kdaddy Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I find the halftime performances of college marching bands to generally be lame. To me, the bands' performances in pregame and in the stands, which I think they should be relegated to, would have a much bigger impact on nurturing music education. I'd love to see football broadcasts include more pregame stuff. You see the occasional "dotting of the i," but not enough. This side of pageantry has so much historical value. Boomer Sooner vs A Halftime Tribute to the 70s? That's an easy pick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I find the halftime performances of college marching bands to generally be lame. To me, the bands' performances in pregame and in the stands, which I think they should be relegated to, would have a much bigger impact on nurturing music education. I'd love to see football broadcasts include more pregame stuff. You see the occasional "dotting of the i," but not enough. This side of pageantry has so much historical value. Boomer Sooner vs A Halftime Tribute to the 70s? That's an easy pick. Thank you for recognizing TBDBITL, but your post seems contradictory. Why should band's performances be relegated to the stands have a bigger impact on nurturing music ed? You want to see more pregame stuff, but from the stands? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie1223 Posted January 15, 2011 Share Posted January 15, 2011 I am watching the vast amounts of advertising and analysis going on at halftime of last night's BCS Championship game and occasional shots of each band in the stands during the game. I know, a vast number of people watching a football game could care less about the band, but isn't that same viewpoint continuing to make all marching arts...including drum corps...more and more irrelevant? No matter what the contention between marching band and drum corps maybe we are all one big disfunctional family and exposure in any way is good. People (meaning people not familiar with drum corps or music or performing arts) do "appreciate" their college marching bands. And those same people do appreciate marching bands in parades and stuff. So, anything that inhibits that kind of appreciation is bad for the marching arts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 No matter what the contention between marching band and drum corps maybe we are all one big disfunctional family and exposure in any way is good. People (meaning people not familiar with drum corps or music or performing arts) do "appreciate" their college marching bands. And those same people do appreciate marching bands in parades and stuff. So, anything that inhibits that kind of appreciation is bad for the marching arts. Agreed. But bands are fighting for attention from the sports teams, and we've all seen that that battle will never be won. The issue seems to be how to attract the attention without relying on the sports programming to give it to us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 I find the halftime performances of college marching bands to generally be lame. To me, the bands' performances in pregame and in the stands, which I think they should be relegated to, would have a much bigger impact on nurturing music education. I'd love to see football broadcasts include more pregame stuff. You see the occasional "dotting of the i," but not enough. This side of pageantry has so much historical value. Boomer Sooner vs A Halftime Tribute to the 70s? That's an easy pick. I don't think the mission / purpose of college marching bands is to nuture music education. The large majority of students in college marching bands are not music majors. College marching bands are there to entertain and fire up their audience and support the team, and they seem to have a pretty good handle on understanding their audience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Agreed. But bands are fighting for attention from the sports teams, and we've all seen that that battle will never be won. Huh? The bands are there to complement the sports teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Huh? The bands are there to complement the sports teams. Fully agree. That's their primary obligation (as I have posted earlier in the thread). The course of the thread started to lean towards the bands claiming attention from the sport. I was pointing out that that will never be accomplished because it's futile to try to take attention away from the sport - the primary reason for the band's attendance at the game. We agree. All is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fecontra Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 November 2010. In fact, every November around Thanksgiving, NBC has been showing much of the "Battle of the Bands" between Southern and Grambling for a while, even promo-ing during the game (there is a football game too). It's not a total win for us band geeks. The producers don't mic the field appropriately for band sound, so we tend to hear whichever baritone is overblowing in front of the camera mic at any given moment. It's too bad because those of us fortunate enough to have heard Southern live know what a glorious sound it can be. HH NOTE TO READERS: Sorry if I ruined anyone's day by using the term "mic" but I felt it necessary in context. It was not meant to remind you of drum corps's current condition. Nor was it intended to divert this topic. Mic can be a neutral term. It certainly was intended as such here. Can't we all just get along? Speaking of halftimes past: I'd like to teach the world to sing ... Probably the best exposure college bands still get to this day..... The only exceptions I have noted for the last few years is Texas A&M once a year , and also Ohio State doing " Script Ohio" at a bowl game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I don't think the mission / purpose of college marching bands is to nuture music education. The large majority of students in college marching bands are not music majors. College marching bands are there to entertain and fire up their audience and support the team, and they seem to have a pretty good handle on understanding their audience. Agreed - it's not the mission/purpose of a college marching band to nuture music education in its members. And agreed - the band is there to encourage pep. The original post deals with a connection between college marching bands being shown on TV and drum corps appreciation. I'm trying to draw a connection not with drum corps appreciation but more generally "music education of young people watching the game." Showing a pep band playing in the stands (playing cool stuff that the crowd is responding to) may nurture music education - kids at home seeing that could be intrigued to be a part of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdaddy Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Thank you for recognizing TBDBITL, but your post seems contradictory. Why should band's performances be relegated to the stands have a bigger impact on nurturing music ed? You want to see more pregame stuff, but from the stands? Nothing contradictory. I said HALFTIME performances were lame, and that they wouldn't do much for nurturing the pursuit of music education by young people. But pregame perfromances and performances in the stands both drive enthusiasm in the crowd. HALFTIME performances do not drive enthusiasm, from my experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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