I'm an incoming freshman at Ohio State and I will be trying out for TBDBITL this year and seeing this video absolutely blows my mind and makes me want to work even harder to get into the band. My parents met in the OSU marching band so I am going to make sure I give myself the best shot at making it too because I want too so bad
The band director who designed this show designed a show by hand while he was still an undergraduate. Now they use a computer program to design the show, and the band members use tablets to learn their individual responsibilities. The band may spend as much time at practice as the football team, and often learns a show from scratch in a week.
John Williams is truly an amazing composer. Whether its helping us believe a man can fly, taking us back 65 million years ago, or to a galaxy far far away or helping us believe in magic. His music truly has shaped our imaginations.
Not only do that have to keep up the choreography, they are also playing an instrument the whole time. I used to be in a Marching band. It is hard work!
Adam Couser, This is why The Ohio State University Marching Band is called "The Best Damn Band in the Land!" The Ohio State University is only 10 minutes away from my apartment! The stadium can have over 117,000 people in the stands! You might also be interested in another video from The Ohio State University Marching Band tribute to the British Invasion that was performed at Wembley Stadium in London during the NFL Demonstration Games a few years ago. By the way, the second formation "The Eye of Sauron" from "The Lord of The Rings" many RU-vidrs say "It looks like a handbag" LOL Adam, there is also a cheer that is yelled "O-H!" and the response back is "I-O!" for Ohio! The announcer says this at the end of it as the band marches off the field.
These musicians work just as hard as college football players... full class schedule, practices daily, workouts twice daily... it's insane how athletic these students are.
Wife and I were watching your college videos yesterday and just said he needs to do OSU. It’s where we graduated from. Now after retired from the Army I work for big reaction/marvel/tech/movie channels on RU-vid “Reel Rejects” “IJustine” “Cosmic Wonder” “YeahHobbs” and more. You do a great job Adam, you’re very entertaining my guy, and the only channel my wifey will watch with me 😂. Hope you enjoyed our marching band!
I marched through my high school years. Met my wife who was also a trumpet player in the band like me. She ended up marching for crossman in DCI between her junior and senior year. If you loved this, you absolutely have to react to some of the best dci performances as they are absolutely incredible. The amount of work and training that they go through in DCI is absolutely bonkers
I played flute and piccolo and my partner played trumpet and we met in marching band in high school and we are still together 15 years later :) And I remember how hard we had to practice and then all the down time on field learning the choreography and band camp and that was just high school performances and field shows. I can't imagine the work that goes into these kind of performances. Crazy.
Small musical fact: the fanfare at 3:23 is not from Howard Shore's movie score, but from Johan de Meij's award-winning 1988 Symphony #1 "The Lord of the Rings". I've always admired the music director here for that little insert.
The video games one was my favorite! There is also a close up version, where you can see the musicians on the field as they make these amazing transformations!
This is your 1st time seeing a college bamd at a game??? I dont even watch sports but love watching the bands, it takes so much skill and practice to make the figures and play at the same time
U need to do the Texas A & M band. It’s military style so different than most college bands. Watch one where they do their famous cross. It will puzzle u how they can pull it off.
Tbh, as an alumna of ultra-elite high school marching who also marched college and who did competitive drill team in JROTC... A&M isn't nearly as impressive as at least ten other college marching bands out there. It's wayyyyyyyyy easier to dress military lines (including A&M's cross, which is really just about practicing very synchronized 90 degree turns and making it into an effective but well-rehearsed party trick) than it is to learn new, convincing curvaceous figurative set on a weekly basis. A&M's military sound masks a ton of their flaws, too, whereas other better bands (OSU, Michigan, Georgia, LSU, Illinois) with better balance are more vulnerable to having their flaws heard. Btw, I marched Notre Dame, so I'm not claiming to be from one of the best bands in the US. I'm just saying that A&M also definitely isn't. Another band who loves to claim they're amazing in quality but definitely aren't is Purdue. 😂
Born and bred Ohioan, die hard Buckeye fan, I did see it and loved your reaction! Harder to get a scholarship to the band than any sport at the university, they TRULY are the pride of the Buckeyes ❤❤❤❤❤
I always loved crowd pleaser shows like this!!! Whenever you hit a set and the crowd sees it materialize and then they go, "Ohhhh... YAYYYY!!!!" and you're on the field, part of the formation... A+ feeling. And to answer you about how long it takes to practice this... Generally college marching bands have to make a new show for each new home show! Sometimes that can be one week in between, or two, but its not usually much more than that!!!
