Noise, Piped-In And Otherwise Comment Count

Brian

Apparently it's ND Nation week on MGoBlog. Eh.

eminem_lose_yourself_grammys2    vs    mmb

street-fighter-iv-20090108105755337

FIGHT

This is, without question, a first:

I was there too, with a UM friend of mine.  He was at the UM game against WMU the weekend before, and he said the music was not played that weekend. In fact, he said he's never heard music played at any Michigan home game. Yesterday was his first ND/Michigan game in the Big House. Maybe it's just something they do for us. Wouldn't surprise me.

We both thought it was bulls---. With those new press box/fan suite things they've built at the top of the stadium, that place got really loud. The Eminem songs only made it worse.

I guess that's why they call it home field advantage.

Leaving aside this guy's probably-fictional Michigan friend who went to the Western game and didn't notice the RAWK MUSIC, this is an opposing fan complaining about the noise level in the stadium. Even if this is just more complaining to complain, it's still a 180 from the usual laughter at the 110,000 quietest people in America or whatever. As a group of people naturally inclined to laugh at all things Michigan, statements like this are as close to proof as you're ever going to get about the effect of the new boxes:

I thought the place seemed so much more intimidating
by BigEND (2009-09-13 21:09:28)


with the skyboxes there. It was louder and felt like you were really in a "big house". I still can't understand why so many people complained when the plan was originally announced. That stadium will be 10 times better with those boxes finished.

You and me both, BigEND. Meanwhile, email from people who would know confirms the third-party impressions:

Brian -

I attended the WMU game with siblings who are recent graduates and former band members. The word they got from contacts still in the band is that the on-the-field noise is significantly louder, even if it doesn't seem so to the layman sitting in the 67th row.

Without having any sort of technical knowledge, my guess is that the new structures are aiming sound back into the bowl. Clearly not all of it, but enough to make it louder the deeper you are inside. (That's what she said?)

So, it might not seem much louder to us, but clearly LOUDER FIELD > LOUDER STANDS from a competitive standpoint. In other words, my screaming is more directly helping Brandon Graham to murderfy Jimmah this weekend.

Go Blue!

And this was just for Western. The initial take, then, appears to be that the optimistic projections this blog's scoffed at more than once are basically accurate. The luxury boxes are a huge aid to the noise on the field to the point where complaint-inclined opposing fans focus on it. This is a major win.

--------------------------------------------

So, then, the other matter at hand. Last week everyone had a little conniption fit and I posted a poll about whether piped-in music should be slain out of hand or not. The results:

5: I love it.
17% (685 votes)
4: It's better than nothing
26% (1067 votes)
3: It's the same as nothing
14% (573 votes)
2: It's worse than nothing
17% (699 votes)
1: It is the devil.
26% (1090 votes)
Total votes: 4114

Of the 75% who care, respondents were evenly split between pro-and-con, but the con side was more strongly opposed. This was shocking to me, but I guess this blog's readership skews away from bluehairs. I also have one main explanation: it's the band's fault. Multiple band members have sent in emails about the shift in the MMB's focus over the last ten or so years, and 90% are along these lines:

Brian,

I was in the band for the last few years of Professor Nix's turn at the helm, from 2003-2007*, and I would say that there was plenty of "blame" to spread around for the quieter band. During my years, we frowned upon bands like Notre Dame's that would sacrifice precision for loudness. I believe most of us felt this way, and while it's reasonable to say this mentality started at the top, which would mean Professor Haithcock, I think Professor Nix and his appreciation for the newer, drum corp influenced style of a marching ensemble was the biggest factor. And now, with Director Boerma, who also has strong drum corp ties, I'm sure that influence is just as strong or stronger. But, Haithcock did hire them, so we can just blame him.

Steve

I've got other emails claiming Nix was a huge proponent of loud and that Haithcock asked about making the band louder and etc etc etc and I don't care about who is at fault for what, all I know is that the main reason that poll above came out the way it did is because the band is not doing its job. Saturday I could barely make out the Victors on any of Michigan's touchdowns. About the only thing I heard at halftime was the drum corps. I've gotten plenty of complaints from kids in the student section who say they can barely hear the band and it's 30 rows away from them.

