tony
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Post by tony on Aug 18, 2022 20:01:49 GMT -5
That's a long strategic plan...which could and should be included in the Capital Campaign. I don't mean the implementation cannot be done in this moment but, it will take resources to send students to middle and high schools. But, just from an immediate standpoint, fundraising is paramount. Just think if we hit the lottery and donated $500K to the band. We would be able to recruit the better musical students and the students that cannot afford school...then, the ones that can afford will come through pure attraction. But, I like the plan. If we hit the lotto and gave the band 500K they could provide about 32 full scholarships. For one year. Don’t get me wrong, the right 32 extra players is huge. But we’d have to hit the lottery every year. Miss the numbers and we look like SCSU or Central - from 200+ when the money is flowing to 60 piece when it’s not. Nothing that I wrote requires money. The Academy at Lincoln is 1.5 miles from campus. If we can’t get one student to a school in the same city we have no business worrying about scholarships. Mr. Parnell - the band director of the Academy at Lincoln - is a UNCG alumnus and has been working there for 4 years, including the Covid years. I know nothing about the situation there but if that doesn’t set off a million red flags you’re blind to a big part of the problem. Anyway it takes one phon call to establish a relationship with him, learn his instrumentation, and see what kind of partnership we can create. We already require our music majors to practice arranging. Creating an arrangement for a given grade and instrumentation costs nothing. Send the best arrangements to any of the local schools that are interested. Our music majors already have to student teach. Our music faculty building personal connections with music teachers and principals at feeder schools would go a long way towards building our influence in those programs. Money won’t solve any of those challenges but doing that would go a long way to building a foundation of support that doesn’t rely on the charity of others.
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Post by aggiestats on Aug 19, 2022 7:49:21 GMT -5
I will keep beating this dead horse. We can't compete in scholarship funding because our band is not aligned under a music department. Given this fact, the school actually is generous in the funding. Every large HBCU band is using music department funding to allocate scholarship funding. Y'all really think Alcorn, NSU, JSU, Alabama State and Grambling just got scholarship money in the coffers? Many of these schools are struggling financially but have large bands.
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Post by Bornthrilla on Aug 19, 2022 7:58:26 GMT -5
I will keep beating this dead horse. We can't compete in scholarship funding because our band is not aligned under a music department. Given this fact, the school actually is generous in the funding. Every large HBCU band is using music department funding to allocate scholarship funding. Y'all really think Alcorn, NSU, JSU, Alabama State and Grambling just got scholarship money in the coffers? Many of these schools are struggling financially but have large bands. Sounds like this is the avenue we need to pursue.
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Post by ohsixrain on Aug 19, 2022 9:18:51 GMT -5
I will keep beating this dead horse. We can't compete in scholarship funding because our band is not aligned under a music department. Given this fact, the school actually is generous in the funding. Every large HBCU band is using music department funding to allocate scholarship funding. Y'all really think Alcorn, NSU, JSU, Alabama State and Grambling just got scholarship money in the coffers? Many of these schools are struggling financially but have large bands. That's understood...but, what is the solution?? I remember when they removed the marching band from under the Music Department, I'm not saying the move was good, bad or indifferent. None that provides a solution or an avenue to a solution to the problem. We have watched through the years our beloved university come up in just about every area. The visibility of A&T is at an all time high. Programs, teams and student organizations are enjoying the wealth of the come up but, the band. On some level, that just ain't right, music department or not.
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Aug 19, 2022 10:39:54 GMT -5
Willie Deese seems to think the solution lies in the capital campaign for both a facility and endowed scholarships. What kind of corporate partners could the band attract?
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 19, 2022 12:50:09 GMT -5
I will keep beating this dead horse. We can't compete in scholarship funding because our band is not aligned under a music department. Given this fact, the school actually is generous in the funding. Every large HBCU band is using music department funding to allocate scholarship funding. Y'all really think Alcorn, NSU, JSU, Alabama State and Grambling just got scholarship money in the coffers? Many of these schools are struggling financially but have large bands. That's understood...but, what is the solution?? I remember when they removed the marching band from under the Music Department, I'm not saying the move was good, bad or indifferent. None that provides a solution or an avenue to a solution to the problem. We have watched through the years our beloved university come up in just about every area. The visibility of A&T is at an all time high. Programs, teams and student organizations are enjoying the wealth of the come up but, the band. On some level, that just ain't right, music department or not. Years ago when they moved the band from Frazier Hall and stuck it in the first "warehouse" now the NAPA building, I screamed foul! I arranged a personal meeting with the "Acting" Chairman of the College of Arts and Science to have a serious discussion about how the band was being treated. Here's a synopsis of what he told me in that meeting: 1. The Music Department is shrinking (fewer students interested in pursuing Music at A&T) 2. At that time there were only 8 Music Major total in the program (Freshmen to Seniors!) 3. Student tuition pays for faculty and facilities and there's not enough Music Major tuitions to continue to pay for staff in the Music Department 4. The BGMM was going to be moved out of the College of Arts and Science to Student Affairs 5. Not sure where future BGMM funding will come from (Student Affairs, Athletic Department etc) That's when I realized that asking the University for more scholarship money or a multi-million dollar band facility wasn't happening. That's also when I realized that the only way to increase the BGMM's scholarships was through ongoing outside donations. Since that day I have tried to support that effort but without someone on campus with that in their title, band scholarships are going nowhere!
