Marching Band

No marching band in the first three to four years. Local high school marching bands will perform at halftime. I like the thought of getting local high schools and the community more involved but I hope we at least have a pep-band at the game to play the fight song when we score touchdowns.

http://nineronline.com/2013/with-football-season-fast-approaching-will-not-having-a-marching-band-really-make-a-difference/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=with-football-season-fast-approaching-will-not-having-a-marching-band-really-make-a-difference

Sad - again we refuse to think out of the box. How about a fund raiser? A student sponsored group? There are a few options, but they all require creative thinking and willingness to operate at a level we wont.

i agree, start a fundraiser, there are people that would love to be in the band and would work to make it happen just as others have worked to make football happen. Whats wrong with starting small and building, maybe with a drum line for the 1st 2 years. You cant always ask the same folks to give more, but this would tap into a totally new group of people.

How much does a band uniform cost? Rough estimate? Most of the players usually furnish their own instruments, so it’s just a matter of the uniforms, no? I don’t care if they don’t travel to the road games for the first 3-4 years, but they should be at home games from the get-go. If it’s just a matter of getting uniforms, let’s see if we can get people to buy a uniform.

Quick google says $250-300 per uniform.

Funny the numbers line up. This says they were expecting the marching band to cost $250-300k per year.
http://administration.uncc.edu/sites/administration.uncc.edu/files/media/Appendix%205.pdf

It’s not just uniforms.

There’s plenty of specialty instruments that students won’t supply/afford. You’ll need euphoniums, a full drum line and/or percussion up front, mellophones are usually supplied and some schools even supply the piccolos since they’re not very common to own.

Then there’s the issue of storage. Where do you store the instruments and uniforms? (the answer is a trailer or two if you want to afford it)

And where do they practice? If they use the same field as the football team, then there’s extra field maintenance involved.

And you’ll need to pay someone to instruct them.

And buy charts, which are more expensive than you think.

And someone has to be paid to write the halftime show.

That said, there’s NO EXCUSE for us not to have a large non-marching band in the stands on day one. Put them in matching track pants and shirts.

Essentially, we should have a large pep band in the stands.

This is a very important topic as related to the gameday atmosphere and experience…

One thing that I really encourage the powers-that-be to look at when they get down to the details of the band…is to go heavy on the brass instruments and just forget about woodwinds…if at all possible. What we need is a band with some noise power…like those of the SEC…you just don’t get that without lots tubas, trombones and the like… ???.

For many many many years UVA had a student group pep band. There is no reason why we couldn’t have that. As with many things our AD doesn’t have the creativity or the willingness to find a solution.

I’ve been hoping that we at least have something like this. I see absolutely no reason not to.

Regarding raising funds to pay for band expenses, maybe the Gold Dusters could hold a car wash. I would pay for them to wash my car, as long as the money goes to a worthy cause.

LIAR! You would pay them to wash your car no matter where the money goes :slight_smile:

I am probably alone in this, but i really don’t care about a marching band.

I only hope we have a rule that bands aren’t allowed in the Nameless Stadium, period. If we don’t have a band travel, yours doesn’t travel here.

I say we just have a drumline 8)

clt says a band is a big part of the college football environment.

We need to address this.

And where do they practice? If they use the same field as the football team, then there’s extra field maintenance involved.[/quote]

This shouldn’t be an issue with field turf. I think one of the practice fields as well as the stadium are field turf, so there shouldn’t be any damage done or maintenance required during/after band practice.

Your other points were good ones, and other than the storage, ones I hadn’t really thought about.

And where do they practice? If they use the same field as the football team, then there’s extra field maintenance involved.[/quote]

This shouldn’t be an issue with field turf. I think one of the practice fields as well as the stadium are field turf, so there shouldn’t be any damage done or maintenance required during/after band practice.

Your other points were good ones, and other than the storage, ones I hadn’t really thought about.[/quote]

Both football practice fields are natural grass but we do have two artificial turf recreation fields in addition to the actual stadium field. Most of the time, as the team would use the practice fields, the band would have little issue with using the actual stadium field to practice. Its even less of an issue once we get lights. They can also use the front fields or even the large parking lot beside the east decks during the evenings if they have to.

Need a leader to drive this with PASSION… I understand that there is money needed for so many things, but folks that give for a band may not be the same folks that give for football. Is there any discussion on this outside of the ninernation and rivals sites? Need an advocate of the arts that want to offer opportunities for non athletes to enjoy the experience. Someone want to write an editorial for the observer? Time to be creative and get word out.

From the transcipts of the townhall mtg this week, during the talks about homecoming: “[font=Georgia][size=13px]On game day a marching band from a local high school will come to perform during the games.”[/size][/font]

Need a leader to drive this with PASSION… I understand that there is money needed for so many things, but folks that give for a band may not be the same folks that give for football. Is there any discussion on this outside of the ninernation and rivals sites? Need an advocate of the arts that want to offer opportunities for non athletes to enjoy the experience. Someone want to write an editorial for the observer? Time to be creative and get word out.[/quote]

From what I have seen, there is not enough passion to take the lead on this and push for it. The music department is pointing their fingers at the AD and doing nothing. The AD looked at it and has tabled it until who knows when. I would love to hear a plan for the marching band. It really takes away from teh football atmosphere not having a marching band.

Need a leader to drive this with PASSION… I understand that there is money needed for so many things, but folks that give for a band may not be the same folks that give for football. Is there any discussion on this outside of the ninernation and rivals sites? Need an advocate of the arts that want to offer opportunities for non athletes to enjoy the experience. Someone want to write an editorial for the observer? Time to be creative and get word out.[/quote]

From what I have seen, there is not enough passion to take the lead on this and push for it. The music department is pointing their fingers at the AD and doing nothing. The AD looked at it and has tabled it until who knows when. I would love to hear a plan for the marching band. It really takes away from teh football atmosphere not having a marching band.[/quote]
Doing some quick math, if it costs $250,000 per year to field a marching band, and there are 15,000 people attending six home games… that’s a $2.78 surcharge per seat. I think I can afford that.