This does not have to be the case. I vividly remember going down to Auburn last year. I sat in the upper deck on the 40; the LSU band was stuck in the corner of the opposite endzone, and I could hear them loud and clear. They were blasting it. Auburn's band was also louder than the MMB. Click the link and see where we were, man… we were in orbit around a football game.

And then there's the SWAC:

That's Southern University making a strong argument for Michigan scheduling a SWAC school, any SWAC school, the next time it reaches into the I-AA ranks for an opponent.

What's the point of a marching band? To be audible outside in a stadium of 110,000. If you want musicality, there are a dozen other bands on campus you can join. Scott Boerma and his superiors are completely missing the point, and if the band is being marginalized on gameday it is entirely their fault. Personally, I hate it. I want the band to be awesome and wish piped-in music would die a fiery death. But when "Lose Yourself" gets vastly more reaction than anything you do and large sections of the stadium can't hear you at all, that's on you. What the hell is the point of a piccolo when the only people who can hear it are the ones playing it? Have you ever thought about the poor schmucks in section 16 who have never once heard The Victors after a touchdown? Think of the children, and do this:

On the band:  I used to play clarinet in the Ann Arbor Huron marching band.  (Why?  Beats me.  I should have learned how to play guitar like Slash instead.)  Clarinet, while fine inside, is a waste of time outside.  It cannot be heard.  Ditto the flute and the piccolo. 

What the MMB needs to do is (1) get rid of all the clarinets, flutes and piccolos, and (2) add 150-200 more trumpets and trombones.  Made the band bigger, and sacrifice a measure of technical proficiency (which 98% of the crowd wouldn't notice) in exchange for a big ol' Wall of Sound.

Regards,

Brandt Goldstein

NYC

Or something. Your prime directive should be loud; if it's not no one can help you fight your slide into irrelevance.

PS: and dammit the hockey band director should dance, you communists.

Comments

JamieH

September 15th, 2009 at 8:28 PM ^

I was in the band back in the early 90's. I heard complaints about things back then, including things like we played the Victors too slow or our drums weren't as boomy as the old drums. But I never heard anyone complain that the band wasn't loud enough or that they couldn't hear us.

I'm not really sure what is going on now, but I'm pretty sure it can be fixed without completely changing the instrumentation of the band. Obviously the band was loud enough in the past with the exact same instrumentation.

UtzGoBlue

September 15th, 2009 at 8:38 PM ^

I live out East so watch the games. I could barely hear the Victors played on the TV during ND game - as strange as it is for me to say - that's pathetic. I had to get my Michigan bottle opener to hear that sweet sound.

BleedingBlue

September 15th, 2009 at 8:44 PM ^

I think the band needs to only play "Let's Go Blue" once after a first down.

It seemed like Tate was waiting for the band to stop playing it the second time so he could talk to the o-line when they were in the north endzone. Anyone else notice this or think it is an issue??

chris16w

September 15th, 2009 at 8:47 PM ^

I have some experience with these profs. Regardless of philosophical preferences, there has been a decreasing interest in the marching band director job among professionals. That's why the current director was very recently the assistant's assistant. They can't get anyone with strong skills that will stay at the position for very long which is why the current director is not very strong in terms of musicianship or teaching. Haithcock, on the other hand, is an outstanding symphonic band director.

chriscamzz

September 15th, 2009 at 10:17 PM ^

The marching band director job here, as at most schools, is a stepping stone in a band conductor's career. The days of the Director of Bands also leading the marching band went out decades ago.

That doesn't mean that the people holding the job shouldn't care about all aspects of their job (marching band duties, symphonic conducting duties, classroom teaching, etc.), but to expect the highest level of conductors to take a marching band director job is unreasonable.

The job is a career stepping stone, but that doesn't mean that the MMB shouldn't expect to get the best available directors at that career level....

markusr2007

September 15th, 2009 at 8:50 PM ^

what the hell? Adding more infantry (band brass) won't resolve the volume problem. We already possess the technology to make a needle hitting a pillow sound like a Pratt & Whitney aircraft engine on takeoff.

