Which band do favor more, and why?

seanrj · Post by **seanrj** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 10:16 pm

About the train wreck thing again...

As someone that was on the field playing, AND after watching the tape of halftime I would have to vehemently disagree with your appraisal of USC's performance at the Rose Bowl. It was energetic, exciting, and just plain kick-ass. To add, the entire day was quite an incredible experience. The parade, the game, the shows. It was a great day.

To top it off, we had the opportunity to play John Williams' new arrangement of the National Anthem. He seemed QUITE satisfied with the USC Band's sound and ability to play his uber-difficult composition at both the rehearsal and the performance. But, that probably is not a good enough assessment for you. Who is this John Williams guy anyway? What does he know?

It was wonderful to be on the field for the week leading up to the game. Seeing all of the effort being put into making the band great was great to see. Most of those "bad musicians" that you are indirectly referring to are not even music majors. The vast majority of the Band are people that pick the horn up, play, and march for the enjoyment of it.

Play strong, sound good, march hard, and enjoy yourselves. That is what USC does. Sorry if you do not agree.

Shota871 · Post by **Shota871** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 11:00 pm

Hart_Quads11 wrote:College bands just play lame pop songs.

Actually, collegiate marching band play both "pop" songs (supposedly rock-based stand tunes???) and field shows (whether it's influenced by Corp, Southern style (Grambling State and Southern University in particular), or other type of half-time presentations there is.

One collegiate marching band in particular that is very corp-influenced is the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners. It is a marching band, with both brass and woodwinds, but they sound as good as any hardcore Division I or II corp.

Try checking out their site at http://www.marchingsoutherners.org

Drum corps may be very spectacular in their "art of pageantry" far beyond collegiate bands, but I still favor collegiate bands because they play for their success as well as for the success of their athletic teams of the school they both represent.

Just playing "lame pop" songs is absolutely a myth...

I did saw your band at Los Atlos HS, and I thought your field show was great, but don't you guys also dedicate yourselves to the dominant football team which just ousts Valencia, Canyon and Saugus. That is equivalent to a collegiate marching band.

BlueStarMom · Post by **BlueStarMom** » Sun Jan 25, 2004 11:31 pm

I know this is a JC band, but the Riverside Community College Marching Tigers, Riverside CA, are well known worldwide.

They just celebrated their 20th anniversary this year. There were close to 270 members (give or take) that marched this year. You may have seen them in the 2004 Tournament of Roses Parade.

My daughter and I travelled with them in April 2003 to the Edinburgh (Scotland) Easter Festival to perform several times.

They have appeared in many movies, tv shows, performed at all Disney Theme Parks around the world.

I do not know very much about UCLA or USC's marching bands, but it does seems like USC is the band that gets noticed in S CA.

vibelady2005 · Post by **vibelady2005** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 6:56 pm

When it comes to FB, UCLA..... but when it comes to what counts, band, it's USC.

My school and like all the rest in our district went to USC for a day to see their band perform, and a whole bunch of other stuff. They played so many songs, and they had three tubas playing Hoobastank's FIRST SINGLE. They were SO loud, I could hear them across the campus. The degree of music was excellent, and it sounds so much better than UCLA's. Sorry bruins. I like bear's an all, but, geez....

tetzlaffdrummer · Post by **tetzlaffdrummer** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 8:52 pm

vibelady2005 wrote:When it comes to FB, UCLA.....

Sorry bud but, didn't USC's football team kill UCLA with their 3rd line? And didn't they win half of nationals? Didn't they leave Michigan hopeless and break many records and have 2 of the 3 one handed catches of the season? Ok enough about football. I'm sorry to you UCLA bandos but, USC is way better. After seeing UCLA at Arcadia I thought they were very very good and it was very entertaining to watch but, the next day i saw USC at the pep rally for the UCLA v. USC game and with only about 30-40 players, they smoked UCLA. I mean 8 basses! Thats nuts! It sounded good too. I also saw them at the OSU v. USC game and they were very much better than UCLA. So you know my vote.

SithScorp · Post by **SithScorp** » Tue Jan 27, 2004 10:13 pm

TGMBITHOTU

FEBU

'nuff said...

FIGHT ON!

DJ-PsiLon · Post by **DJ-PsiLon** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 11:36 am

All the UCs are Blue and Gold. After hearing both UCLA and USC I'd go with UCLA on this one.

As for originality the UCs have a strong tradition band wise. Most play a fight song based off of Cal's fight song which was taken by UCLA. Also a variant of Hail to California is always played.

SithScorp · Post by **SithScorp** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 12:24 am

[quote="[UCI]-Mike"]All the UCs are Blue and Gold. After hearing both UCLA and USC I'd go with UCLA on this one.[/quote]

You mean you could actually HEAR the ucla "band"?

I was standing 30 feet away and was only getting a hint of sound from them. Los Altos would blow them away. No disrepect Los Al, I honestly do think you are better than ucla. They (ucla) are mediocre for a HS band. Everytime I have seen them at a HS tourny doing an "exhibition", performing as though they were in competition, they would have been last in the 6A division. The marching style is NOWHERE near being uniform. There is little to NO projection for a group their size. If you are going to do the HS band thing, you could at least make a better effort...

