problem at all. I think if you were sitting on the pressbox side of the stadium you would have a very different opinion of at least pregame."I agree with you, however, i wasnt sitting on the pressbox side. Neither were 15,000 or so other fans (minus a few Morgan State fans). My group stayed in our seats for the halftime events hoping to see a good show and were disappointed. We could barely hear the band. The announcer helped only in telling us what was being played. My opinion is this: It would have been nice if the band played to the whole crowd. I would have liked to see the band do more movements thats "circled" their sound around the stadium. The formations looked great, the uniforms looked snappy, yet the overall performance lacked because we could not hear you.my 2 cents only....

It's a really hard problem to fix, but I understand. The downfield stuff during pregame is designed so both sides can hear, and it works. The Hey UA cheer where we flip the UA logo and playing Win for Akron to the back side before heading downfield I think are both great steps in the right direction. We did turn around for most of the last song during halftime, hence the grad student on the ladder on the back sideline. If we did continually flip back and forth people would complain they could only hear parts of the song. I know the average fan sits in GA, but most of the people who pay a lot of money to be there and are there for almost every game are on the pressbox side. If we played to the East Stands the whole time you would see ten times more complaints.

I have season tickets in GA. I WILL be there for every game. Yep, those richy old-timers UA alumni get all the perks. Maybe have the band split and have a 2-sided formation playing to both sides simultaneously! Just a suggestion.

I don't know how feasible that is, but High School Band day is this Saturday, so for the last couple tunes there will be approx. 900 musicians on the field. Will that work for now?

Sure! When playing in front of large crowds, use the old Spinal Tap notion and turn it up to 11! lol

[maemmfc]

Does anyone have any details on this Rowdy meeting taking place Friday? I was just wondering if we might be able to set something up to teach new students the cheers and the sequence to pregame so they know what's coming next.

All i know is that its taking place in the field house. You'd have to get in contact with those running the Rowdies to find out if a mini-band would be able to show up and teach the students the progression of the pregame show along with all the cheers you guys do.

I'm totally in on this idea -- I'll be in the traveling band & everything. I was right next to the Rowdies during the game Saturday, & will be for the rest of the season (like last year, & I assume previous years, we have to sit in certain spots in the stands), & I was sad that for some of the cheers, no one knew the words. Heck, barely anyone knows the fight song except the band, football team, & a few 'Rowdies, so I think it'd be awesome if we got the entire section to learn the song & sing it during every game when we play.

[saxyzip87]

Okay, so I read all the posts, and I've thought about this. I am just saying what I think and what I've learned. 1. Thank you to whomever defined "energy"2. It is hard to take criticism when you do something you love, and as a current member of Ohio's Pride, I can understand why people get defensive, but that doesn't mean we should. When people attack something I care about and spend my free time doing (I am not a music major anymore, but I LOVE BAND!), it can sometimes be hard to not have my first reaction be defensive. I am also an athlete and a coach, and I get upset when I hear constructive feedback at first, but when I have time to settle down and reflect, I usually take what was said a little better. I think our athletes at UA do a great job of taking criticism, and now it's time for the marching band to catch up on that.2a. This is the first time the marching band has been on such a huge stage and being watched by so many people all at once, so criticism on this level is a new thing. Again, we just need to learn to digest it as an ensemble and adapt/move on. 2b. The first game of the season there are going to be mistakes, and in a new stadium especially. InfoCision stadium is a leveling ground for new and returning members alike, because its a new environment for everyone; so please be patient as we work on learning about our new environment. So for those of you who have marched in Ohio's Pride before, thank you for your time, but until you actually stand on the turf with us (come back for alumni band!), you can only understand what we are going through on a certain level. Please don't think I am being arrogant by saying this, it is the opinion of ONE person. 3. GO ZIPS!

[HOLLYWOODZIPPY]

Anyone know what time the band will be marching through campus this Saturday? I want to make sure I get over by the rec center to see it again cause I'm bringing some friends with me to the game this weekend.

[maemmfc]

Anyone know what time the band will be marching through campus this Saturday? I want to make sure I get over by the rec center to see it again cause I'm bringing some friends with me to the game this weekend.

We don't usually know 'til Friday, but the game starts at 3:30pm.Saturday I think we marched there at 12:30pm? Not sure of the time, as I didn't look at a clock nor did I have a watch on, but Pregame was guesstimated to start at 1:30-ish on our handy dandy band itinerary (mind you, this includes the new stadium ceremonies taking place) & the game started at 2. So...if I were to guess I'd say 2-ish? Once I hear otherwise I'll try to remember to mention it here.