Failing that, why not just locate a couple of rock band roadies who used to do magnificent audio setup for WHO concerts back in the 1970s?

This would be the most expedient way to return us all to the doctors office for that first major hearing loss examination.

Wolverdore

September 15th, 2009 at 9:29 PM ^

For all the arguments which are made that the RAWK music is off of tradition and we should rely solely on the band, I disagree. I have no problem with the MMB. Have they been noticeably quieter lately? Yes. Are they still an integral part of the gameday experience? Absolutely. Does this all mean we can't change with the times.

Have we embraced the new tighter fitting uniforms and better helmets rather than the loose and easy to grab jerseys?
Do we have Field Turf instead of the old school Astroturf?

My point is just because they didn't have RAWK music when Bo was coach, doesn't mean we can't do it now. We have moved on in other areas of the program, why can't we move on like other schools to create a better atmosphere for the current players and the recruits visiting.

I know this point has been made again and again, but the players are the ones we need to keep happy, not the fans. They are important because they need to enjoy coming to the stadium and paying to do so.

Let's just enjoy our success and our more improved stadium atmosphere. I imagine there is some type of correlation between the two.

papker

September 15th, 2009 at 9:38 PM ^

you said:

"What's the point of a marching band? To be audible outside in a stadium of 110,000. If you want musicality, there are a dozen other bands on campus you can join. Scott Boerma and his superiors are completely missing the point..."

This statement right here makes it pretty evident you probably don't know enough about this to be expressing a strong opinion.

GCS

September 16th, 2009 at 12:01 AM ^

You act like trotting out those terms are going to make me do something other than consider you an ignorant snob.

You are correct. I don't have the slightest idea how to answer either of those two questions, but that doesn't change the fact that, as presently constituted, the marching band cannot be heard by a vast majority of the stadium and will continue to be phased out by RAWK MUSIC unless it changes direction. I don't care how it's done, I don't give a fuck how you manage the musicality of fixing it, but it is simply too quiet to be heard.

MMB

September 15th, 2009 at 10:23 PM ^

I would like to point out one MAJOR difference between the MMB and all of those southern bands you MICHIGAN fans are so proud of. The MMB plays in a bowl full of 110,000 people!!!!! Heres a hint, bodies absorb sound, the more people in a stadium the more sound is absorbed. Plus, the bowl shap of the stadium allows more sound to escape thus making the band appear quieter. Also, for the person with the clip from the end of the ND game what do you expect to be louder, 110,000 screaming, ecstatic fans or 300 band members. You take THE largest win of the Rich Rodriguez era and use that as your point that the band is too quiet. Give me a break. On this same note, think about when the Victors is played. On TOUCHDOWNS! Again, 110,000 screaming fans is louder.

As for the half-time performance from the bands down south heres a halftime performance of the MMB. If you people would crawl out of your mom's basements and go to a game (and stay for the halftime performance) you would know the band is heard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZAZ0-oYAJQ&feature=related
Notice how even when the band faces backfield they are heard.

Also, for comparisons from stadiums close to the size of the Big House, here is OSU's marching band and PSU's marching band at the Shoe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9mw0dEXTMk

Now compare that to Michigan's pregame with the MMB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGZzycwk7Wo&feature=related
As you can see the MMB is clearly heard through pregame. Even when facing the opposite direction at the opposite end of the field.

To those who say they can't hear the band on TV. Go to a game. The stadium is LOT louder than it sounds on TV. They lower the level of the mics on the field for TV so announcers can be heard. Heres a hint for those comparing this year. Watch the interview with Tate Forcier after the game. He has to have his ear right next to the announcers mouth so he can hear her. It was that loud. The fact the band was heard at all speaks volumes of how loud the MMB actually is.