takes about a week, but i had a fraternity brother who played snare for a major big time football school. first things first you either have the ability to pick it up and remember it quick or you dont. that being said they practiced alot. a ton of time goes into it. they practiced just as much as the football team
I am a Michigander tried and true! While I am not a Wolverine fan normally (MSU - GO GREEN GO WHITE), I certainly am a fan one game every year... when they play the OSU Bucknuts (keeping it PG 😉). HAVING SAID THAT, I have always, currently, and will for all time refer to the OSU Marching Band, properly, as The Best Damn Band in the Land.
I was in marching band from 7th-12th grade as a member of the color guard (the flags). It's definitely a lot of work, but I was incredibly fit from the running around. I've been to the Peach Bowl marching band competition, and it's such an amazing experience. And ACC's are huge as well
Heyyy me too! I completely agree with you. Band camp was a lot of fun but brutal in FL. I was always miffed that Marching Band didn’t count as a PE credit.
In terms of entertainment value, none top the OSU marching band. But in terms of sheer mezmorisation, and technical proficiency and drill, you’ll want to see the Texas A&M marching band.
A different style to be sure. Precision military-style marching drills (TAMU is a military school, theoretically), but those words do not begin to describe what they do. If you look for a TAMU video, make sure it includes their 'four-way cross', which defies the laws of physics.
I was in my high school marching band and our director was a drum and bugle corp director back in the day...we won several state and regional championships, and my sister joined a drum and bugle corp after high school where she met her husband.
I was in a marching band in high school that competed in the state fair. Our band was in the top five for over 10 years. It takes days and hours of practice to get each form right while playing the music in time. I heard hundreds of "One more time" each summer. It was awesome when we finally got it right.
Our High School Bands do the same kind of Field Shows at all Home football games. Not as elaborate as this but we did Field Shows too all throughout my High School years and we travelled and competed against other Marching Bands through the year. So much hard work but so much fun too! You become like a family in band because you spend so much time working together. I’ve been out of High School for 37 years and my best friends were mostly from band and even though we live all over the Country in different States we still stay in touch with each other. Life long friendships made in Band but most of us started out in Band in 5th Grade together and went all through school together so by the time you get to High School you’ve already had 4 years of practicing together, getting to know one another, working together, helping carry each others band equipment in and out of whatever competition we were at, and traveling on cramped busses together being up close and personal. We argue sometimes but we have to learn to forgive and get along and we look out for each other. I grew up during the late 70’s and 80’s when guys still looked out for us girls. Always felt safe with the Band guys no matter what competition we were at, no matter how far from home. They took looking out for us serious and we loved it and them. Miss those days.❤
I've been in the BYU Cougar marching band for a couple of years now playing the alto saxophone and it's a lot of hard work and dedication but absolutely worth it! Especially doing the fight song when the team comes out and pregame and much more! We appreciate it when the crowd goes wild. It's a lot of memorization, counting, and repeating the steps/counts over and over again- repetition definitely helps. It also takes a second to memorize and get used to the music and also the formations.
You might like the Drum corps international marching championships if you like this. I’m a former band and color guard nerd so I love it. OSU is great, love seeing what they come up with.
Great job, Adam! You are one of the few outside the US, that I’ve seen, who actually knows it’s the Eye Of Sauron and the Golden Snitch. 😂 Loving your college content but then, we always do. 😁
I played trombone in my high school marching band, and we played Superman too. The shield was one of the hardest formations we had to learn, but we were one of the few high school marching bands that had enough members to do it. 240 members!
