Best dang halftime show by a band, EVER!!!

[ManAboutTown]

_ I was wondering the same thing. They are pretty bad too. Seems that we could simply put the dance team out there. _

Or take away those scholarships and give them to BAND MEMBERS

[Frenchie35]

With all of these negetive post I would think that the band members would request a town hall meeting and protest. Not the posters but the band director. I am curious to know exactly what the members think of this. It seemes to me back in the sixties and seventies we had more excitement. I can remember the reble flag days before political correctness. That was banded by the pressure of minority persuasion. But they had a better presentation on the field then.

[HelmutVII]

_ With the complexity of the show that Southern put on and the music they play, don't you think they put in as much if not more into preparation than UL's band, yet their performance was exceptional. Last time I checked, the weather in Baton Rouge is the same as Lafayette. The simple fact is, our band has no clue how to operate in a game situation. A current band member said in another thread a week or so ago that the band doesn't care about what goes on in the game, they are only worried about the pre-game and half-time shows. That is why during a game, the band doesn't know when to play anything and music has to be piped in. That is pathetic for a college band and for game day atmosphere. As someone also pointed out, at LSU the band only has to play 4 simple notes to get the entire stadium in a frenzy. That is a great part of what makes their games among the best in the country. That is sorely lacking at UL's games and desperately needs to be addressed and corrected. _

Where do I start.

The beginning of every halftime show the Southern band performs is the same thing they have done for years. The so called precision marching drill is basically "follow the leader" whether that leader is ahead of you or to your right or left it's still follow the leader. It is very simple to execute and very easy to learn. How do I know this, because I performed similar shows to this WHEN I WAS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1968!!!.

If you were there and you knew what to look for and listen to, you will notice that when they marched up and down the field their sound greatly reduced. Most bands today will not do that and if they have to march up and down the field turn their horns 90 degrees to face the audience. The only time modern bands do not face the audience with their horns is of they want to make a musical effect.

The Southern Band gets their sound from the large number of low and mid brass. The UL band has more woodwinds that do not project as much as brass instruments. Also, members of the flag corps are considered a marching band member. With the Southern band having more brass and no flag corps naturally they will be louder marching the same number of people because all of their people are playing instruments.

A band in the mold of Southern today is very rare. Most all bands follow the drum corps model. This is a you tube video of the LHS band at the Atlanta Bands of America regional in Atlanta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRl6zuc91vg

They went to Nationals and came in 12th in the country with the same performance.

Warning you will NOT like this performance if you have a football mind set!!! However, this is the trend of high level, cutting edge bands today. They do play at the football games too. LHS freshman Football parents have the same complaints about the LHS band that you do. However, they have 240 band members that have parents that buy almost 500 football season tickets so the coach can't complain. The only reason they go to the game is to watch the band. Most of the band members really don't care about the football game at all. (this is typical at many high schools today)

While you are on You Tube do a search for "Carolina Crown", "Phantom Regiment", "Glassmen" or "Santa Clara Vanguard" these are cutting edge DCI groups that are what most bands in America strive to be.

To say the least, I was unimpressed by the performance the Southern Band had Saturday evening. It was dated and unoriginal and had very little to offer form a technical marching and musical performance stand point. The only reason it appeared so different and new is because it's so old nobody does it anymore.

[CajunAmos]

Band smack. Yep, it's football season.

[Cajun Monkee]

_ Where do I start.

The beginning of every halftime show the Southern band performs is the same thing they have done for years. The so called precision marching drill is basically "follow the leader" weather that leader is ahead of you or to your right or left it's still follow the leader. It is very simple to execute and very easy to learn. How do I know this, because I performed similar shows to this WHEN I WAS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1968!!!.

If you were there and you knew what to look for and listen to, you will notice that when they marched up and down the field their sound greatly reduced. Most bands today will not do that and if they have to march up and down the field turn their horns 90 degrees to face the audience. The only time modern bands do not face the audience with their horns is of they want to make a musical effect.

The Southern Band gets their sound from the large number of low and mid brass. The UL band has more woodwinds that do not project as much as brass instruments. Also, members of the flag corps are considered a marching band member. With the Southern band having more brass and no flag corps naturally they will be louder marching the same number of people because all of their people are playing instruments.

A band in the mold of Southern today is very rare. Most all bands follow the drum corps model. This is a you tube video of the LHS band at the Atlanta Bands of America regional in Atlanta.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRl6zuc91vg

They went to Nationals and came in 12th in the country with the same performance.

Warning you will NOT like this performance if you have a football mind set!!! However, this is the trend of high level, cutting edge bands today. They do play at the football games too. LHS freshman Football parents have the same complaints about the LHS band that you do. However, they have 240 band members that have parents that buy almost 500 football season tickets so the coach can't complain. The only reason they go to the game is to watch the band. Most of the band members really don't care about the football game at all. (this is typical at many high schools today)

While you are on You Tube do a search for "Carolina Crown", "Phantom Regiment", "Glassmen" or "Santa Clara Vanguard" these are cutting edge DCI groups that are what most bands in America strive to be.

To say the least, I was unimpressed by the performance the Southern Band had Saturday evening. It was dated and unoriginal and had very little to offer form a technical marching and musical performance stand point. The only reason it appeared so different and new is because it's so old nobody does it anymore. _

It's hard not to sound offensive when you say weren't impressed by Southern's band, but it boils down to the absolute different styles. And the style just doesn't work for me.

While I didn't get to go to the game, I did go back and watch the show and all they did was march back and forth across the field in staight lines. The only diagonals (or arcs or curves) that might have occured were accidental.

