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When did halftime get hijacked?


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2 hours ago, GUARDLING said:

See,we all get "entertained" by quite different things,.lol and that's fine

At halftime, not a band contest, not a band concert, not an academic educational band clinic, but at halftime of a 'football game', to whom should the entertainment be constructed and projected? Art Effeciannatos? Music Educators? Musicologists? Band Adjudicators? Student self-education on the finer arts? Parents who will love anything their kids do? Or the crowd which is there to engage in a social activity called a high school footbal game?

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1 hour ago, Stu said:

At halftime, not a band contest, not a band concert, not an academic educational band clinic, but at halftime of a 'football game', to whom should the entertainment be constructed and projected? Art Effeciannatos? Music Educators? Musicologists? Band Adjudicators? Student self-education on the finer arts? Parents who will love anything their kids do? Or the crowd which is there to engage in a social activity called a high school footbal game?

We play 3 quarters of stand music and drum beats to support the team and cheerleaders and fans (3rd quarter we are off after half-time for snacks). What is wrong with doing our one and only field show for 8 minutes at half-time?

The cheerleaders practice their hearts out to perform their best, the team practices to play as well as they can. Yet you think it OK for the band to perform a half-baked show of the lamest music, set to the lamest drill possible, with the cheesiest drum beats, with almost no rehearsal, as the best representation of the instrumental music department at games. Sorry, in our moment to shine, I would want us to put our best foot forward. 

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4 minutes ago, MikeD said:

We play 3 quarters of stand music and drum beats to support the team and cheerleaders and fans (3rd quarter we are off after half-time for snacks). What is wrong with doing our one and only field show for 8 minutes at half-time?

The cheerleaders practice their hearts out to perform their best, the team practices to play as well as they can. Yet you think it OK for the band to perform a half-baked show of the lamest music, set to the lamest drill possible, with the cheesiest drum beats, with almost no rehearsal, as the best representation of the instrumental music department at games. Sorry, in our moment to shine, I would want us to put our best foot forward. 

I absolutely agree.

As long as you always end the halftime show with the fight song.  :tongue:

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1 hour ago, Stu said:

At halftime, not a band contest, not a band concert, not an academic educational band clinic, but at halftime of a 'football game', to whom should the entertainment be constructed and projected? Art Effeciannatos? Music Educators? Musicologists? Band Adjudicators? Student self-education on the finer arts? Parents who will love anything their kids do? Or the crowd which is there to engage in a social activity called a high school footbal game?

And the bands sit in the stands before half-time doing all those things with the traditional types of things to support the football team and patrons but then perform their halftime show that they use for competition and have received just as much accolades for their efforts. Often the uneducated of the band program are amazed on the depth of performance and show type and pageantry and many times go away looking at the band program much differently than they did previously. This of course is not everyone's experience and doesn't make one right or one wrong in whatever the band chooses to be. This has been at least my experience for a few decades.

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9 minutes ago, MikeD said:

We play 3 quarters of stand music and drum beats to support the team and cheerleaders and fans (3rd quarter we are off after half-time for snacks). What is wrong with doing our one and only field show for 8 minutes at half-time?

The cheerleaders practice their hearts out to perform their best, the team practices to play as well as they can. Yet you think it OK for the band to perform a half-baked show of the lamest music, set to the lamest drill possible, with the cheesiest drum beats, with almost no rehearsal, as the best representation of the instrumental music department at games. Sorry, in our moment to shine, I would want us to put our best foot forward. 

No, I just say know your venue (a football game not a concert hall or music contest),  know your audience (a football crowd and generic hs students not symphonic attendees or music appreciation students), and entertain them accordingly with the highest performance of 'their listening' pleasure not yours. Save that artistic contest ivory tower stuff for when everyone is there to primarily see the band at the contest or concert not the game where they are there to either socialize or see football.

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I likely know why we differ; I am coming at this with exposing the kiddos to a commercial music mindset not an academic mindset. If I entertain folks outside of academia with their music tastes at major clubs, and play extremely well, I get paid and get recommended for more paying gigs. If I play the esoteric stuff to expose them to the finer arts, and play extremely well, unless I am at a small jazz club I will end up a few days later washing dishes and delevering pizzas.

