WANT TO SEE A REAL FOOTBALL BAND?

UNTLifer · September 6, 2016

23 minutes ago, letsgiveacheer said:

There may be suggestions but the athletic department will not have any control over the band. Williams is a tenured professor not a staff member.

And here is why tenure is a joke.

Let somebody else run the band if he is resistant.

The kids in the band are great.

1. Add an entrance.

2. Wear the uniforms to every game.

3. Play for the team and the fans.

All issues the band director can fix.

UNTcrazy727 · September 6, 2016

28 minutes ago, letsgiveacheer said:

There may be suggestions but the athletic department will not have any control over the band. Williams is a tenured professor not a staff member.

Technically, you're right and RV accepted that. But if the band is doing something during football games that enough fans complain about and/or Wren and Co. don't like meetings will be had to encourage change.

drex · September 6, 2016

Lay off the band...at least they are into the game. Sometimes they are the only ones cheering. Bands in the past were never plugged into the game...just there because they had to be or there to play music with no thought of the game itself.

MeanGreenDan · September 6, 2016

Has anyone brought up khaki shorts? If not... khaki shorts.

Christopher Walker · September 6, 2016

To the original post, I found this interesting:

Ohio: Dr. Andrew Trachsel, Director of Bands; MM and DMA from the University of North Texas

bstnsportsfan3 · September 6, 2016

i could care less what they look like,

i like that the band is big and that they sound good...

SMU's band was tiny and i could barely hear them...

When the green brigade came on i said to the SMU fans near me " he is what a real band sounds like"

GO MEAN GREEN!

UNTcrazy727 · September 6, 2016

1 minute ago, MeanGreenDan said:

Has anyone brought up khaki shorts? If not... khaki shorts.

I brought it up in the comments section of the survey. Unless there is extreme heat, which there wasn't on Saturday, there is no reason the band shouldn't be in uniform.

Stan R · September 6, 2016

Sounds like the pageantry needs a Wrenovation(tm). Hopefully someone is wreading this thread.

Edited September 6, 2016 by Stan R

UNT90 · September 6, 2016

55 minutes ago, drex said:

Lay off the band...at least they are into the game. Sometimes they are the only ones cheering. Bands in the past were never plugged into the game...just there because they had to be or there to play music with no thought of the game itself.

Again, this is about the adults, not the members of the band.

greenjoe · September 6, 2016

The Bruce Channel hit "Hey Baby", played at the beginning of each 4th quarter, says to me, "Darlin", we've got this game won. Let's just sit back and wait for 0:00 on the clock." Of course, that is rarely what is going on at the beginning of the 4th quarter. I'd rather hear something that revs the fans and the players up and sets the proper tone for a big finish. I thought this was cool until I heard every high school band "in the land" play the same song. I could also do without the stop/start of the fight song and I deplore the "um pa pa" beat screwing up the fight song.

GO MEAN GREEN

UNTcrazy727 · September 6, 2016

24 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

The Bruce Channel hit "Hey Baby", played at the beginning of each 4th quarter, says to me, "Darlin", we've got this game won. Let's just sit back and wait for 0:00 on the clock." Of course, that is rarely what is going on at the beginning of the 4th quarter. I'd rather hear something that revs the fans and the players up and sets the proper tone for a big finish. I thought this was cool until I heard every high school band "in the land" play the same song. I could also do without the stop/start of the fight song and I deplore the "um pa pa" beat screwing up the fight song.

GO MEAN GREEN

Bruce Channel was graduating from Grapevine High School right around the same time he wrote the song. Grapevine was one of the first schools, if not THE first, to play it during football games.

SilverEagle · September 6, 2016

4 hours ago, Christopher Walker said:

To the original post, I found this interesting:

Ohio: Dr. Andrew Trachsel, Director of Bands; MM and DMA from the University of North Texas

Hmmm, where in the hell did this guy get his ideas for the type of football Band that is in that video? It sure as hell wasn't from his time at North Texas.

OR, the tradition of how the Band performs at football games was already in place and he had the good sense to not tinker.

Edited September 6, 2016 by SilverEagle

letsgiveacheer · September 6, 2016

16 minutes ago, SilverEagle said:

Hmmm, where in the hell did this guy get his ideas for the type of football Band that is in that video? It sure as hell wasn't from his time at North Texas.

OR, the tradition of how the Band performs at football games was already in place and he had the good sense to not tinker.

He is not the marching band director at Ohio which is usually reserved for the bottom man on the totem pole. The days of the head man conducting both the marching band and the top concert bands are long over.

SilverEagle · September 6, 2016

26 minutes ago, letsgiveacheer said:

He is not the marching band director at Ohio which is usually reserved for the bottom man on the totem pole. The days of the head man conducting both the marching band and the top concert bands are long over.

Well then, it was #2. He had the good sense to not tinker with their football band traditions.

letsgiveacheer · September 6, 2016

I saw them at the last North Texas-Ohio game in Athens and their band really did an excellent job.

You know, the whole world went to hell when this communist "corps style" of marching was embraced by almost every band in the country. It is about as exciting as watching a house plant grow.

