Marching Band Sucks (response!!!)
CoFFeeDLte
am going to repost it for you new people. The next message is a response my
friend left him and I am very proud of her.
--Steven Su
Los Altos High School Entertainment Unit
EU President/Clar Section Leader c/o 99
This following article was quoted
> directly from one of the sports
> >writers of the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, Utah. His name is Doug
> >Robinson. Here's his email address and phone number. Please tell him
> >what you think of his high quality article below.
> >dr...@desnews.com
> >801-237-2161
> >The article is dated the 12th of October, 1998
> >
> >FOOTBALL HALFTIMES STUCK IN TIME WARP
> >
> >By now I suppose you heard about that outrageous brawl that broke out
> >between two marching bands during a college football game. Probably you
> >had the same reaction as I did: Hey, a step in the right direction!
> >Let's face it, halftime could use the help. On an entertainment
> >scale, halftime ranks somewhere between infomercials and hanging
> >wallpaper. If halftime is so great, how come they never show it on TV?
> >After years of study conducted from press boxes around the country,
> >I think I have discovered the chief flaw of halftime: Marching bands.
> >(Parades suffer from the same fatal flaw.) Who voted and made marching
> >bands your official halftime entertainment? Does anybody actually listen
> >to marching band music? Do you know anyone who has purchased a CD of
> >marching band tunes and groove on it in his car?
> >What halftime needs is something else. Such as guitars. Or Stupid
> >Pet Tricks.
> >Halftime is stuck in a time warp. I'm guessing that marching bands were
> >hip at some time in history - but so were leisure suits. Whereas time
> >has marched on elsewhere in the world, halftime is the same shtick it
> >was 30 years ago.
> >I have noticed some disturbing marching band trends:
> >-What's the deal with those uniforms? They're due for a change -
> >like yesterday. Most of them look like something out of George
> >Washington's closet.
> >-Enough already with that little majorette guy (I think it's a guy)
> >high-stepping across the field. Whose idea was this, Richard Simmons'?
> >-What's with the halftime spelling bee? Do bands spell things at
> >halftime to show up the football team, because not only can they spell
> >the school name correctly, but they can do it while playing clarinets?
> >Talk about excitement.
> >-Marching bands subscribe to the theory of overkill. If you can play
> >it once, you can play it a thousand times. Play it till it hurts. There
> >is some sort of marching band law, for instance, that requires bands to
> >play the Rocky Theme or "Be My Girl" at every halftime show.
> >On the other hand, they might be playing other songs and I wouldn't'
> >know it. Marching band music tends to sound the same. "Seventy Six
> >Trombones" sounds identical to "Hey Jude". And when a band tries to do
> >something hip, it comes off like the Boston Pops trying to do "Stairway
> >to Heaven." Does anyone actually watch halftime? Are there halftime
> >afficionados? Halftime clubs? People who can't wait to get the football
> >teams off the field so they can hear the Rocky Theme? Do they have their
> >own magazine?
> >If the entire marching band marched onto the field wearing nothing
> >but their tubas, nobody would notice. Halftime is time to get popcorn,
> >go to the bathroom, visit your neighbor, look at the program. Nobody
> >ever nudged you at halftime and said, "Hey, listen to this tune!" Or,
> >"Hey, look there's a fight in the tuba section; someone got knocked on
> >his brass."
> >Halftime took on new meaning when Southern and Prairie View A&M
> >played a game a few weeks ago. At halftime, the marching bands got into
> >a fight. While fighting is not generally desired outside of hockey
> >arenas, it was still a big improvement in halftime entertainment. I'll
> >bet nobody went out for popcorn. Finally, a real Battle of the Bands.
> >Apparently, what happened, according to all the finger pointing, is
> >that when the Prairie View band was done with it's performance, the
> >Southern Band pushed them off the field so they could begin their
> >performance. Southern denies this. My guess is they heard the Rocky
> >Theme one too many times and finally snapped. Even marching bands have
> >their limits.
> >Anyway, the bands, raging as they are with testosterone, fought for
> >20 minutes! It lasted longer than Mike Tyson's last fight. It took
> >sheriff's deputies and university police to break it up.
> >"This has never happened before," said Prairie View band director
> >George Edwards.
> >I couldn't tell if he was disappointed.
> >It must have been a terrific fight. Four tubas were bent during the
> >scuffle. They cost $5,000 each (they're made of gold?!). Uniforms and a
> >saxophone were also reported missing. A few people were also reported
> >missing. A few people were taken to the hospital, including a member of
> >the Prairie View band who was hit in the face with a musical instrument.
> >
> >Can a WWF act be far behind?
> >The conference suspended the marching band for a couple of games,
> >but this was way too lenient in my view. Clearly, marching bands are
> >dangerous. They're a threat to themselves. Let's nip violence in the bud
> >and put a stop to it now. It's for their own good. Honest. Tell them,
> >thanks, we enjoyed the show, but maybe we'll try something else now
> >after 75 years or whatever it is. We'll buy the CD.
CoFFeeDLte
<<Mr. Doug Robinson,
My name is Theresa Chen from Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights, CA, and
I'm writing to you regarding an article you wrote in the Deseret News about
marching bands.