Color guards give much to the presentation of the show. How much of a role does ULs drum line play in their show? Again, Southern's didn't particularly spark my interest.

[zephyr]

_ Where do I start.

The beginning of every halftime show the Southern band performs is the same thing they have done for years. The so called precision marching drill is basically "follow the leader" whether that leader is ahead of you or to your right or left it's still follow the leader. It is very simple to execute and very easy to learn. How do I know this, because I performed similar shows to this WHEN I WAS A FRESHMAN IN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1968!!!.

If you were there and you knew what to look for and listen to, you will notice that when they marched up and down the field their sound greatly reduced. Most bands today will not do that and if they have to march up and down the field turn their horns 90 degrees to face the audience. The only time modern bands do not face the audience with their horns is of they want to make a musical effect.

The Southern Band gets their sound from the large number of low and mid brass. The UL band has more woodwinds that do not project as much as brass instruments. Also, members of the flag corps are considered a marching band member. With the Southern band having more brass and no flag corps naturally they will be louder marching the same number of people because all of their people are playing instruments.

A band in the mold of Southern today is very rare. Most all bands follow the drum corps model. This is a you tube video of the LHS band at the Atlanta Bands of America regional in Atlanta.


They went to Nationals and came in 12th in the country with the same performance.

Warning you will NOT like this performance if you have a football mind set!!! However, this is the trend of high level, cutting edge bands today. They do play at the football games too. LHS freshman Football parents have the same complaints about the LHS band that you do. However, they have 240 band members that have parents that buy almost 500 football season tickets so the coach can't complain. The only reason they go to the game is to watch the band. Most of the band members really don't care about the football game at all. (this is typical at many high schools today)

While you are on You Tube do a search for "Carolina Crown", "Phantom Regiment", "Glassmen" or "Santa Clara Vanguard" these are cutting edge DCI groups that are what most bands in America strive to be.

To say the least, I was unimpressed by the performance the Southern Band had Saturday evening. It was dated and unoriginal and had very little to offer form a technical marching and musical performance stand point. The only reason it appeared so different and new is because it's so old nobody does it anymore. _

Then you were the only one. I found the SU band performance to be ANYTHING other than unoriginal as their routine was a direct tribute to Michael Jackson so i assume that its not something they've done very often. Regardless, if you would rather a more "technical" band setup for a football game, that is your opinion. However, I will assume that I speak for the masses of football fans out there that a band even similar to SU would do more for a collegiate football atmosphere than what you describe. Not to mention, I thought their overall sound was great. I'm not a band person nor will I pretend to be a critic of particular styles but to me, they sounded awesome. I'd take that any day of the week. The energy they gave the crowd was priceless and to add something like that to a football program would give its games a huge boost.

[HelmutVII]

_ It's hard not to sound offensive when you say weren't impressed by Southern's band, but it boils down to the absolute different styles. And the style just doesn't work for me.

_

While I did not mean to be offensive it's just how I saw it. It's hard to be impressed by a style of band performance that I have seen hundreds of times before.

[HelmutVII]

_ Then you were the only one. I found the SU band performance to be ANYTHING other than unoriginal as their routine was a direct tribute to Michael Jackson so i assume that its not something they've done very often. Regardless, if you would rather a more "technical" band setup for a football game, that is your opinion. However, I will assume that I speak for the masses of football fans out there that a band even similar to SU would do more for a collegiate football atmosphere than what you describe. Not to mention, I thought their overall sound was great. I'm not a band person nor will I pretend to be a critic of particular styles but to me, they sounded awesome. I'd take that any day of the week. The energy they gave the crowd was priceless and to add something like that to a football program would give its games a huge boost. _

Let me see now, how many band performances I have seen that have been titled "A tribute to fill in the blank". It's unoriginal, it's easy to learn the music (because most of it can be played by ear), and in the case of the SU band the marching is so easy you can learn the show in two hours.

The SU band sound was OK, but if you really want to hear a better sound then hope the Troy band makes the trip at the end of the season. This is what the POA should be shooting for.

To take it up several notches to hear excellent sound and musicianship along with seeing an almost flawless marching exhibition by a ticket to the "Drums Across Cajun Field" DCI event next July. It will be the third year here and suffice to say the performances that have happened at the previous two DCI events were the best dang show by a band at Cajun Field.

Or better yet, go to the Louisiana Showcase of Marching Bands this November. It's an all day event but if you show up after 3:00 P.M. you will see outstanding high school marching bands from around the State. For some of these band members, to go to a college marching band is a step down. Lafayette Music sponsors the event and donates much of the proceeds from the ticket sales to the Pride of Acadiana for scholarships and other things that just might help our band get bigger and better.

Finally, whether you like it or not, to the average band member, it's not about the football game, it's about the pregame and halftime show.

[MetryCajun]

_
They went to Nationals and came in 12th in the country with the same performance.

Warning you will NOT like this performance if you have a football mind set!!! However, this is the trend of high level, cutting edge bands today. They do play at the football games too. LHS freshman Football parents have the same complaints about the LHS band that you do. However, they have 240 band members that have parents that buy almost 500 football season tickets so the coach can't complain. The only reason they go to the game is to watch the band. Most of the band members really don't care about the football game at all. (this is typical at many high schools today) _

LOL. This reminds me of my days at Acadiana. We were actively rooting against our team in the playoffs b/c we did not want to play our routine anymore and the game would be during Thanksgiving weekend. Needless to say the principal was not too happy with our celebration when we lost.

[gridiron]

Finally, whether you like it or not, to the average band member, it's not about the football game, it's about the pregame and halftime show. _

It's OK to be self centered I guess but they have to realize this is a 5 hour show non stop show that has only one goal to give the fans what they want.