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2 minutes ago, Stu said:

I likely know why we differ; I am coming at this with exposing the kiddos to a commercial music mindset not an academic mindset. If I entertain folks outside of academia with their music tastes at clubs, and play extremely well, I get paid and get recommended for more paying gigs. If I play the esoteric stuff to expose them to the finer arts, and play extremely well, a few days later I wash dishes and delever pizzas.

 

A high school football game is part and parcel of the school system. It is not a commercial professional activity. That is a difference. The marching band is either extra-curricular or co-curricular, depending on the setup at a particular school. But, it is part of the music department, so it needs to be treated that way. I would never want our featured moment to be anything other than our best effort. That in the long run is what helps those at the game appreciate what we do. We do NOT ignore the team, cheerleaders and fans, as I said. I like our (and almost every band I have ever seen at games) mix of pure pep tunes in the stands while the team is playing, with the bands then doing their one and only field shows at pre-game or half-time. 

It has worked for decades that way for just about every band I've seen or worked with. We're not a 'BOA' band...not many are, numerically speaking, We're just a decent small marching band that puts on the best show we can for anybody watching us, and we do our best in competition with the limited time we have to rehearse. Our marching band is extra-curricular. It is all volunteer after school about 6 hours of practice a week. The band classes are strictly concert bands from the first day of school. 

 

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2 hours ago, Stu said:

At halftime, not a band contest, not a band concert, not an academic educational band clinic, but at halftime of a 'football game', to whom should the entertainment be constructed and projected? Art Effeciannatos? Music Educators? Musicologists? Band Adjudicators? Student self-education on the finer arts? Parents who will love anything their kids do? Or the crowd which is there to engage in a social activity called a high school footbal game?

 

 

Stu, of course, being the Michael Bay of high school band show design...

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4 hours ago, MikeD said:

We play 3 quarters of stand music and drum beats to support the team and cheerleaders and fans (3rd quarter we are off after half-time for snacks). What is wrong with doing our one and only field show for 8 minutes at half-time?

The cheerleaders practice their hearts out to perform their best, the team practices to play as well as they can. Yet you think it OK for the band to perform a half-baked show of the lamest music, set to the lamest drill possible, with the cheesiest drum beats, with almost no rehearsal, as the best representation of the instrumental music department at games. Sorry, in our moment to shine, I would want us to put our best foot forward. 

You forget that Stu is the be all, end all on this subject, and the opinions or real-world experiences of others holds no weight.

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This whole thread reminds me of a story....

 

I don't know of any of you are familiar with Dr. Robert Foster at KU. great person, learned a lot from him in college when he conducted the PA Intercollegiate Band. He's a real honest-to-God Texan, his voice reminded me of Colonel Kong from Dr. Strangelove, but much friendlier. Learned how to PLAY Canzona from this cat. A true experience, and I am grateful.

 

He related this story years ago... how much is true, Lord knows, but I think it's a good story:

 

A friend of his was a well known and respected High School Director in Texas and the town loved his band's performances for Homecoming, but one year, things just didn't work out like they needed to, so... his 150 member band comes out at halftime for homecoming.

 

This Director also did the announcements for his band, so he goes through all of the normal announcements... then...he starts...

 

"I want to  recognize all of the effort that's gone into Homecoming this week. Would all of the Band Members who helped wonderfully decorate the Cafeteria for the Homecoming dance and missed band practice this week come to the sideline?"

 

30 kids step out to the front sideline.

 

"Would all of the Band members who worked so hard on the  on the Homecoming float all week and missed band come forward to be recognized?"

 

about 40 more kids come out.

 

"Would all of the Band members who worked on decorating the football field this week with all of the homecoming banners and ribbons and missed band this week come forward..."

 

25 step forward....

 

This goes on until there's one Freshman Cymbal player on the 50, peering from behind his cymbals in panic. The Drum Major is on the sideline from working on the Dance... so the Band Director begins to count off...

 

"ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR!" and the kid marks time and lets go with the biggest crash of his cymbals, then stops... the Director yells

 

"THERE! THERE'S YOUR (insert colorful adjective of your choice) HALFTIME SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!" and walks out of the press box.

 

First thing Monday, the director is called into the Principal's Office...

 

"John, you know I love yah, but yah know what you did at Homecoming, I can't let that go. I'm gonna have to let you go over this..."

 

To which the Director responds and smiles,

 

"I came in early this morning, the Office is empty, I cleaned my stuff out already!".. turned, and walked out the door, free as a bird. :whistle:

 

 

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