Pride of the Southland

#101
#101
Sevierville is always a great show. However, I despise the field. Marched there twice in high school and couldn't believe how high the crown on that thing is. The random dips in it made for an interesting halftime as well.
 
#102
#102
DynamiteMcGhee said:
Sevierville is always a great show. However, I despise the field. Marched there twice in high school and couldn't believe how high the crown on that thing is. The random dips in it made for an interesting halftime as well.
Click to expand...

Our field was a lot better than some of the cow pastures I've marched on at other East TN high schools. It's mainly like that for drainage purposes.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
 
Last edited:
#110
#110
Stop it guys, you are making my trip to Neyland in the future more and more devalued by the day with all this scare mongering,!
 
#111
#111
Sousa never impressed me or my son 15 years ago. We visited with Sousa and the POS band on Kentucky game day in 1998 when my son was a HS junior and looking at colleges. Once Sousa found out my son was not looking at a music degree, we really got the cold shoulder and he blew us off. It made a huge negative impression on my son and he dropped UT off his final college list. It was the worst treatment he got at any of his college visits.

He scored 1590 twice on the SAT when top score was 1600 and was going into engineering but really wanted to do band also. He made All-State Band and All-State Jazz Band on trumpet every year in HS and marched 6 years with HS band (started in grade 7) and 5 years for DCI (1 w/Carolina Crown / 4 w/The Cadets) as lead trumpet. He ended up at Clemson in Computer Engineering on a full academic ride and took every Tiger Band / Jazz Band / Pep Band award Clemson had. If you watched the 2003 Peach Bowl UT vs. Clemson, he was the trumpet soloist for Clemson at halftime.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#112
#112
We absolutely hated Dr Julian and absolutely made fun of the assistant director. One of the favorite songs was to the tune of Mickey mouse...." who's the leader of the band that marches in the rain? JULIAN ... Julian is his name .... Son of a ***** .. Wacky too "

It was an awesome time in the early 80's and it was incredible
VOL fans loved us and we busted our asses
I hope that it returns to former glory!

Liking the band director should be optional for an awesome program



crusse10 said:
I'd say the simple answer is the Directors in conjunction with higher standards at Admissions.

And FWIW, I absolutely loved Sousa. Always had a fun time with him.
Click to expand...
 
#113
#113
nickid1965 said:
Can some of you better informed explain why our band seems to be getting smaller every year.
Click to expand...

Coming from someone who is actively involved in the activity. (I marched in the Pride of Missouri State, one of the best bands in the nation. Does Macy's, London New Years, Disney World, Bands of America Championship, etc. I also help teach the color guard at Farragut High School.) The band is very old school, isn't as cutting-edge as it used to be. It's not attracting younger students anymore, or students who are actually EXTREMELY good. People coming out of high school want to march somewhere exciting and crowd-pleasing, their shows aren't as crowd pleasing and high-energy as other schools. Kids wanna go to places that are like drum corps.

I think the tradition is great, and it should keep that, but as far as half time shows....not so much. Watch this video to see what drum corps is.

Santa Clara Vanguard DCI FINALS 2013 - YouTube

Part of it is the directors that are there now...talk to some of the pride of the southland kids, and you'll see that they don't like them, and I agree with some of the stuff I'm hearing.


Like said before, some of it is funding, but that's not the majority of the problem. It's the people running it.
 
#114
#114
From people I have talked to that are or were in the band, lack of interest among the student body is a big factor. A major reason for that is Sousa's unreasonable expectations for band members, not just music majors. During football season, There's virtually no time to even study other subjects, let alone socialize. Of all the people I've known in the pride, I'd say 95% of them quit before they graduate.
 
#115
#115
turnuptheVOLtage said:
Its part members and part selection. Listen to other sec bands and you will hear more songs inbetween downs and at least those songs pump you up... our band conveys almost NO crowd participation. Its utterly sad.
Posted via VolNation Mobile
Click to expand...

True story. I wish they would have song selections. Maybe the DJ up in the booth could play some motivational music.
 
#116
#116
Those of you still commenting on how small the band is need to look at them in 2009 and look at them now. They have regained members and are back to a decent size. Bama might be bigger, but they also can't make a straight line or play and move at the same time. Accepting everyone with an instrument and a pulse isn't always the way to do things.
 
#118
#118
DynamiteMcGhee said:
Those of you still commenting on how small the band is need to look at them in 2009 and look at them now. They have regained members and are back to a decent size. Bama might be bigger, but they also can't make a straight line or play and move at the same time. Accepting everyone with an instrument and a pulse isn't always the way to do things.
Click to expand...

Bama's band needs to learn how to play instruments and march at the same time. Any band can drill with percussion only.
 
#119
#119
Whenever I see LSU's band in the stands, it hurts my heart. The swagger that they have rubs off on the fans, which in turn rubs off on the team, which in turn affects the game.

super jealous
 
#120
#120
crusse10 said:
Whenever I see LSU's band in the stands, it hurts my heart. The swagger that they have rubs off on the fans, which in turn rubs off on the team, which in turn affects the game.

super jealous
Click to expand...

The Stanford and Virginia bands are cool. My favorite thing by a College band other than UT is the Texas A&M band doing the theme from Patton.
 
#121
#121
jahvol said:
Coming from someone who is actively involved in the activity. (I marched in the Pride of Missouri State, one of the best bands in the nation. Does Macy's, London New Years, Disney World, Bands of America Championship, etc. I also help teach the color guard at Farragut High School.) The band is very old school, isn't as cutting-edge as it used to be. It's not attracting younger students anymore, or students who are actually EXTREMELY good. People coming out of high school want to march somewhere exciting and crowd-pleasing, their shows aren't as crowd pleasing and high-energy as other schools. Kids wanna go to places that are like drum corps.

I think the tradition is great, and it should keep that, but as far as half time shows....not so much. Watch this video to see what drum corps is.

Santa Clara Vanguard DCI FINALS 2013 - YouTube

Part of it is the directors that are there now...talk to some of the pride of the southland kids, and you'll see that they don't like them, and I agree with some of the stuff I'm hearing.


Like said before, some of it is funding, but that's not the majority of the problem. It's the people running it.
Click to expand...

you go thru all that great explanation to link.......Vanguard?? No Crown?




j/k. SCV was good this year.
 
#123
#123
I think UT should hire a Rock band or a group of rappers for every game to perform during halftime. How awesome would it be to have Whitesnake rock Neyland for 10-15 minutes?
 
#124
#124
Volingatorland said:
From people I have talked to that are or were in the band, lack of interest among the student body is a big factor. A major reason for that is Sousa's unreasonable expectations for band members, not just music majors. During football season, There's virtually no time to even study other subjects, let alone socialize. Of all the people I've known in the pride, I'd say 95% of them quit before they graduate.
Click to expand...

No time to socialize? That was the highlight of my time in the Pride. There wasn't much time unless you count Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday night. Oh, not to mention the wild away trips.
 
#125
#125
The band isn't smaller than before. Some of the sections are. I think perception of band size is based on Tubas, Trombones, and drums.

I'd imagine they're not super happy with the section sizes, but what do you do? How many kids come to UT that played tuba or trombone in high school?

But as far as why they've had some issues over the past few years? THE FOOTBALL TEAM.

When the team does well, the band does well. There were more than a few kids that didn't want to put that work in to sit around and watch us lose every week. Look no further than the student section for support for that claim.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top