It looks like the fans at the University of Nebraska have asked for a truer "college" atmosphere at their home football and basketball games. In my experiences, it seems like more and more college sporting events have abandoned the use of the band and spirit groups in favor of "piped-in" music as the driving force for creating an exciting atmosphere. What do you think, Pirate Nation? What things would you want to see changed to improve game day experiences in Dowdy-Ficklen and Minges?
http://www.omaha.com/article/20110609/BIGRED/706099768/-1#strike-up-the-band-new-nu-plan
I think part of the pregame show should be facing the new student section! It would provide opportunity for some unique drill, and it will get the students hype!!
ReplyDeleteDuly noted! Already have a few wrinkles to add to pregame for next year that will have the ECUMP performing towards both sides AND the Boneyard at various points in the show!
ReplyDeleteI like both the marching band playing during the breaks/halftime as well as the piped in music. The both have their place. I would like to see the marching pirates return to their form of the 80's, loud and proud and dressed like Pirates. Remember the yellow trench coats and bandanas. For me the fan, I'm less concerned about the "concert of the field" and the precision of the marching and more interested in the band being able to fire up the fans.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see more brass, more volume and the marching pirates pinning the ears back of the crowd. If you need to get the band members fired up, do a search on youtube of the drum and bugle corps from the 70's and 80's which was the heyday of the drum and bugle corps(bridgemen, cavaliers) that should get'm going. Gameday is about excitement, a band of Pirates that is a little crazy and very loud goes a long way.
Have a great season, Go Pirates!
Markg
Thanks for the feedback, Mark. I've been discussing the need for new uniforms with ECU administration for a little over a year now. The truth is, the band can't grown any more because we just don't have anymore uniforms! I agree with you that I want our next uniform to reflect our Pirate heritage and so I'm hoping that there will be opportunities to begin design work and plans to purchase new uniforms in the years ahead. Believe it or not, one uniform costs anywhere from $600-800!!! To outfit an entire band and provide for continual growth, we need to be looking at purchasing around 300 uniforms!
ReplyDeleteAs for the comments about brass and volume, this is a work in progress. I'm planning some strategic opportunities to gain more exposure in parts of the state that have the strongest high school marching band programs in hopes to build some in-roads there. You'd be amazed at how similar recruiting for college bands is compared to recruiting for college athletics. Many of our current band members come from the eastern region of NC which usually means small high school band programs so it takes a while to develop them into a powerful sounding college band. For a variety of reasons, most of the band consists of freshmen and sophomores (a whopping 80% this past year!) so I'm also working on ways to increase the percentage of older members who have developed a mature college band sound. This is what makes the great college bands so great.
That being said, if you've been to games in the last year, you would have noticed a significant amount of energy coming from the band. It's going to be even better this year!
I have noticed a lot more energy coming from the Band and I know it is difficult to get folks into the band. Honestly marching bands are just now slowly making a comeback. The competition for the young person's attention is intense and band is just one of the many options these days. I was in the South Granville marching band many many many years ago. I remember going to Cary band day for a competition and seeing the marching Pirates for the first time there. They had about 400 members then(1981 or 82). When they played it sent chill bumps down everyone's arms.
ReplyDeleteI'll have a new recruit for you in about 5 years, she's a flute player though, didn't take after her dad with that pick. :) She definitely wants to be a marching Pirate.
I also think the administration should realize that the marching Pirates are a very key part of the football Pirates, they always have been. Honestly there were years where the only good thing happening on the field were the marching Pirates. Keep up the good work and we look forward to seeing the marching Pirates this fall. If there is anything the alumni can do let us know.
hanks Mark. I agree that there are a lot of things that capture the attention of college students these days. One of the biggest frustrations I face is when a student decides to drop out after only one or two years, especially given the fact that on an almost weekly basis I hear from band alumni who almost always talk about how they wish they could go back and re-live their Marching Pirate experiences.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is students will stick around if the experience is meaningful and fun. This is why I try to schedule as many performance trips as possible as well as give them opportunities to take ownership of what we do (such as the drumline dance party in the stands at our games last fall). This year we're having an alumni weekend which will include an alumni band performance at the UAB game. I'm excited about this for many reasons including the opportunity for current and former members to interact and share their experiences.
Looking forward to having your daughter join us in a few years! There's nothing like being in a band!
As a faithful football watcher, I would appreciate more of the shows towards the student sections. Also a more exciting show before the game as well. The running that they did a few years ago was exciting. The new thing was kinda neat but it wasn't as exciting as in the past couple years I've been at ecu. Also for the halftime thing you guys do, it would be awesome to do more of the stuff that the students can sing to. I know my freshman or sophomore year you guys did some 80s rock show where everyone sang along. That was neat and it was great from the students too.
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "student section", I assume you are referring to the upper deck side where students sat before the Boneyard? We try to vary it up so that one week we play to the upper deck side and another week to the students.
ReplyDeleteWe're still going to do the entrance from the tunnels this year but going to add a faster tempo to the run-on to generate a little more energy and excitement.
For halftime programming, we try to cover a wide variety of genres. Knowing that there are 50,000 people with varying tastes, the more variety we perform, the better chance we are able to play something that everyone likes.
To give you an idea of what's up for 2011, we're planning a variety of shows including a "Divas" show with music from Tina Turner, Katy Perry, and of course Aretha Franklin. We are also going to perform a Foo Fighters tribute show.