madscout96 Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 So this year is the 5th anniversary of the relationship between the Spirit drum and bugle corps and Jacksonville State University, right? Spirit of Atlanta was born in the 70's, had their heydays in the 80's, struggled in the 90's and came close to folding until they began a unique relationship with Jacksonvill State University in Alabama. Now the corps is based out of J'ville, sponsored by the University, and they have been a DCI finalist 3 times in this decade (which is only half finished). Obviously this deal seems to have worked out extremely well for the corps so far! But what about JSU? Has it worked out for them? Is the university and/or music department getting all that they hoped to get out of the deal? How does JSU benefit from having a drum corps, besides having a corps use the "JSU" in its name? If it indeed has been a great situation for the university, then will other corps try and work out something similar with a school near to where they are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walder Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 So this year is the 5th anniversary of the relationship between the Spirit drum and bugle corps and Jacksonville State University, right?Spirit of Atlanta was born in the 70's, had their heydays in the 80's, struggled in the 90's and came close to folding until they began a unique relationship with Jacksonvill State University in Alabama. Now the corps is based out of J'ville, sponsored by the University, and they have been a DCI finalist 3 times in this decade (which is only half finished). Obviously this deal seems to have worked out extremely well for the corps so far! But what about JSU? Has it worked out for them? Is the university and/or music department getting all that they hoped to get out of the deal? How does JSU benefit from having a drum corps, besides having a corps use the "JSU" in its name? If it indeed has been a great situation for the university, then will other corps try and work out something similar with a school near to where they are? im sure it has benefited from the organization and inclusion of several students/staff/faculty...to what extent a member of that organization is best to answer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssorrell Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 Instead of being a school that used to be known mainly in this region, JSU now has an ensemble that travels across the nation every summer. The school's name and music department has been exposed to areas that otherwise would have never heard of Jacksonville State University. I know of several corps members and staffers that have become full time JSU students as a result of their marching in the corps. It is a relationship that continues to grow and both parties continue to benefit more each year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CozyChopsCom Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 (edited) Instead of being a school that used to be known mainly in this region, JSU now has an ensemble that travels across the nation every summer. The school's name and music department has been exposed to areas that otherwise would have never heard of Jacksonville State University. I know of several corps members and staffers that have become full time JSU students as a result of their marching in the corps. It is a relationship that continues to grow and both parties continue to benefit more each year. My Mom was from 'Bama. As a kid, I knew Jax State as the university where my cuz became a band director, and a couple of other cousins and snare drummer pals played in the phenomenal marching band. (All of us cousins played Conn Connstellation 36B trumpets by some weird fluke.) Madscout96 (Great year!), yours is a wise question. At that time, few outside Dixie, as Sorrell et al. stated, knew of JSU's prowess. Possibly, not even Jax State, outside denizens of Mason Hall, realizes the full impact Spirit has had on recruiting campus students. Jax State is known all over corpsdom now. See the May issue of DCWorld for separate reviews of a Spirit camp and CorpsVets camp in March. I saw that JSU allows Spirit free run of the campus. Sectionals were held throughout Mason Hall. Despite having a new turf in the stadium, Spirit was welcome to rehearse inside the stadium. That Saturday, Dir. Ken Bodiford and Dr. Chip chose not to go to the stadium as the football team had it for a while (Doesn't the football team know that stadiums are for halftime and corps?!), and Spirit was welcome to take it later. In fact, the athletic dept. considers the new turf being used as a favor to wear it in advantageously. Spirit chose to stay on a permanently lined parking lot fronting the coliseum for convenience as the scaffolds were set, folks were already there, etc. All corps shows and halftime in the stadium will be special on the new turf. I walked on it after dark and was duly impressed. (How weird to be able to just walk onto the field. At Ohio State, we had to scale over spiked wrought-iron fences and be chased by out-of-shape campus police to play football late one...several nights.) ^0^ I witnessed a fantastic partnership between the JSU and Spirit. I know of only one high school marching G bugles, in Florida, and no colleges. More colleges should copy the remarkable Jax State/Spirit symbiosis!!! I'd like folks to PM or e-mail me if you know of more. Many decades ago, there were many more. Fairview HS, in Dayton, OH, marched bugles in the early 80s? when $$ was tight, and stacks of bugles were in the inventory. Edited April 24, 2006 by CozyChopsCom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssorrell Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 I know of only one high school marching G bugles, in Florida, and no other colleges. More colleges should copy the remarkable Jax State/Spirit symbiosis!!! I'd like folks to PM or e-mail me if you know of more. Many decades ago, there were many more. Fairview HS, in Dayton, OH, marched bugles in the early 80s? when $$ was tight, and stacks of bugles were in the inventory. You are aware that Spirit has been playing on multi key instruments for several years now, aren't you? The JSU Foundation made it possible for Spirit to acquire a new set of horns in the early 2000s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted April 20, 2006 Author Share Posted April 20, 2006 I know of several corps members and staffers that have become full time JSU students as a result of their marching in the corps. I guess what I'm asking for in this thread is something a little more tangible than this. Something that university and music department heads can look and and say, "yes, we have benefited from this relationship, we're better now because of this relationship with the corps". So far all I've heard are accounts of how the CORPS has benefited from the relationship, and that "Jacksonville St. is now a little more famous". I'm not trying to be skeptical about it, but if there IS something tangible, wouldn't it be great if someone could show this tangible evidence to higher-ups in another university and say, "This is the positive impact a drum and bugle corps can have on YOUR school of music and university. When can we get started? :)". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNailbat Posted April 20, 2006 Share Posted April 20, 2006 Well, Each year there is a wave of Freshman who marched in Spirit from years prior who decided to attend JSU -- especially to become music majors. So tuition IS a benefit. There is a non-trivial number of students who transfer to JSU (myself included) that otherwise would not have done so without its connection to Spirit. The Tuba-Euphonium studio is practically overflowing. I would estimate that 50% of those students have either been a part of or come by way of Spirit to JSU. There are two trumpet studios, and again I would speculate 50% have either been a part of or come by way of Spirit to JSU. The JSU Drumline has sponsorships from IP and Yamaha. Part of that is due to the exposure gained by way of Spirit. One less obvious but highly significant benefit to the university is the exposure to parents. Parents have a significant impact on the decision of students to attend or not attend. Especially when dealing with members of Spirit whom are not yet college age, this is an investment to the university that pays dividends. I'm not sure what else you would be looking for as a benefit to the university. Recruiting is really not an insignificant benefit, however Spirit has not won a World Championship, nor have they built new facilities for the university (which --just to be clear -- no other drum corps has done either, so that is not a deficiency). Given more time, as was stated previously, the benefits to both organizations will continue to grow. If you've got more specific things in mind, I'd be happy to try to discuss those things too. It's really a good question, and I feel that the answer is: Yes, the university has benefitted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walder Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 FYI: Freddy Martin is being inducted in the DCI hall of fame...long overdue, if you ask me...anyone who starts a corps from scratch and makes it reality with is known as the first corporate sponsered corps and can achieve 4th place only a few years after its inagural season, should be recognized. Martin is now on staff with Phantom Regiment as well as a consultant for Spirit's administration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
audiodb Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 Why do universities spend money on sports programs? Perhaps the answers to that question will help answer those of the original poster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madscout96 Posted April 21, 2006 Author Share Posted April 21, 2006 Why do universities spend money on sports programs? Perhaps the answers to that question will help answer those of the original poster. But is Spirit making money for JSU? The way its football and basketball teams are? (I don't know how good the mighty fighting roosters are). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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