Finally, if you are all MICHIGAN fans, support MICHIGAN. The band, football team, basketball team, volleyball, etc. If you were a true MICHIGAN fan you would support everything about MICHIGAN. For those who are former MMB members, alumni of this fine university or current students here, way to betray the century and half worth of tradition and honor that MICHIGAN stands for and discredit not only the band but also the university. I bet you are all the band wagon fans who 2 weeks ago were calling for Rich Rod's head and now say he is God. Get a clue.

Great job to Professor Boerma and the entire MMB. Keep up the great work and thanks for making game day at Michigan Stadium exciting, and always providing a top notch performance even when the players on the field are not.

GO BLUE!!!!!

MBandMarch

September 15th, 2009 at 10:49 PM ^

Banal, trite, and sycophantic pandering to your professor betrays far more honor than the worst action taken by those seeking a return to Michigan excellence for our beleagured band. The first step is admitting you have a problem, young one. It gets much easier from there.

BleedingBlue

September 16th, 2009 at 5:53 AM ^

Hi - I'm the person with the video. I have been to a ton of games in my life (think over 150 probably). I know the crowd was loud after the game, but the band used to be much, much louder even with the whole stadium cheering and the students singing their heads off. That is the point - the band is a LOT quieter that it used to be. Even going back to 2004 MSU game - that was the loudest I think I have ever heard the stadium and the band was waaay louder then.

dacubs648

September 15th, 2009 at 10:30 PM ^

Creating more volume is less about playing really loud and more about playing with good intonation and playing in tune with those around you. That's how sound will travel better. I can say that Prof. Boerma is very concerned with making the band in tune so that the music will travel better and therefore sound louder.

I do think that with the current mindset of the students in the band, there is more concern with actually marching than with playing to create that wall of sound. Whether it's the students' fault or the system that is set up, that situation is the case. I don't think blaming the director is right because he has only so much control. A lot of this rests on the students taking responsibility of the music, from memorizing to actually caring and putting passion into playing the songs. The band used to require music majors to play in the band, and whether they wanted to be there or not, better players = better playing = more sound. If you know people in the band, get on their case. Tell them to help fix the problem instead of complaining about it on boards that only so many will read.

MBandMarch

September 15th, 2009 at 11:01 PM ^

They march? I look forward to seeing that. ANd again, memorizing music is an exercise with no relevance to the quality of the sound, volume thereof, or energy exhibited (see: Revelli/Cavender). How bout we take all that time memorizing and apply it to aerobic capacity so that theyre not winded thinking about Victors, much less PreGame. Aerobic capacity plus intonation will go a long way.

I will not take Boerma off the hook. He's responsible for the band's time management (memorizing v. practicing/aerobic improvement), and he does make the difference on volume. My 80s era band played loud and in tune. When Revelli or Cavender guest conducted us at Homecoming our tone, our volume, our intensity, our passion, our energy all rose a level. That, is the director.

papker

September 15th, 2009 at 11:09 PM ^

Dear Genius,

The reason music memorization is important is because if more people memorize the music, more people are playing. Regarding your ideas on the director, I'm really not sure what to say. In my experience the conductor directs the music which does involve dynamics. Additionally, the conductor is an educator, and in a lot of cases is literally teaching engineers and history majors how to use proper air support on their instruments. This is a major contributing factor to sound production.

Also, I respect what Revelli and Cavender did, but I would not want my band to sound like they did on the field. It is also important to remember that most of their recordings are loaded up with members of the Symphony Band.

MBandMarch

September 15th, 2009 at 11:47 PM ^

Sorry I cant reciprocate.

Young lad/lass, they have these cute little gadgets called lyres and flip folders that, wait for it, hold music! Yes, I know amazing. Check out the 72 band at the Super Bowl on YouTube to see how they work. Then, you can spend all that extra time practicing proper air support so that you might develop what this engineer did 25 years ago.

Having watched Revelli and Cavender bands (there was no Symphony Band on Saturday), and having marched in the, albeit lesser, Becher band, your band sounds like a funeral durge, when we can hear it.

papker

September 16th, 2009 at 8:44 AM ^

I'm not in the band. I was in the band in the late 90's and early 2000's. I was trumpet section leader, featured soloist and graduated with a degree from the School of Music in trumpet Performance.

why don't you tell me more about air support then I will tell you how to build a bridge.