Ibleedgreen · September 6, 2016

I was asked what it is that I liked about Saturday's performance: the music and the marching. Sounded great! Looked good! Not crazy about the khakis, but I'm not having to march in a hot uniform.

UNT90 · September 6, 2016

5 minutes ago, Ibleedgreen said:

I was asked what it is that I liked about Saturday's performance: the music and the marching. Sounded great! Looked good! Not crazy about the khakis, but I'm not having to march in a hot uniform.

It isn't about student comfort. Do you think the players are comfortable putting on pads and crashing into each other at 15 mph?

This is football. They should be a football band. If that means sweating a bit, tough it up and literally take one for the team and fans.

FirefightnRick · September 7, 2016

12 hours ago, letsgiveacheer said:

There may be suggestions but the athletic department will not have any control over the band. Williams is a tenured professor not a staff member.

Ah!....well there you go. An explanation for the answer I got.

Rick

Edited September 7, 2016 by FirefightnRick

ForneyGreen · September 7, 2016

On 9/5/2016 at 10:12 PM, UNTLifer said:

I also dislike "Hey Baby."

I have a question about playing "Hey Baby"... I have heard HS bands playing this song between the 3rd and 4th Qtrs over the past few years (East Texas HS like Forney, North Forney, Lindale, Kaufman, Terrell, etc.).

Did the Green Brigade influence this trend of playing "Hey Baby", or did this trend start elsewhere and the Green Brigade picked-up on the trend?

NM Green · September 7, 2016

Take a look at that picture. One kid has his hat on backwards while the kid next to them has it facing the right way playing the same instrument. That's inconsistency folks and may as well teach them young about the goal of a "uniform." I wouldn't let that band take the stands or field unless they represented with excellence. That is not an excellent look out there. It is a lazy look and because the band falls under the umbrella of game experience I am confident Wren will have some say and input into the impression they make.

The music was not bad and as mentioned in a previous thread the dance routine incorporating the soloists was awesome. However, details matter. A leader I admired once said, "It's the little things that are the big things." Precision and consistency are awesome.

GMG

GangGreen · September 7, 2016

12 hours ago, UNT90 said:

It isn't about student comfort. Do you think the players are comfortable putting on pads and crashing into each other at 15 mph?

This is football. They should be a football band. If that means sweating a bit, tough it up and literally take one for the team and fans.

Uniform talk?

UNT90 · September 7, 2016

28 minutes ago, GangGreen said:

Uniform talk?

SilverEagle · September 7, 2016

4 hours ago, NM Green said:

Take a look at that picture. One kid has his hat on backwards while the kid next to them has it facing the right way playing the same instrument. That's inconsistency folks and may as well teach them young about the goal of a "uniform." I wouldn't let that band take the stands or field unless they represented with excellence. That is not an excellent look out there. It is a lazy look and because the band falls under the umbrella of game experience I am confident Wren will have some say and input into the impression they make.

The music was not bad and as mentioned in a previous thread the dance routine incorporating the soloists was awesome. However, details matter. A leader I admired once said, "It's the little things that are the big things." Precision and consistency are awesome.

GMG

I don't have a problem with the band wearing polos and khaki shorts in hot/warm weather. Wearing wool can be brutal enough in October, so wearing it in Sept.heat is IMHO asking too much. And comparing it to the football team wearing their full gear is not fair. "Down the corridor of years" just about every piece of those uni's have been researched and upgraded to reduce the fatigue of the players....and well it should be. But to my knowledge, there has not been anything researched or done to make wool uniforms less brutal to wear in warm weather.

Now, I agree with NMG that wearing a casual outfit shouldn't turn into a "lazy look". I also agree with him about the "dancer" segment of the show.

This is the first time in just about forever that the dancers and the band looked like a connected, coordinated and classy unit. Rather than something like the band and dancers in this scene from "The Odd Couple"..........still one of my favorite movies BTW.

So kudos to the Band (and their soloists) and the Dancers for their great routine.

Edited September 7, 2016 by SilverEagle

greenb.o.g. · September 10, 2016

I agree with the majority of this thread. The band and its performance needs to change.

That does not mean the Green Brigade needs to be like every other band. Jazz music is all about creativity. So let the band be creative. But the band directors - or whoever - need to recognize the crowd they are performing for. That is, a football crowd.

Heavy Metal bands don't play in church. And opera isn't played at an outdoor music festival. Understand your audience.

Show some pageantry and keep the energy high. And for gawds sake learn some new material and get rid of Hey Baby!

Edited September 10, 2016 by greenb.o.g.

UNTexas · September 10, 2016

Our band plays bad choices and seems unorganized and laxed. I equate their inability to wear their uniforms the same as if the football team wore their practice uniforms because the are more comfortable. Same could be said for the dance team or cheerleaders if they rolled out in sports bras and shorts for comfort.

Hey Baby and Fly Like an Eagle should be retired immediately too.

Anyway, I'm going to be freaked out at games if that scary high school girl from that viral video from Denton joins our band some day. She steals souls.

Edited September 10, 2016 by UNTexas