Who cares if you have a "concert band" sound on the field if it cannot be heard? I also use the term "concert band sound" loosely in this instance.

mandapanda576 · Post by **mandapanda576** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 8:12 pm

IsnipeWithAknife wrote:
VHSTrumpetGuy86 wrote:UCLA. My school colors are Blue and Gold so naturally im going to say UCLA. GO BRUINS!!!!
Alot of UC schools use the color BLue and Gold/Yellow... in fact i think they all do im not sure, i know UCSB, UCI, UCSD have that blue yellow scheme. no originality between UC IMO. as for the bands, i have mp3s of alot of college bands playing various tunes and i like USC's better. as altohack said their music is more entertaining

btw, UCB is also blue and gold.

VHSTrumpetGuy86 · Post by **VHSTrumpetGuy86** » Thu Jan 29, 2004 10:18 pm

Wow. Close race. USC 16, 15 UCLA. Too bad the football game coudln't be that close

Shota871 · Post by **Shota871** » Fri Jan 30, 2004 2:07 am

Hmmm... any proper reason UCLA's band's more preferable? I guess not... hehehe

Still I would rate USC's band 10 (an A++), UCLA's 7.5 (a B+). Cal's band 8 (A--), and Stanford.... the scatter band... a 5 (C).

Mycroft · Post by **Mycroft** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 5:38 pm

I am from the school that says play your best no matter when you pick up the horn. USC has substituted loud for best for the last 30 years. Even your instrumentation is built for loud. Small amounts of woodwinds, cannot tell if you guys are even still marching Clarinets. Marching your trumpets towards the front of the band, now that is clever. What is your current instrumentation?

Invoking the name of John Williams. I did not see the banner. I am guessing it was a combine banner with The Michigan band. Did Dr. Bartner or did NBC pay the bill for Mr. Williams writing the banner. Seeing how John is making about $2 million a picture now a days, someone paid him to write it. I have been in bands with guess conductors who were brought in for the banner, they don’t get up there and say “you guys suck, see you before the game”. They are very encouraging because they don’t want players to get uptight.

If a school band is expected to be loud and per mote school sprit than USC is good.

Not music Majors? What a copout. It does not take a music major to play in tune. Where does Doctor B tell you to listen for pitch? I am very curious.

I am glad you had a great day. Sounds very busy. The college band that I was in did the parade once and no one wanted to back because it was such a hassle.

kkeonih667 · Post by **kkeonih667** » Sat Jan 31, 2004 7:33 pm

im sorry i have to chime in.....i played in ASU's marching band so i've seen both. I qotta give it to UCLA. USC just has this nast thin strident sound with no roundness whatsoever. UCLA has a more quality sound and are just better at marching. USC has their whacked out marching style and sound nasty on the field. ANd not to mention they play the same freaking songs the whole freaking game. Its freaking annoying! Anyway I like watching and listening to UCLA better so they get my vote

JLGORMAN · Post by **JLGORMAN** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 4:25 pm

My, I find MYCROFT to have plenty of venom. I guess that comes from Dislike for USC. Some of his comments would be valid if they were true.
1. The Game was on ABC. Not NBC, so why would NBC pay for National Anthem.

2. College Bands are for entertainment of the fans. They are not there to do cookie cutter D&B shows which in most case put fans to sleep.

3. AS to the Marching Style. I do not know of any College that follows the exact same style. You would find fault with almost all of the following institutions of HIgher Learning.

TEXAS A&M. You probably would not like their Military Marching.

OHIO STATE. To much Brass. PLus they spell out that stupid script OHIO

TENNESSEE. They play that Hick Song Rocky Top To much

TEXAS. They have those Cowboy Uniforms and Play Grandioso to often

LSU To much precision marching in this Band.

NOTRE DAME. They play to many religious songs (The Fact that the school is 85 % Catholic shlould not be a factor)

I could go on and on. Face it, College Bands have to put together 7 or 8 shows a season. They also are what the Marching Bands in America were started for, to entertain the fans. Read your Histroy. I am glad they have not fallen prey to the cookie cutter HS Shows. I am sorry , but your dislike of Dr. Bartner, (who by the way directed the Olympic Band in 1984) shows greatly. I would like to know how many people dislike USC, just because they are good, and are recognized nationally . What a sad commentary.

Mycroft · Post by **Mycroft** » Sun Feb 01, 2004 9:30 pm

I was waiting for someone to invoke the USC envy card. Did not know it was going to come from Texas. The only reason USC gets the big gigs is because they are geographically desirable.

Because I was watching 20 bowl games, forgive me if I name the wrong network. I was assuming NBC because John had done a lot of work for them.

Do not put me in the D&B camp. That style and the attempt by marching bands to copy it was never a good move. Like you say, you got two weeks to put a show together you got two choices. Do one good show and water down the rest of the season or just work up the marching and throw the music out the window.

Since when is not playing in tune entertainment? When is not playing in tune a style? All the bands that were listed are good programs and yes, they have their own style. They all try to play in tune. They show respect for the music.

What is a sad commentary is the blind loyalty that people show to USC. It’s like a cult. You really think that the USC band, who has twice the resources of most of the other bands you mention, is as good as it could or should be?

Dr. Bartner is also geographically desirable and has used his connections well. I had just graduated from college when the 1984 Olympic band was put together. If I wanted to spend two weeks in El Segundo, I could have joined Dr. B in the Coliseum. I should have done it, but I didn’t.

OK besides the ABC network. What else did I say, that was not “true”.

World of Pageantry

Which band do favor more, and why?

Which collegiate marching band do you favor?

!?!?!

Top University Band

Usc Or Ucla?

Re: Usc Or Ucla?

Re: Ucla

???

Which Band Do Hyou Prefer