I am currently in my high school's marching band, and if the opinion expressed
in your article is how you really think, you have obviously been too ignorant
to even try to think about why people are in a marching band. If what you say
is really true, then WHY ARE PEOPLE STILL IN IT? You see, in my opinion, you
are trying to undermine marching band, and you have the influence to do so
because your point gets across to the public.
I'd like to tell you a bit about our school's marching band. Every single
individual loves it. You not only gain musical and coordination skills, but
also leadership skills as well. Also, there is something that is not
replacable: memories. You don't know how good it feels to be able to put on a
fantastic field show, and watch the crowd absolutely mesmorized by your music.
I can infer that you have probably never been to a marching band tournament.
Just to be able to sit in the audience watching the bands, can you see all of
the extremely hard work and dedication put forth by the members in the sole
purpose of providing entertainment. The countless hours of practicing drill
over and over again just shows you how much work people are willing to put just
to be able to be with the marching band.
I was extremely displeased and offended by the article that you wrote, and I
hope that in the future you will look at marching bands in a different point of
view. Time and time again people will come across people like you who like to
make judgements, but don't have proof. So next time you are writing
commentary, be able to justify your statements with proof, please?>>
Luvjnl
into these shows. Did you know that they start practicing 2 weeks into the
summer! Practice all summer! Days and days at a time! Half time shows at the
almighty football games are practice shows for all the competetions that the
kids go to everyweekend sometimes 2 and 3 in one weekend. You try going
topractice at 8:00 am,practice for 4 hours,get dressed do you show at the
football game,get all you equipment on the trucks pack up ,load the buses
travel 2 hrs.practice another 1 to hrs in the rain cold wind ,finally get to
perform at 9:30 10:00 o"clock at night .Wait for all the other bands to
finish,go through the awards ceremony,pack up travel back home .Get back unload
buses, trucks.Put all the equipment away. Hang all the wet uniforms,out to dry
.Lay out the flags to dry,Have band parents take all the plumes home to be
blowed dried that night so their not ruined.Get home and in bed by 2:00 am if
your lucky.Then be back at 9 am to do it all again.You might not enjoy to watch
the show and think there out of fashion,but mabey if really pay attention to it
you might find that it really is pretty cool. They work hard and get no respect
it's a shame people like you don't make it any better.I hope I could change
your mind just alittle. By telling you just a fraction of what goes on . If I
was to tell you everything I would be on here for hours. Show some respect for
things you really don't understand if you did your comments you be much more
mature.
Dribbles97
letters to. I would like to tell this guy what I think to but there is no point
in posting here. I doubt he'd be reading this news group
"It's a funny thing about life: If you accept nothing but the best you often
get it."
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"It's not enough to be good if you have the ability to be better."
IMChaotik
§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§~§
-jenny porter IFFL Center Grove HS, c/o '00
Erin Lee is my hero!! B2BH '98
| | | | | Founder of the Drummer666 Fan Club
(o o) ~RAMB Hall of Famer~
^^^^
IMChaotik
band, do you actually think he's going to like you more?
IMChaotik
> -jenny porter IFFL Center Grove HS, c/o '00
> Erin Lee is my hero!! B2BH '98
>| | | | | Founder of the Drummer666 Fan Club
>(o o) ~RAMB Hall of Famer~
anyways....let me finish my sentence and this time I won't hit the button by
mistake.
Her response sounded more like "well you're WRONG and I'm going to prove it,
and you better apologize OR ELSE!!" I would rather say "why do you feel this
way and what were the experiences that led you to believe this?" Or maybe I'd
just say....nothing at all.
Andy Blyler
Andy
UDA Alto Sax
UDA Web Master
ARisden
>
>
Now there's a mature response.
BigBubba99
>>
>>
>
>Now there's a mature response.
I want to know where he lives so I can beat his ass, drag his ass bound and
gagged into BOA Grand Nationals for all three days all day and make him watch,
then force him at swordpoint to participate in summer practices, seasonal
practices, and make him kiss my trumpet once for every person who leaves after
halftime from my school's fb games.
Neehsla
narrow minded fool who doesn't want to knwo anything outside his circle.
lynze
penn senior trombone
"march naked!"
CoFFeeDLte
>>
>>
>
>Now there's a mature response.
Yeah I know... now the real letters that are going to be sent to this guy are
going to be deleted.
jav...@usaor.net
-Ross Brightwell- Announcer for the Indiana University of PA Marching
Band the "Legend"
Chris
Serra Catholic Trumpet and (hopefully) future IUP band member
Jazzyteen wrote:
>
> This guy probably thinks marching band is easy. I'd just like to tell him
> that's it's really hard. You have to memorize music, and play it well while you
> are marching furiously around a field remembering numbers such as "2 off the
> 50, 4 in front of the hash" at the same time. It's doing 4 things at once. You
> practice at least 12 hours outside of school a week. On saturday, you practice
> for 5 hours, maybe have a football game, then leave for a competition. You
> drive around 1 hour, get there, get changed, go to warm up, perform , wait for
> other bands to perform, go to awards, leave to go home. You usually don't get
> home till at least midnight. It is a lot of work, but it's fun.
Jazzyteen
Bandbabe54
~~~~Amanda~~~~
West Carrollton H.S
Clarinet Section Leader
Winterguard Flag and Weapon