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Post by Aggie9195 on Jul 30, 2014 20:42:59 GMT -5
It has been 3 days since the BGMM arrived for band camp. Has anyone seen or heard the Machine ?  |
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Post by 1960aggie on Jul 31, 2014 9:15:49 GMT -5
Would like to know the same!
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Post by Aggie One on Aug 2, 2014 6:39:01 GMT -5
My wife was just off campus attending a business meeting on Wednesday and said they were booming so hard they were rattling windows at their building four blocks away. She said they sounded great.
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Post by aggie2039 on Aug 13, 2014 6:47:56 GMT -5
Sooo...any updates on the size and sound of the band?
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 13, 2014 8:41:16 GMT -5
I haven't seen them perform yet but I've heard from the band staff that they sound good for this time of season. It will be hard to confirm numbers until Band Camp ends. They are practicing hard every day and that tends to separate out the weak. I don't expect the number of members to grow significant but they will be awesome again this year.
The head music arranger told me the first show was "tight" so I'm expecting them to pick up from where they left off at the Honda BOB. If you want an early look at the BGMM performing then come to Charlotte BOB on August 23. BTW, I've been checking out AA&MU's band on YouTube from last year and we're going to smoke them in Orlando!
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 16, 2014 21:05:56 GMT -5
Took the hour and half drive to A&T today to see the band practice. Got there and discovered it was Freshmen move in day and there was no practice however they did march to the bookstore and perform. It was great to hang out on campus with all of the new students and their moms and dads enjoying the best of HBCU life. Oh the band sounded strong. They look about the same size as last year (more bass horns) and a lot of new faces. I didn't see too many familiar faces from last year.
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Post by Blankman on Aug 17, 2014 15:26:41 GMT -5
Took the hour and half drive to A&T today to see the band practice. Got there and discovered it was Freshmen move in day and there was no practice however they did march to the bookstore and perform. It was great to hang out on campus with all of the new students and their moms and dads enjoying the best of HBCU life. Oh the band sounded strong. They look about the same size as last year (more bass horns) and a lot of new faces. I didn't see too many familiar faces from last year. That is correct. There aren't a lot of familiar faces this year because the band is made up of majority freshmen. They are still packing the same punch as years past so there is nothing to be worried about.. |
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Post by ohsixrain on Aug 17, 2014 17:57:56 GMT -5
I wish the band could retain more upper classmen, they'd really be a force to be reckoned with.
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 17, 2014 19:34:17 GMT -5
Performing in the A&T Marching Band is a major commitment. They practice at least 3 hours a day 5 days a week and spend all day Saturday at the game. And that's for home games...away games take up even more time. And the daily practices are from 5 pm until 8:00 pm (often later). That's the prime study time! A lot of the upperclassmen must eventually stop marching in the band so they can spend more time on their books so they can graduate. So that's lot of the upperclassmen leave the band.
That's why I'm a super supporter of the students in the band. Athletes are required to spend a lot of time in practice but they get scholarships. 95% of the band students make this time commitment for no scholarship money.
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Post by ohsixrain on Aug 17, 2014 19:43:26 GMT -5
Performing in the A&T Marching Band is a major commitment. They practice at least 3 hours a day 5 days a week and spend all day Saturday at the game. And that's for home games...away games take up even more time. And the daily practices are from 5 pm until 8:00 pm (often later). That's the prime study time! A lot of the upperclassmen must eventually stop marching in the band so they can spend more time on their books so they can graduate. So that's lot of the upperclassmen leave the band. That's why I'm a super supporter of the students in the band. Athletes are required to spend a lot of time in practice but they get scholarships. 95% of the band students make this time commitment for no scholarship money. Oh I understand, you are talking to a former marching machine member. I'm just saying it would be a nice to have, that's all. |
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Post by outsidethinker on Aug 17, 2014 21:23:16 GMT -5
Give me more trombones this year and I'm a happy camper. I miss the old freight train.
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Post by aggie2039 on Aug 17, 2014 23:02:06 GMT -5
Why dont students get scholarships? It doesn't add up...former band members dont have endowments that pay out scholarships?
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Post by AggiePride on Aug 18, 2014 8:27:23 GMT -5
I marched all of my 4 years. It was a great experience that I did not fully appreciate, while I was there. The odd thing was my GPA was always higher during the fall (marching season) because I had to exercise better time management skills. We practiced a lot - we had full band rehearsal and then sectionals, so I would study in between classes and after practice. The spring semester, I had way too much time on my hands and would study less.
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Post by Blankman on Aug 18, 2014 9:48:47 GMT -5
I marched all of my 4 years. It was a great experience that I did not fully appreciate, while I was there. The odd thing was my GPA was always higher during the fall (marching season) because I had to exercise better time management skills. We practiced a lot - we had full band rehearsal and then sectionals, so I would study in between classes and after practice. The spring semester, I had way too much time on my hands and would study less. I agree with everything you stated. I marched all 5 years while I was at A&T, my last 3 as one of the drum majors. When I first got to A&T in 2007 I said I only was only going to march one year because that was the year we went to Los Angeles to play Prarie View A&M. But I will admit my GPA was always much better in Spring because of the emphasis Dr. Ruff put in making sure his students maintain over a 2.5 GPA and we had numerous study halls throughout the semester. |
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Post by Bigboy on Aug 18, 2014 11:01:14 GMT -5
Blankman, you are saying that the band is made up of majority freshman. That is a large number of freshman. That's also kind of hard to believe, but I guess you would know the number of freshman being that you are so close to the band. Were there a lot of freshman last year?
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