[NT Daily] Opinion: Some students find the Mean Green Brigade lacking

TreeFiddy · October 10, 2017

4 hours ago, Zeke said:

The bit they do where they only play a few notes then stopping.......then starting.............then stopping.

Then starting.

It makes me insane

Image result for shining all work and no play gif

Aquila_Viridis · October 10, 2017

I will only support taking out ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ if it is replaced with Judas Priest’s ‘Ridin’ On The Wind’!

untjim1995 · October 10, 2017

4 hours ago, ChristopherRyanWilkes said:

Everything said above and this. The khaki shorts uniforms they wear during hotter games are horrible.

You can hear the musical talent when they play, but I agree the lack of creativity and excitement with their performances has always bothered me.

It’s fairly easy to due the bare minimum when you don’t care about getting any better or you’re performing at something you could care less about...that’s the GB, to me. They have many people who attend the game to hear them play and march and that’s all they care about.

SilverEagle · October 10, 2017

The Band's slide started when Dr. Winslow took over and dumbed down the fight song, and took out the traditional fanfare that the band always played. Since then the best addition to the band's presentation was the competitive drum line. And that was taken away in recent years when the top group that competes in national competition stopped performing with the marching band. What you see is a good drum line.....but not the best one. The Band, through energy, and showmanship, and school centered traditional tunes is supposed to get the crowd's energy up and into the game........they do none of the above. Their entrance/pre-game is (at best) perfunctory. They show up to amuse themselves and their family and friends. That's it.

Oh, and they got bigger and more unwieldy.

Edited October 11, 2017 by SilverEagle

KingDL1 · October 10, 2017

1 hour ago, SilverEagle said:

The Band's slide started when Dr. Winslow took over and dumbed down the fight song, and took out the traditional fanfare that the band always played. Since then the best addition to the band's presentation was the competitive drum line. And that was taken away in recent years when the top group that competes in national competition stopped performing with the marching band. What you see is a good drum line.....but not the best one. The Band, through energy, and showmanship, and school centered traditional tunes is supposed to get the crowd's energy up and into the game........they do none of the above. Their entrance/pre-game is (at best) perfuntory. They show up to amuse themselves and their family and friends. That's it.

Oh, and they got bigger and more unwieldy.

You go Silver!

Got5onIt · October 10, 2017

Music school with a band that looks like they woke up and put on the first clean shirt & shorts for a quick bite to eat at the local McD’s. Don’t forget your ballcap to cover up that messed up hair.

Wear a GD uniform on Saturdays for Christ sakes!!!

MGNation92 · October 10, 2017

I see a lot of butthurt band members on Twitter that took massive offense to this article.

I think they may be a little full of themselves. I was in band for 7 years and it's not THAT hard to learn new stand tunes every week

It's funny because it seems they've been told they're the shit, and judging by their twitter comments, they fully believe it, and fully believe it should not come with ridicule.

Ridiculous. Pull your pampers up, learn your audience, do your job.

LongJim · October 10, 2017

12 hours ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

I will only support taking out ‘Fly Like An Eagle’ if it is replaced with Judas Priest’s ‘Ridin’ On The Wind’!

I still want them to do "Electric Eye", or have it played over the PA.

And I still want a shirt with your avatar on it!!!

Edited October 10, 2017 by LongJim

UNTLifer · October 10, 2017

3 hours ago, MGNation92 said:

I see a lot of butthurt band members on Twitter that took massive offense to this article.

I think they may be a little full of themselves. I was in band for 7 years and it's not THAT hard to learn new stand tunes every week

It's funny because it seems they've been told they're the shit, and judging by their twitter comments, they fully believe it, and fully believe it should not come with ridicule.

Ridiculous. Pull your pampers up, learn your audience, do your job.

I noticed the article was removed. Seems to have stirred something up with the Green Brigade. That can only be a good thing.