[zipseuph]

ok I have something for both sides of the house hereside oneif you are currently in the bad you should not post on band topics like this AT ALL!! your job in the band above all is to act as the glue between the University and the rest of us and attacking people on ZN is not the way to do it. I know how hard it is to hear comments like the ones on hear (people that have been on here a while can tell you that I wasn't always the best at taking this stuff) but you have to suck it up take one on the chin and march on don't start arguing and creating a divide.side twoif you want to give input to the band that is awesome but at least make sure you've paid enough attention so that you don't say something stupid like ” they should lose the sheet music" (which they did) or "I'm glad they brought back the high step" (which they've been doing since before I was around) because after those comments you lose a lot of credibility

[bandzip]

if you are currently in the bad you should not post on band topics like this AT ALL!! your job in the band above all is to act as the glue between the University and the rest of us and attacking people on ZN is not the way to do it. I know how hard it is to hear comments like the ones on hear (people that have been on here a while can tell you that I wasn't always the best at taking this stuff) but you have to suck it up take one on the chin and march on don't start arguing and creating a divide.

Respectfully disagree. We've gotten a lot of helpful feedback from this thread that wouldn't have been gained by viewing passively. I do say that many posters need to stop taking it as personally as they are. If people say we lacked energy, maybe to them it felt that way, let's figure out why. If people say run on needs to change then maybe there's something to that, let's look into it. If people want us to expand the traveling band idea then we should look into it. I try to just explain why we can't do certain things and move on. If you want an idea of what makes these topics go downhill then take a look at the "New Band Related Info Traditions" thread. Stop telling people it's hard and you try as hard as you can becuse they don't care. They want it better. Even Mr. Karriker says, "As soon as you get to where I want you to be, I'm going to push you a step farther, that's what's going to make you a great band."

[RootforRoo44]

Well let me "constructively criticize" the music selection i heard today from the bands practice. "American Pie" is not an energetic song. I seriously almost fell asleep sitting there listening. Why can't we play something more exciting and upbeat?

[Buckzip]

Sorry guys but I have never been overly impressed with our band. I remember back to the Jackaboice(sp) and Romeo days and thought the band back then was much better. Sorry if I offended anyone, just being honest. I still remember a few years ago when Akron played Hampton or Howard or one of those D1AA schools.There were 2 other bands there and they completely blew away the Akron band. I was there with my son and we both were getting upset when the UA band would try to play at the same time as the other bands. Most of it was music selection. The other bands played much better music. IMHO.

[zipseuph]

Well let me "constructively criticize" the music selection i heard today from the bands practice. "American Pie" is not an energetic song. I seriously almost fell asleep sitting there listening. Why can't we play something more exciting and upbeat?

as far as I know that song is being played in honor of the aniversary of the day that the song sings of. I get where you come from with energetic music but I don't see aything wrong with paying tribute to those events but again totaly dig where your coming from just trying to give you some perspective as to why

Sorry guys but I have never been overly impressed with our band. I remember back to the Jackaboice(sp) and Romeo days and thought the band back then was much better. Sorry if I offended anyone, just being honest. I still remember a few years ago when Akron played Hampton or Howard or one of those D1AA schools.There were 2 other bands there and they completely blew away the Akron band. I was there with my son and we both were getting upset when the UA band would try to play at the same time as the other bands. Most of it was music selection. The other bands played much better music. IMHO.

this is where most band members will lose it. I understand that you are not trying to attack anyone but especially with the intro it can come across as if you are but again I agree that the band should throw in some more modern selections for the younger crowd while still keeping the traditional cheers and some older tunes that the alumni would recogize and sing along to.in music you can't be all out all the time. this just isnt in the classical world every pop/modern band does it too. think of the last concert you whent to. was it all out for the entire show or did the band take a moment to bring things down just a little bit. doing that can help the big moments seem even bigger to the crowd if you just go full all out from the get go then you have to top it for the end and the next show this continues until eventualy you just end up looking absurd leaving the crowd going "WTF is this?"

Respectfully disagree. We've gotten a lot of helpful feedback from this thread that wouldn't have been gained by viewing passively. I do say that many posters need to stop taking it as personally as they are. If people say we lacked energy, maybe to them it felt that way, let's figure out why. If people say run on needs to change then maybe there's something to that, let's look into it. If people want us to expand the traveling band idea then we should look into it. I try to just explain why we can't do certain things and move on. If you want an idea of what makes these topics go downhill then take a look at the "New Band Related Info Traditions" thread. Stop telling people it's hard and you try as hard as you can becuse they don't care. They want it better. Even Mr. Karriker says, "As soon as you get to where I want you to be, I'm going to push you a step farther, that's what's going to make you a great band."

you have to be extremly careful with this. aske the question and then step back you are not alwas going to get the answer you want. you should defenetly throw out all the shameless plugs you can however. (ie hey we will here at this time doing this feel free to come check it out)