(10-24-2021 02:51 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 02:18 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 02:00 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 01:54 PM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:07 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  Please do not pay attention to old side of our stadium (of course the view here). We have a 130 foot tall double decker/press box from the camera view....we need to get some pics posted on this board

I'd bet most of us on here are familiar with y'alls half stadium lol. No need to feel self conscious about it.

Is there any talk of finishing the lower deck? If so, it would be among the best stadiums in the league, regardless of the upper deck.

No recent talk, but ever since the expansion there's been talk of a phase whatever(3? I think going 25k was considered phase 2 iirc) plan to do the other side and get to around 40k or so. Once this move is complete and we're getting the home game matchups that come along with it I'll be surprised if we don't see a need for it and eventually get it done.

Edit: I thought it was kind of funny that, unless I missed it, there hasn't been any mention of it in our own news on the move but it was mentioned here in the caption of the first image from an article out of Fargo, ND.

I never gave it much thought until my daughter toured there. I don’t think the old side is that bad, but it’s like me sitting next to George Clooney. You’re going to notice the difference.

Yeah and although having cameras up on top of the new side obviously gives the best angle for games, band performances, whatever, I still hate that it means every video or highlight always makes it look like our stadium isn't anything near what it actually is.

I love our marching band! I'm a bit biased, because I was a part of it. It seems like a much more chill experience than it is at a place like Western Carolina. As someone who just wanted to have fun and not take it so seriously, the Marching Mountaineers was a great time.

I just wish our band would play modern music for halftime shows. I'm not sure we can milk classic rock for too many more decades.

(10-24-2021 12:49 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:16 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 01:01 AM)HCJag Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:22 AM)NH/JMU Saxkow Wrote:  Here is a video from last weekend's afternoon performance at JMU's HS competition. (Note that it is pieces from multiple shows - hence the scatter drills in between the different numbers. The "normal" shows don't do that.)

GO DUKES!

493? Dang! That should give Troy some competition lol.

They include Community College students, which I think is a good idea. I only hope no one post our band up here because, well, you will see soon enough.

At least you aren't Richmond, having high school bands play at your games who end up cheering for the Dukes who have taken over the stadium.

Richmond has a cute little stadium. What's the capacity?

(10-24-2021 03:33 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:49 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:16 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 01:01 AM)HCJag Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:22 AM)NH/JMU Saxkow Wrote:  Here is a video from last weekend's afternoon performance at JMU's HS competition. (Note that it is pieces from multiple shows - hence the scatter drills in between the different numbers. The "normal" shows don't do that.)

GO DUKES!

493? Dang! That should give Troy some competition lol.

They include Community College students, which I think is a good idea. I only hope no one post our band up here because, well, you will see soon enough.

At least you aren't Richmond, having high school bands play at your games who end up cheering for the Dukes who have taken over the stadium.

Richmond has a cute little stadium. What's the capacity?

It seats around 9,000. For what FCS has become, it’s a pretty nice stadium. Other than being small, it’s nice. With JMU gone, I don’t see any reason for it to be bigger. It will accommodate games against William and Mary, and after that, it really doesn’t need to be bigger.

(10-24-2021 03:33 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:49 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:16 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 01:01 AM)HCJag Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:22 AM)NH/JMU Saxkow Wrote:  Here is a video from last weekend's afternoon performance at JMU's HS competition. (Note that it is pieces from multiple shows - hence the scatter drills in between the different numbers. The "normal" shows don't do that.)

GO DUKES!

493? Dang! That should give Troy some competition lol.

They include Community College students, which I think is a good idea. I only hope no one post our band up here because, well, you will see soon enough.

At least you aren't Richmond, having high school bands play at your games who end up cheering for the Dukes who have taken over the stadium.

Richmond has a cute little stadium. What's the capacity?

Holds all 20 of their fans each week and then every two years it also holds 8,197 JMU fans.

(10-24-2021 03:33 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:49 PM)KickItToScotty Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:16 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 01:01 AM)HCJag Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:22 AM)NH/JMU Saxkow Wrote:  Here is a video from last weekend's afternoon performance at JMU's HS competition. (Note that it is pieces from multiple shows - hence the scatter drills in between the different numbers. The "normal" shows don't do that.)

GO DUKES!

493? Dang! That should give Troy some competition lol.

They include Community College students, which I think is a good idea. I only hope no one post our band up here because, well, you will see soon enough.

At least you aren't Richmond, having high school bands play at your games who end up cheering for the Dukes who have taken over the stadium.

Richmond has a cute little stadium. What's the capacity?

I think it’s around 8k. Last week I think they only had around 2500 in attendance.

Appalachian State

(10-24-2021 01:07 PM)TroyGuy88 Wrote:  Would be awesome if they had, “Sunbelt: Battle of The Bands” where they battle it out every year in competition for the top band and drum line throughout the conference.

Would be awesome to see and something I think the kids participating, and fans would look forward to. Just a fun idea.

Travel costs alone would crush this idea, however nice it may be.