UNTFan23 · October 10, 2017

14 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

I noticed the article was removed. Seems to have stirred something up with the Green Brigade. That can only be a good thing.

Sounds like there were some errors in the opinion article resulting in the NT Daily pulling the article.

KingDL1 · October 10, 2017

The power of a bunch of crybabies.

Looks like we can forever expect such underwhelming performances to continue.

untjim1995 · October 10, 2017

1 hour ago, UNTFan23 said:

Sounds like there were some errors in the opinion article resulting in the NT Daily pulling the article.

I could never imagine the NT Daily pulling an article that was negative about athletics, but maybe they have...then again, the music folks are protecting their baby here and it is the primary window to the university, so they have the protected status that athletics has at most every other university...

MeanGreenTexan · October 10, 2017

35 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

I could never imagine the NT Daily pulling an article that was negative about athletics, but maybe they have...then again, the music folks are protecting their baby here and it is the primary window to the university, so they have the protected status that athletics has at most every other university...

I mean,
If the quotes were indeed taken out of context, then that warrants the article's removal. I don't think Waddell would pull the article if it didn't deserve to be pulled.

UNTFan23 · October 10, 2017

Just now, untjim1995 said:

I could never imagine the NT Daily pulling an article that was negative about athletics, but maybe they have...then again, the music folks are protecting their baby here and it is the primary window to the university, so they have the protected status that athletics has at most every other university...

Well, if someone's quote was misrepresented, pulling the article no matter the subject was the right thing to do by the paper.

untcampbell · October 10, 2017

Well, they certainly aren't teaching real world Journalism over at the Mayborn S of J.

(J-school grad)

GMG

untjim1995 · October 10, 2017

7 minutes ago, UNTFan23 said:

Well, if someone's quote was misrepresented, pulling the article no matter the subject was the right thing to do by the paper.

Pardon me if I don’t believe that this would go the exact same way with an article about athletics here...

UNTFan23 · October 10, 2017

10 minutes ago, untjim1995 said:

Pardon me if I don’t believe that this would go the exact same way with an article about athletics here...

Misrepresenting someone's quote is something that causes people to lose trust in a newspaper/news organization. Unfortunately it happens a lot in today's world.

If someone from the NT Daily were to misquote someone from the Athletics department, I would be deeply disappointed in the newspaper if they didn't pull the article and/or issue a retraction/apology for the mistake.

Edited October 10, 2017 by UNTFan23

aztecskin · October 10, 2017

I don't pretend to know much about the band etc but from my view they aren't super impressive. I've stated previously that a few of the folks I brought to games (that had no familiarity with the band) were less than impressed with the performance or the look.

Remember when UTSA SOSA came and started playing "hey baby" at the same time as the GB? To me that seemed like _that_ should have been the wake up call to spice things up a bit.

Aldo · October 11, 2017

1 hour ago, jbb123 said:

I'm disappointed to see so many entitled responses from laymen fans who think that the Green Brigade should sacrifice curricular efforts in order to satisfy Jim Bob's thirst for Pat Boone. If you want to treat the Green Brigade like they're obligated to provide you a service, make yourself a paying customer with a hefty donation, as I'm sure many of you can afford to make, to the College of Music. Otherwise, treat these kids as if they're giving their best efforts week in and week out for you.

For one, you’re not the only GB member - or marching member - here. And while some may see me as some Jose Bob, I think I have some basis here with a very very short attempt in the Music school. I feel like I need to establish that based on your own position.

Secondly, the biggest criticisms are the lack of direction. That’s not on the students. Many folks here have directly criticized the directors. That’s not on the students.

My GB listening experience has just been 14 season (compared to other old farts here). While I don’t mind hearing the same songs over those 14 seasons, the delivery of the music has been lacking recently, compared to previous seasons.

To reiterate, many criticize the direction of the band and not the students specifically, and I’ll agree. My family members as well have noticed it.

Aquila_Viridis · October 11, 2017

That opinion post should be pulled because it contains the wrong opinion.