MGoAndy

September 15th, 2009 at 10:54 PM ^

I emailed Boerma about this and he kind of bitched me out like, if you don't have any ideas to make it louder then STFU. He also claims everyone can hear that band. That's bullshit.

ProudMMBMember

September 15th, 2009 at 11:48 PM ^

It boggles my mind that some of you people are so unappreciative of the work that your Marching Band does to put on a beautiful show and perform incredible music for you. If you want the band to be louder, then join. That's your prerogative. The fact is that you have the best band in the country at your heels and you are just insulting them. Are we the loudest marching band in the world? No. Does that matter? I'd say not, because we are still a superior marching band with one of the most attractive marching techniques in the world, and we have a very precise sound. If you have ever heard the band warm up, and play the M Fanfare in Revelli Hall, you would be moved to tears. That is how beautiful it is. The first time I heard it, I was moved to tears. We play in a stadium filled with 110,000 people. The stadium is not designed acoustically. Our position in the stadium does not throw our sound properly. The stadium is designed to view football. If you can't hear the band on the other end of the stadium, it's not our fault that we're out of our setting. Notre Dame's band this past weekend was pretty loud, but in my own, personal opinion (not at all representing the opinion of the MMB), I thought their half-time show was dreadful, because their marching was incredibly subpar, and their style was simply not attractive. Volume is not as important as precision and clarity of sound production, and there must be a lot of focus on the marching.

For the record, Professor Boerma consistently is pleading with us to fill up the Big House with our sound. He knows when we have more energy and power in us than we are using to play. So don't blame him.

Like I said, if you want the band to play louder, learn to play the trumpet. Or the trombone, or tuba, and audition for the band. And if you're good enough, you'll get in, and you'll make us louder. Problem solved. We're doing all we can, and it is so disrespectful of the hard work we are doing every single week to criticize us as such. If we could play any louder - we would.

Allow me to set the record straight, also - the piccolos and clarinets have a written obligation in The Victors, that no other instrument could play and sound good, so no other arrangement would work. If you really want to ruin the best fight song in the nation, and criticize Louis Elbel's composition, then go ahead and propose the removal of piccolos and clarinets.

So, appreciate that you have one of the most hardcore, intense, musically talented, and attractive marching bands in the country, instead of insulting them and saying they don't play loud enough.

spmancuso

September 15th, 2009 at 11:57 PM ^

I totally, 100% appreciate the effort that the members of the MMB put in to be exceptional. They are hardcore, intense, musically talented and attractive. I think everyone, really, everyone on this board agrees with that. It's a false argument to imply that someone is insulting the band or that we want to ruin the fight song.

But what good is all of this talent, effort etc. IF I CAN'T HEAR the band at all? I sit in Section 12 and for the past two games I literally have never once heard the band. I know we have the best fight song in the land, although I only know that from the pre-game show, because otherwise I never hear it being played.

I repeat, what good is all of the practice and training if half the stadium can't hear the band?

The reforms I prefer - location of the MMD in the stadium - do not concern changing the quality of the band.

ProudMMBMember

September 16th, 2009 at 12:07 AM ^

Then I was not talking to you. Thank you for your support and appreciation - as well as your reasonable and logical support of relocation, though I'm not sure there is anywhere we could be put to project our sound more properly. What's insulting is when these people are saying "It's the band's fault", this that and the next thing. Completely undermining what we put in to support the team. There are other posts that say more than mine in less words, but I still find it ludicrous for many of these people to claim the band itself is the problem, or to compromise the integrity of the band by getting rid piccolos and clarinets, etc.

Bando Calrissian

September 16th, 2009 at 12:14 AM ^

I learned how to play an instrument so I could play it in the MMB for 4 years. I'm serious. And when I was in it, no one complained as bitterly as people do right now that they couldn't hear me and my friends play for 110,000 people on Saturdays.