....however, I do recall a handful of bands being picked by ESPN years ago to perform the Indiana Jones theme as a promo for the movie. A way to positively spin this idea into something fruitful would be to pick a song (say something with the word “Sun”) the conference would use as a social media tune for the year. Each band could record their version and a fan vote could occur to declare the winner. This would absolutely be doable

(10-24-2021 03:08 PM)NH/JMU Saxkow Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 02:54 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 02:00 PM)AppinVA Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 01:54 PM)Bobcat2013 Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 12:07 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  Please do not pay attention to old side of our stadium (of course the view here). We have a 130 foot tall double decker/press box from the camera view....we need to get some pics posted on this board

I'd bet most of us on here are familiar with y'alls half stadium lol. No need to feel self conscious about it.

Is there any talk of finishing the lower deck? If so, it would be among the best stadiums in the league, regardless of the upper deck.

I have seen no mention of it by anybody...I think we are still stunned we are in the news and even bringing it up, the stadium, could be a jinx.

It will have to be brought up before long. We are selling out 25,000 now for parents weekend and homecoming playing anybody. We are getting 23,000 for fcs teams of little interest.

I believe a game with App could seat 35,000 now, maybe more. Other SBC schools would push 30,000 now. All SBC schools would fill the current 25,000.

VT/UVA/any regional P5 would seat 35,000+ now.

I can't imagine a game with VT in the current stadium, ticket prices could shoot sky high.

I am just happy it looks like we are moving, I will stay quiet on the stadium for as long as it takes

IIRC, JMU does have the plans for the expansion already done. They had the architects do them at the same time as our current expansion - so that they knew the final phase could be actually done when we were ready. With the new bball arena done, they'll be able to request the funding to finish out the stadium once we show the need...which could be soon if we can bring in some top opponents.

Regarding future expansion of your football stadium: I’m an electrical engineer and I work in the design of commercial buildings. When we design a project, especially a large one like a stadium, school, or hospital, our fees are based on the construction cost of that project. It is very rare that the design for a future expansion is completely fleshed out when designing a building. Yes, the architect may throw together a rough floor plan and then the engineers will design things like the electrical distribution, foundation/structures, plumbing, etc to accommodate a future growth target, but like I previously said, we rarely go through the entire design process for a future expansion, because that essentially means we aren’t getting paid for that design work for however many years the owner decides to wait and start construction on that expansion. Plus you always run into the possibility of certain aspects of the future expansion falling out of favor in 5-10 years and your forced to redesign. Maybe you guys did completely design it, but I will say that that would be a very very uncommon occurrence.

(10-24-2021 11:52 AM)Bigtom12 Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 11:45 AM)waterwagen Wrote:  Based on the vids, seems like it would be a good competition between Troy, Texas State, and JMU. I bet Southern Miss is great too. Looking forward to being part of a conference with that kind of tradition.

Georgia State band is not bad either !

Thanks for the props! In our Bill Curry years, the halftime show was usually the highlight of the game.

I've always loved our APP band, they don't seem as polished as they used to be and I never understood why we are announced as North Carolina's Band of Distinction!


but hands down the most entertaining band I have every seen perform in Kidd Brewer stadium is NC A&T. Soo much energy.

I wish the Monarchs were in this competition, but sadly... no. Our band is small and quiet. They are technically proficient, and sound good, just need to triple the size and triple the volume.

my senior year. The fanfare at the beginning always sounds like a nuclear bomb went off (in a good way). The band sounded pretty good that year.





My freshman year. Also really good. One of the best sounding years, but the music was really hard. You can skip the first 20 seconds or so.

I am an ODU fan, but when it comes to bands, my heart is at Texas A&M. So -- not from the Sun Belt, but filling in for the Monarchs, I proudly present for your enjoyment, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band!




P. S. For those that don't know, Texas A&M is largest single source of commissioned officers for the United States military. General George S. Patton once said, “Give me an Army of West Point graduates and I'll win a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and I'll win a war.”

Gig 'em, Aggies!

Cheers, all!

(10-24-2021 12:05 PM)Purplehazed Wrote:  JMU has several dude baton twirlers in the band that are worth the price of admission.

I assume that if somebody were to make a comment about a dude band baton twirler the baton quickly morphs into a hand weapon like a nunchuk

What the H-E-double-L “HELL” are you talking about? “Baton twirler”? There are zero “baton twirlers” (male or female) in the JMU band…known as the Marching Royal Dukes (MRDs).

What you have inelegantly misnamed/misidentified as “baton twirlers” are in actuality the MRD “Color Guard”…a group of approximately 50 students (male and female, but mostly female) who are part of the MRDs, and use flags and other flourishes (like the unfurling of the American Flag during the National Anthem) to add color and movement to the MRD’s performance. The flags used by the Color Guard are attached to staffs, not “batons”… https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/baton

‘Haze, you’re a loyal JMU fan (generally speaking, except for the time you spend flirting on ODU’s board), but as penitence you should be made to run through a gauntlet of the MRD Color Guard.