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 19, 2022 12:52:18 GMT -5
Willie Deese seems to think the solution lies in the capital campaign for both a facility and endowed scholarships. What kind of corporate partners could the band attract? Corporate partners belong to the University, not the band. The Administration is not going to let funds get funneled to the marching band when we need dorms, classrooms and labs.
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Aug 19, 2022 14:30:16 GMT -5
Willie Deese seems to think the solution lies in the capital campaign for both a facility and endowed scholarships. What kind of corporate partners could the band attract? Corporate partners belong to the University, not the band. The Administration is not going to let funds get funneled to the marching band when we need dorms, classrooms and labs. You misunderstand. I'm talking about corporate partners specifically to underwrite the band. Sponsors. Just like we have for athletics. Put their logo on the parade banner for example.
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Post by aggiestats on Aug 19, 2022 15:47:42 GMT -5
That's understood...but, what is the solution?? I remember when they removed the marching band from under the Music Department, I'm not saying the move was good, bad or indifferent. None that provides a solution or an avenue to a solution to the problem. We have watched through the years our beloved university come up in just about every area. The visibility of A&T is at an all time high. Programs, teams and student organizations are enjoying the wealth of the come up but, the band. On some level, that just ain't right, music department or not. Years ago when they moved the band from Frazier Hall and stuck it in the first "warehouse" now the NAPA building, I screamed foul! I arranged a personal meeting with the "Acting" Chairman of the College of Arts and Science to have a serious discussion about how the band was being treated. Here's a synopsis of what he told me in that meeting: 1. The Music Department is shrinking (fewer students interested in pursuing Music at A&T) 2. At that time there were only 8 Music Major total in the program (Freshmen to Seniors!) 3. Student tuition pays for faculty and facilities and there's not enough Music Major tuitions to continue to pay for staff in the Music Department 4. The BGMM was going to be moved out of the College of Arts and Science to Student Affairs 5. Not sure where future BGMM funding will come from (Student Affairs, Athletic Department etc) That's when I realized that asking the University for more scholarship money or a multi-million dollar band facility wasn't happening. That's also when I realized that the only way to increase the BGMM's scholarships was through ongoing outside donations. Since that day I have tried to support that effort but without someone on campus with that in their title, band scholarships are going nowhere! This is all facts. Unfortunately, I think the current situation is the best case scenario since we have committed to STEM at all costs.
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tony
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Post by tony on Aug 19, 2022 17:12:09 GMT -5
I will keep beating this dead horse. We can't compete in scholarship funding because our band is not aligned under a music department. Given this fact, the school actually is generous in the funding. Every large HBCU band is using music department funding to allocate scholarship funding. Y'all really think Alcorn, NSU, JSU, Alabama State and Grambling just got scholarship money in the coffers? Many of these schools are struggling financially but have large bands. That sounds good but it’s not accurate. Even when we were under the music department we couldn’t compete financially. Simply because our administration chooses not to fund us. I hope Dr. Martin doesn’t go anywhere anytime soon - he’s one of the best things that’s happened to our school. But as long as he’s Chancellor I don’t see anything changing. Not that it’s fault - this has been a problem at least as far back as Dr. Fort, maybe longer. It is what it is. The solution is to realize and accept that financially there is no solution. Capital campaign, scholarship drives - we need to keep those as part of who we are and what we do - they’re essential to keeping us where we are. But that alone will never get us where we want to be. The sooner we accept that the sooner we can start looking at other avenues for growth. And there’s no one way to address that - there are lots. I already mentioned a few. But maybe the biggest is to embrace the idea of a local recruiting pipeline. It could mean volunteering at local schools - giving the kids an idea of a positive standard of excellence. Holding your kids’ teachers accountable. In a construction way - criticism is a quick way to turn somebody off. A lot of the things I mentioned earlier depend on our already overworked staff. So we can only do what we can do. But just keep that in mind.
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Post by marchingband1969 on Aug 20, 2022 10:56:22 GMT -5
Corporate partners belong to the University, not the band. The Administration is not going to let funds get funneled to the marching band when we need dorms, classrooms and labs. You misunderstand. I'm talking about corporate partners specifically to underwrite the band. Sponsors. Just like we have for athletics. Put their logo on the parade banner for example. See answer above!
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Maxell
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Post by Maxell on Aug 20, 2022 11:18:50 GMT -5
You misunderstand. I'm talking about corporate partners specifically to underwrite the band. Sponsors. Just like we have for athletics. Put their logo on the parade banner for example. See answer above! Why not, the the volleyball team has sponsors. Sponsors can spend THEIR money however THEY want. If the McDonalds up the street wants to also sponsor the band, they can do that.
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919aggie
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Post by 919aggie on Aug 20, 2022 15:45:01 GMT -5
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Post by aggie2039 on Aug 20, 2022 15:51:22 GMT -5
Is that 20+ Tubas? Are my eyes deceiving me!?!
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919aggie
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Post by 919aggie on Aug 20, 2022 15:58:59 GMT -5
Is that 20+ Tubas? Are my eyes deceiving me!?! I think its 19 If I'm not mistaken..but we are smaller.
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