Frankly, it makes me pretty upset to see the Band unable to make its presence felt on Saturdays. I'm there every week, and if I didn't know inside and out what you guys were playing during pregame, I would be just as completely clueless about what's going on as some of the posters here thus far. The problem isn't instrumentation. After all, there are just as many piccolos, clarinets, trumpets, trombones, etc. on the field as there were before. The problem is how those instruments are being used.

We're not insulting your hard work. Believe me, I've been there, and there are plenty of MMB Alumni commenting here who have been there, too. We know what pregame should sound like, we know what pregame should look like. We're not judging you, we're not saying "Band was better when I was in it." We're just asking why we can't hear you anymore.

It's a simple question, and a problem that could be easily rectified if people would quit making excuses and figure out what the deal is. I don't care what Prof. Boerma says at rehearsal. He says a lot of things. I just care that the Band I gave more than a fair share of my college years to is a source of pride and out of the crosshairs of public scrutiny.

If people hear you, they'll be able to see and hear that our Band is the greatest in the country. If they can't hear you, you're just a bunch of kids in wool uniforms walking around on a football field. Marching band is a two-dimensional expression: visuals AND noise. You're providing the visuals. Bring the whole package.

InterM

September 16th, 2009 at 3:49 PM ^

Current band member explains that they're "out of their setting" at the stadium. There's only two ways to fix that -- play only in your preferred setting (concert hall?) or learn how to play at the stadium so that people can HEAR YOU.

But, current band explains that they're doing the best they can, the director is great, it just can't be helped. The stadium has been the same shape and capacity for many years, I've been going there for many years (since the early 70s), have sat in virtually every part of the stadium over that time, and I can't HEAR YOU like I used to. Last Saturday, the Victors was a rumor. Fix it or make your seats available to someone else, OK? Not to be rude, but . . . geez.

terryfoster

September 16th, 2009 at 4:00 PM ^

No, nothing has changed at the stadium since the 70s. The band hasn't moved around a couple times, the field wasn't dropped, rows weren't added, people and their level of involvement at the stadium hasn't changed, the MMB membership hasn't changed, boxes weren't added...

This isn't a simple problem of volume from the current members of the MMB. Get over it.

terryfoster

September 16th, 2009 at 4:27 PM ^

Just because it isn't a simple matter of volume from the current membership doesn't mean it isn't fixable. Some things could be done by Saturday, others like moving the band, rebuilding membership, etc, can't happen until next season at the earliest.

It certainly is easy to critique. Solutions? Those are harder to come by.

InterM

September 16th, 2009 at 6:11 PM ^

But note that my initial response was directed at a current band member who said there was nothing they (or their director) could do. If we can't look to them for solutions, and any suggestions from me would be meaningless, where do you propose that we look for solutions?

MBandMarch

September 16th, 2009 at 12:20 AM ^

Listen up. Heres some tough love. THose of us that CARE about MMB want you to succeed. You have huge shoes to fill, and youre not filling them. THe responsibility for this lapse is not on you. It is the responsibility of the band administration. THere is a standard at Michigan and it hasnt really been met for 30 years. Just so you know, my band in the 80s didnt meet this standard either, but we were closer to doing so, largely because less time had been allowed to pass.

Now, what you CAN do is put pressure on Boerma and Haithcock to insist on excellence. And you can insist on excellence yourselves. The alumni are really your allies in this as we only want you to excell. Dont accept trite explanations that alumni dont know whats best, or we are all jsut sour grapes. Becher used to do that too to hide his lack of excellence. Demand better. Know the band history. More and more YouTubes show old shows. Get in shape. You guys would be louder if you had more aerobic capacity.

I dont envy you your position. I thought we had slipped in the Becher era! Remember it is not your fault, and in such circumstances, it is truly noble to maintain your personal little bit of excellence even in an environment of mediocrity. Know that it will change, and there are folks working towards that change.