Anyway, returning to the topic of SBC marching bands, I hope budgets will allow the bands to travel. The in-game atmosphere is greatly enhanced when the bands from both schools are present.

JMU’s band is too large to travel in its entirety, however, it is a marching band that has long been recognized as one of the very best in the nation, and internationally too. An earlier post mentioned the “Sudler” award, often referred as the Heisman Trophy for college bands. JMU was recognized in 1994, and was the first FCS band to receive the award. A band can only be recognized once.

The following is a link to a partial list of Sudler recipients by year, starting with the first award in 1982 (University of Michigan), and ending in 2006 with the U. of Arkansas. Perhaps someone else can find and post the 2007 to the most current winner. I wouldn’t be surprised if other SBC bands have received this distinction.

https://www.hbcusports.com/forums/thread...st-1037098

And for anyone interested how the JMU MRDs are put together, the following link explains the whole deal. And yes, there are tryouts and “cuts”…only the best get to join.

https://www.jmu.edu/mrd/prospective.shtml

One last thought, a funny comment made by the JMU Dean responsible for the School of Music in 1994. After the Sudler was bestowed on JMU the Dean said: “One day we hope to have a football team the band can be proud of.”

(10-24-2021 11:50 AM)MU_2021 Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 10:41 AM)Surbadger Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 08:34 AM)MU_2021 Wrote:  

(10-23-2021 11:20 PM)Surbadger Wrote:  It will not be MU's. We used to have a very good marching band, but the previous band director retired. Under the new director, the number of members has dropped by probably 1/3. There are probably some high schools in WV with larger bands.

Part of this was the implementation of a new music curriculum in the music dept, the requirement for music majors to take 3 years of marching band dropped to 2 in the past decade. Pair this with huge budget cuts, and numbers have been progressively dwindling since.

Another reason is the lack of recruitment, especially in the Tri-State area.

I get why you say this, but I’m not sure I agree it’s a major reason. The interest in this area just isn’t there any more. Group numbers have lowered across the board with a few exceptions. High School groups who were once in the 100+ are now in the 50s and under. It’s sad, but kids nowadays are doing things like playing fortnite and Minecraft instead of actively pursuing hobbies like music. The economic factors are much bigger, a bigger percentage of families can barely afford to get by in this region and doing music isn’t the cheapest thing in the world.

I wonder how much leaving at half time affects the band. I mean if the next beer is more important than listening to the band then how much influence could it have? Our stadium is notorious for people getting there between the 1st and 2nd quarter and emptying at half time, with maybe half of that even coming back. No one sticks around to see the bands play. They aren't announced well. There's no draw or excitement. And for a long time they didn't even play anything new or innovative. But why would they if know one hangs around to listen anyway? Seems like a forgotten art at all but a few schools. I know at some schools the band is bigger than the football team. Ohio U is one of those. I saw people leave after the band played at several games in Athens. But at Marshall it just isn't that important to the gameday experience, imo. I have nothing against the band I just don't feel we do it well and it shows.

(08-15-2022 04:16 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  The following is a link to a partial list of Sudler recipients by year, starting with the first award in 1982 (University of Michigan), and ending in 2006 with the U. of Arkansas. Perhaps someone else can find and post the 2007 to the most current winner. I wouldn’t be surprised if other SBC bands have received this distinction.

https://www.hbcusports.com/forums/thread...st-1037098

And for anyone interested how the JMU MRDs are put together, the following link explains the whole deal. And yes, there are tryouts and “cuts”…only the best get to join.

https://www.jmu.edu/mrd/prospective.shtml

One last thought, a funny comment made by the JMU Dean responsible for the School of Music in 1994. After the Sudler was bestowed on JMU the Dean said: “One day we hope to have a football team the band can be proud of.”

One funny thing about the bold, when my brother and I first started getting football season tickets the people behind us told our group we could stand up all we want during the game as long as we sat down for the band, that's what they were there each week to see It's crazy how much has changed since then, I'm sure they weren't the only ones there more for the band than the football game.

As for the Sudler Trophy, you can see all of the winners here. JMU is the only Sun Belt band to win it. The award was given annually until 2007, and biannually since then. I guess maybe they didn't want to start watering down how meaningful it is to have won it.

Although no other Sun Belt teams have won it, at least chiefsfan can be happy as an Arizona State fan that they won it even before JMU did

JMU's marching band is extremely good. I'd argue they're one of the best in FBS. They're like Virginia's version of Western Carolina, except (I assume) people don't go home after the JMU halftime performance like they do at WCU.

(10-24-2021 03:17 PM)TedHead Wrote:  

(10-24-2021 11:14 AM)Bigtom12 Wrote:  I don’t know if JMU is the best might be the biggest but Here is Texas State Bobcat Band.

Sound, drill, spacing by far the best I've seen here. I watch a lot of DCI, that is the super bowl of marching. I look forward to seeing them perform live.

. . . Nice to see someone with an eye for Talent. Points to you!

And, The Pride of The Hill Country Thanks You.