But I’ll let our differences rest if you’ll simply state your support for adding Ridin On The Wind to the repertoire.

By the way, Fly Like An Eagle goes down better if you have listened to the Neville Brothers version first. Besides sounding better, the message of the song comes through much more clearly.

I wore a shirt with this avatar image on it to ACL one year. But it was not a great print. One of our other members created the image years ago.

Harry · October 11, 2017

2 hours ago, jbb123 said:

Anyone who chastises kids who give up their time, energy, and money towards supporting UNT athletics through the veil of an Internet forum should be ashamed of themselves.

First off welcome to the board. We appreciate having your insight on here.

I think the vast majority of fans I know are extremely proud of the Green Brigade and I know I am. When you see them compared to a band like SMU has it become readily apparent we are blessed in this particular regard.

Does that mean that we can't voice our opinions on how they could improve? To whom is their performance aimed at exactly? Seems to me that the alums, students and fans might have some honest feedback that would be useful and worth hearing. I agree that it should be done in a positive way.

It seems to me that most on here are constructively offering opinions on how to improve the gameday presentation of the Green Brigade. I do not see anyone going after the kids, rather offering suggestions to the leadership in terms of ways to potentially improve things in the future. And quite frankly, I think some of the suggestions offered have been pretty good.

MeanGreenDan · October 11, 2017

2 hours ago, jbb123 said:

Thank a Green Brigade member when you see them on Saturday—they do more for the University than you do.

False.

Aquila_Viridis · October 11, 2017

I would add that I read the negative comments mostly going to the leadership. We can’t expect youngsters to share our concern about where their performance fits in the overall image of the university. They are just doing what they love.

Now because of all this I can’t shake the idea of a proper, abbreviated band arrangement of Ridin On The Wind. I expect it would be one of the coolest, most invigorating things you ever heard from a marching band. We have plenty of rockers who show up on our shores in Denton. I think it would be a lot of fun for the players.

GreenBacker · October 11, 2017

The biggest difference I see at UNT as compared to the big schools is that for the longest time UNT has been a school with a strong music program and poor athletics. We have a high percentage of music majors in the band because they are paying tuition for a class that is required for them to become music educators. Yes, many of them are great supporters of the football team, and throughout the years have been some of the only students left on that side of the stadium at the end of games. However, most are there to be prepared for their career teaching music in Texas.

The director is leading the marching band in addition to numerous duties in the college of music. I am not aware of the breakdown of his salary, but I would imagine most of it is coming from the college of music and not the athletic department. If we want a football band, and not a marching band, that can happen over time with several years of winning and lots of $$$ from the athletic department. Winning will attract more non music majors and the athletics department will make more money. Big time athletic departments that get more of a say in what the marching band does are helping to pay each kid in the marching band a stipend into the thousands, plus footing a lot of the bill for the athletic band directors salary.

I too wish we were in uniforms, and hope to continue to create new traditions through the green brigade. I just think it’s hard to call out the directors for teaching a class (it is a class) the way they feel will prepare their students best for their profession. The marching band students are the ones footing the bill here and yet often times on this board are treated as if they should have the same commitment to football as the players who are being provided a football scholarship worth thousands of dollars. I think we can all agree they are great musicians just as we can agree there are things they can do better to improve the gameday atmosphere. We just have to grow to a point where we can put our money where our mouth is.

Edited October 11, 2017 by GreenBacker

MeanGreenTexan · October 11, 2017

Do y'all like the basketball band?

i think that may be the kind of entertainment y'all are wanting... but the b-ball band is voluntary, while the GB is an actual class. Maybe think of it that way instead of them being there solely for your entertainment.

Also, this:

1 hour ago, GreenBacker said:

...

many of them are great supporters of the football team, and throughout the years have been some of the only students left on that side of the stadium at the end of games.

....

Also, @jbb123, that entrance is not the best way to open up any kind of dialogue/understanding.