There's a lot that goes into this , the kids usually start in the marching band while in middle school , next high school and then college . You have the learning of the music , the timing and the directions to form the pictures ! A lot of practice in the band room and on the field . The band members usually spend 2 or more hours practicing after school everyday . There is a Tournament in the south called The Southern Invitational Music Festival where High School bands compete against each other . There are many schools that have done or trying to do away with the band programs ! Here's a suggestion you should check out . Voctave doing their rendition of The Great Movie Medley . I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it ! Also Voctave has a spacious rabbit hole !
Alumni of the Michigan Marching Band here (as a cymbal on the drumline). Here were some of my favorite half-time shows for you to watch (we make fun of OSU in a more tasteful way in one of them, and (history lesson) we did the "famous" script ohio first): -places where we sing -fire up, it's Saturday -Halloween Spooktacular (combo with MSU's band) -We Remember -Room Where it Happens Watch the drumline when you can, because we add some flips and tricks during the shows too.
I’m glad you got the Lord of the Rings part! So many people who have done reactions to this video apparently haven’t seen it because they don’t get what movie it is from the intro line and don’t understand the formations. As others have also commented, check out the show the same band (OSU marching band/the best damn band in the land) did at an NFL in London game in I think 2015- British Invasion themed 🙂
Wonderful to see someone getting an introduction to college football halftimes with one of the top marching bands in the nation. Ohio State's band is considered to be one of the class acts and presents themselves as "The Best Damn Band In The Land". They have built a huge reputation over nearly 100 years of performances. And remember that all of these people are students who have to attend classes. I can't say for sure how much time they get to practice a show, but to the best of my knowledge the OSU band does a new halftime show for each home game, so they only get 1-2 weeks to learn each show. Now if my information regarding them is accurate every member of the band is enrolled in a 0.5 credit PE class to give them some credit for the time they spend. And it could be argued that their show is actually not the most difficult. They use a "corp style" of marching where they usually move in groups and have easily mapped locations to manuever to for each formation. They also get time to stand and play. There is an older style that requires a lot more marching and has less stand and play, but I'm not sure which bands still use it. The University of Michigan did at one time, as did UC Berkeley, but they may have stopped. You also have some "bands" that don't march, but use a scatter drill style where they'll stand in a rough formation to play and then run around until they jump into a new formation to play the next song. There actually is a huge amount of variability in the styles of shows, marching and music. But again, you found a great video to watch. They are one of the best.
College Football in the US is like a combination of a class reunion and a 3 day music festival with a football game at the end of it every weekend from Autumn through the end of January.
Imagine watching this along with a great football game. Most time they learn the formations in a week. They must perform top level cause they compete for a position in the band.
I'm a native Buckeye and I've been blessed to have seen a halftime in person! The tickets are super expensive, but me and my dad got tickets for $25 each right before kickoff (the start of the game)! It was so cool to see in person, and I'm planning to go to 2 games this upcoming season! Go Bucks, and O-H!
The Band does a new show for every home game, so they typically have one week (sometimes 2) to memorise all the drill, plus the music (they don’t carry music on the field). The Band is highly competitive - over 400 kids will try out each year for 235 spots in the Band, and seniority does not guarantee you a spot, you have to win it each year. Attendance for home games is ~105,000.
"How long does it take for them to learn this?" Like a week usually. Maybe 2-3 weeks if your team has a few away games in a row. But they learn a new halftime show for every home game. It's insane.
Funny really, I grew up living in Pennsylvania and loving Penn State, still do but OSU has kind of taken me over as I have lived here most of my adult life.
I've watched maybe 30 reactors watch this. I applaud you! I can only remember two that guessed The Lord of the Rings and the Eye of Sauron. The other was a family from New Zealand. You are one of only a few that got the golden snitch for Harry Potter. I have been appalled at that. Hope you watch a few more of OSU performances.