MMB

September 16th, 2009 at 7:44 PM ^

Heres how its going to be. You are 40+ years old. Get off of a stupid online blog and get back to your career, your family, etc. If you truly were in the band, I am seriously disappointed with the lack of character and respect you show by negatively commenting on all of the posts by the MMB members attempting to defend themselves from people like you attacking our organization. I understand the people who say the band needs to be louder. I know people can't always hear us. Professor Boerma is constantly trying to get us to play louder. Some blame falls on the individuals, some blame falls on the construction of the stadium and the position of the band in the stadium. The MMB is the greatest and most tradition rich organization in all of college football and has the privellege of performing the greatest fight song in the greatest stadium for the greatest football team in history. To openly attack and disgrace the organization you were once apart of is severely disappointing and discouraging.

Finally, come to the game this saturday. During pregame, look for the trumpet section. If you do this, I can garauntee you will see not only impecable marching style but also clarity of sound throughout. And I for one can garauntee that you will hear every note.

cfaller96

September 16th, 2009 at 10:05 AM ^

Your comment is not exactly out of Dale Carnegie, buddy. Just saying.

One more time, to lay out the problem(s) for everyone, especially the (IME) overly-defensive band people:

1. Everyone wants a louder, more intimidating stadium. That requires more music of some sort.
2. Currently, a vast majority of the stadium can't hear the band.

That's it. If you want to insist that the band absolutely cannot be any louder and cannot be heard any better, then so be it- RAWK music it is for the vast majority of the stadium. Accept it and quityerbitchin.

This is the real world- if you decline to offer a solution that provides a louder, more intimidating stadium, then you have no right to oppose the alternatives that can, must, and will be explored. Otherwise, you're essentially opposing making the stadium louder and more intimidating. You don't really want to do that, do you?

The stadium must get louder, period. Either the band gets louder, or the RAWK music continues. Choose.

fifthangell

September 15th, 2009 at 11:28 PM ^

Eliminating the woodwind instruments from the MMB would make it appear too much like they are copying the OSU marching band. We would never hear the end of it when the scarlet horde comes north for the game.

Geaux_Blue

September 15th, 2009 at 11:40 PM ^

it's so odd to hear this discussion. not complaining but just noting that this is not your daddy's football. i'm heading up for the PSU game and will reserve judgment until then. in the meantime i do think the band should make efforts to be heard, with whatever piece transitions that may be, and that music should not be played to disrupt either team's ability to play (prev. comment mentioning huddle/LOS for notre dame).

.02

MadtownMaize

September 15th, 2009 at 11:43 PM ^

Ok. So the players like the PIM. The blue hairs, who pay for all this greatness, do not like the PIM. The PIM probably gives us a little home field advantage (crowd gets louder, PIM is louder than band, players get excited, etc.). Both the players and the blue hairs DO NOT like Journey! I have no problem making blue hairs a little uncomfortable in exchange for more home field advantage, but for the love of God NO MORE JOURNEY!!!!

jwstraz

September 15th, 2009 at 11:47 PM ^

...And while we could make our single priority to simply play the loudest we possibly could, I don't think any of us would really want that.

There are plenty of groups out there that completely sacrifice the quality of their music for volume. I'm surprised by the sense I'm getting that many want our band to simply fall into the ranks of that very large and homogeneous group.

Volume and musical precision are not mutually exclusive, but trying to have both does certainly make things harder. Last I checked, however, nobody at Michigan wants to submit to mediocrity. It might be true that in the pursuit of both volume and musical precision we lose a little bit of both, but there should be no doubt that the outcome is a band everyone on campus should be proud of. At no point in time does a band member think, nor does our director say "If you fear losing the quality of your musicality, then lower your volume." No no no... that would be pathetic and not in the tradition of the band or the university. We constantly demand both of ourselves, as does our director.

Of course, any of the naysayers out there would know that if they came to a rehearsal. Approximately every third comment is "more volume!!!/Give it up!!!/Fill the Big House!!!"

All I'm saying is that you could have what you want... a band that makes volume it's only priority... a band that already exists at the vast majority of schools across the country.

What you have, however, is a band that shoots for both. It's such a shame that you're ashamed of not being mediocre. It's a bummer you're bummed out that the band demands more of itself than you do.