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Post by Trueaggie on Aug 25, 2014 12:22:20 GMT -5
I googled Honda battle of the bands and it said A&T won 2014 Battle of the band...
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Post by Jesse Jackson's Side eye on Aug 25, 2014 12:27:43 GMT -5
Blue Death Valley family...there's a big stink among the "bandheads" about last night's show in Charlotte. The debates over "corp style marching" versus the more traditional HBCU "military style" marching style. This debate started at this year's Honda BOB when A&T incorporated some "corp style" maneuvers as part of its show. In fact, I'm certain it was that type of "out of the box" performance that helped us win in Atlanta. Well last night show incorporated a lot more of the corp style procedures and the "HBCU band police" are all up in arms. Oh by the way, our show was fantastic...great music performed very well, unique formations and great entertainment. I wanted you guys to hear it from "a die-hard Aggie" that loves the Blue & Gold Marching Machine so you will understand what all the "hating" is about. The A&T Band is setting the bar higher for HBCU bands and it will take some time before they catch up. If you like "The Gangster Halftime show and the App State halftime show and the Homecoming halftime show, you'll love last night's show. Aggie Pride. I wouldn't say that there is widespread hating going on 69...There is a very small contingent that dislikes the Corps-Traditional Hybrid style and wishes we went back to the pre 2009-ish style of show. I think our critics main gripe with us is the "If you gonna do it, do it well" argument. we have to nail the marching technique, which will come over time, and fix the musical issues. The BGMM has developed the reputation of Coming out of the gate Swinging in its early season performances. (ie. App State, Sprite BOTB, Defeat The Beat BOTB 2003, etc) Overall, I think that the majority of bandheads appreciated the package that was presented on saturday... Lastly, I enjoyed the show but I felt that it did start to drag a little. I don't want to turn into a Monday Morning Band Director, so I wont go deep into that. My greatest fear for the BGMM is going so far outside of the box that we forget to entertain our audience. We have to take into account who our audience is with each performance. I'm not saying dumb it down, but just keep that in the back of our minds...That in my opinion was the downfall of NCCU and I dont want that for us. Again overall it was a great FIRST performance and I expect steady improvement over the course of the season from the band.
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Post by bigpeete1 on Aug 25, 2014 13:07:06 GMT -5
It's a slipperly slope, never loose your identity, Good Luck AGGIES
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 25, 2014 15:11:24 GMT -5
Ohsixrain Taleeadega, like every band in Saturdays event had plenty of time to build a show. In their defense, since they don't have a football team there's really not much of a need for them to work on a full show. They are big, full of brass and like to show up and "crank" out songs.
They are a crowd pleaser if you only see them once in a while but guess what...if you see them next week you will see the same formations but with different songs. After a while the fans will want more. At least we get a different halftime show every week.
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Post by Bigboy on Aug 26, 2014 10:02:13 GMT -5
The show was great but I believe the announcer thought the show was about him. I feel he talked too much while the band was playing. I liked the announcer that we had at the Honda show. He was really good and did not talk too much while the band played. Just my opinion.
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Post by outsidethinker on Aug 26, 2014 20:13:58 GMT -5
I just hope we can keep up in the near future. Other NC bands are really appealing to the younger audience which builds interest and numbers................ NCCU youtu.be/arCT6JVUhoEECSU youtu.be/f1nMwi5zWUAOur band looks smaller after a great year in 2013...... Hopefully we can find that happy medium
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Post by ohsixrain on Aug 26, 2014 21:09:44 GMT -5
The money is appealing, let's keep it real. One thing I can and will say about A&T, at no time that I'm aware of our band program gave full rides (schollies) to be in the band. But, they manage to field a decent sized, nice sounding band. I don't know any other HBCU that can make such a claim....and that's top to bottom. So, the interest is there and isn't going anywhere. It'd be nice to be able to retain more upper classmen in the band but, I understand the academic demands that comes with being an upper classmen as well. Now, if we could offer full rides like Winston, Central ( use to, not sure about now), ECSU and Shaw to name a few....we'd definitely lock the state down when it comes to marchingband. Maybe there will come a day when we can offer full rides....
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 26, 2014 23:40:05 GMT -5
Folks you may not have noticed but A&T has really up it's academic game. Gone are the days where you could just hang around 4 or 5 years and graduate. And I think that has had both a positive and negative impact on our band students. On the positive side, we are getting much smarter kids in the band so they can memorize 15 to 20 different songs and execute those challenging drills. On the negative side, a lot of kids only march one or two years then decide to drop out of the band to focus on academics and graduation. And it doesn't help that we don't give full band scholarships. Heck we only give "book scholarships" of a few hundred dollars so kids can pay for their books.
Here's one other point...look at our current band facilities. We have our kids housed in a hot, dusty warehouse behind Bojangles! Would you feel appreciated if that was the place you had to spend 15 to 20 hours each week. I'm concerned that our band is shrinking but I understand. I just hope that we can somehow maintain our quality on the field.
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Post by 1960aggie on Aug 27, 2014 1:14:50 GMT -5
The show was great. The BGMM & Golden Delights performed beautifully. Enjoyed every minute of it. Remember, no other NC hbcu marching band has the notable status of the BGMM!!! AGGIE PRIDE
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Post by mdaggie on Aug 27, 2014 18:42:23 GMT -5
After looking at everyone's clips last night from Saturday, the musicality and showmanship was not even close. There's so much of the same old thing going on in most of these HBCU halftime shows every week, I've become disinterested in watching them for the most part. Its always the same pattern - march out and blast a fanfare, do the short drill, the auxiliary routine and/or slow jam, and then "hump" the ground for three minutes. The only difference from one week to the next is which tacky sounding top 40 song that no one ever heard of will get played this week. It's tiresome and boring as hell. What I've seen the last two years from the B&GMM has been like a great big huge breath of fresh air. What I heard from that clip was actual musicianship and not this blasting so loud that your ear drums bleed. To the B&GMM and Dr. Ruff. - Keep on doing what you do. My sentiments exactly. I'm glad The BGMM is daring to be different, I guarantee this season we will see some other bands start to incorporate the corp style into their shows also.
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