Glad you reviewed an HBCU. I also marched for one while in college. Each HBCU band prides itself on having a unique style and sound, but definitely check out bands like Florida A&M, Southern, Norfolk, Tennessee State, Alabama A&M, North Carolina A&T just to get a few more examples of different unique styles.
Great video! Check out the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners. They’re very corps style and are highly respected in the university - they march between 450-500 in a school of 9,000 students. All their shows are great. It I’d recommend reacting to their closer from 2019!
You should definitely check JSU Marching southerners, they use the same arranger as my HS band and sometimes some of our old show music, so they they are very close to me! And of course florida state and university of south alabama have great marching bands too!
I've been in and around a lot of great marching bands in my life and the one time I was literally blown away was when I was on the 10th row of the stadium at JSU on the 40 yard line when the Marching Southerners gave their BOA exhibition performance. Absolutely unfathomable level of sound from that 500+ member talented band.
The bass drums in most HBCU bands aren’t actually tonal bass drums like we have in corps style shows, they’re actually tenors or “single tenors”. Some have tonal basses too
Fun fact- the Texas A&M band is a military-style band so they rely a lot less on dot books and coordinates, and a lot more so on following the person in front of them (with the exception of the drill movements where everyone moves at the same time) as well as the drum major's baton movements. It's a lot more conducive for marchers that have little to no previous experience, as well as making and learning the drill. That's also why their foot timing among other movements is more synchronized- because the style of marching focuses more on matching the person directly in front of you and guiding with your line Their style is so military-esque because the band is comprised of Corps of Cadet members and that also results in their shows looking like they're "rooted in the past." Along those lines, they mostly march at 120 BPM because they either mostly or entirely play marches like Semper Fi or The Stars and Stripes Forever
No wayyy!!! You need to get on WESTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY! pride of the mountains, you will not regret it! They went to BOA last year to preform exhibition as well so there might be a really good video out there. They have also won the sudler trophy for outstanding collegiate band!! Pretty plz 😂❤
You should watch the Purdue All-American Marching Band. Purdue University doesn’t have a music school but their directors are incredible and have one of the best balanced and sounding college marching bands. They have a dedicated RU-vid channel that posts fabulous videos (I recommend pregame show). Even if you don’t react to them, it will still be a great band to watch nonetheless! They have historically been one of the first bands to do many things. They were the first band to break ranks and create the iconic block “P” which has now led to all marching bands creating forms on the field.
I came from a college marching band (University of North Alabama) that had a semblance of drum corps mixed with traditional marching band. My days in the band, we had several people who marched Crown, Phantom Regiment and Music City. Our new assistant director March BD back in 2002 and taught with Blue Stars and Teal Sound.
Check out the University of Arizona Pride of Arizona when you get a chance, they are very different to most college bands by taking a more DCI approach to things. Very fun to be apart of their band.
I just marched my first ever college half time yesterday with The Florida State Marching Chiefs and it was such an amazing environment especially seeing people’s reactions to our forms during half time.
I’d love to see you watch more Ohio state and big 10 in general, I’ve tried out at Ohio state for a few years and it’s so difficult. I’m hoping to get in next year.
Glad to see an HBCU up here. You'd be surprised how many different styles there are within HBCU bands as well. You have your Madison Scouts, but you also have your Cavvies, Cadets, and BD equivalents in terms of just how many different approaches there are. Some great DCI cats also marched in HBCU bands (Ricardo Brown from Cadets/Bloo/Mandarins) comes to mind, and many of us like to infuse both DCI and traditional techniques. My HS band director was Ken Bodiford (Spirit, and now at Jacksonville State) and he put me on to DCI when he gave me a cassette tape of the 1988 DCI finals (Madison is still my favorite show of all time). Two former students of mine, Ralph Nader and Alex Blake, marched BD and have a few rings. But yeah, you'd be surprised at the depth and history you'd find among HBCU bands.
You should absolutely check out the Marching Southerners at JSU in Jacksonville Alabama. 100% will be worth the listen. Sound wise there isnt another band that comes CLOSE in my opinion
I'd love to see you react to the Western Kentucky University Marching Band's 2018 Show. I had a friend who played mello there and I always went up for home games to see them play. Their band is very slept on because it isn't some Top Tier university, but they have a phenomenal music program!
There are certainly some amazing college marching bands. Cool to see all of the recommendations in these comments - I'm going to check out the ones I'm not already aware of as being stand-out programs. If I had to pick ONE college band to recommend Funliner react to, though, it would hands-down be the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners. The sound their 500+ member band tucked away in rural Alabama produces is unreal. Even better, go see them live.
You should react to the University of Texas longhorn Marching band field walk-on it’s epic !! Also Louisiana Southern Marching band… their trombone section throws down 🔥 especially with a song called black and blues
DO LSU. I’ll shout “Let the band PLAY NECK” all damn day, but I think it sometimes gets in the way of just how good the LSU band really is. The Veterans Day halftime is always AMAZING.
I have no idea why OSU is given love while a genuinely talented and technically proficient band like MSU is just overlooked. The drumlines and sound quality in Brass don’t compare lmao
I’m a little biased, but you should check out the Blugold Marching Band University of Wisconsin Eau Claire There’s over 450 of us at a D3 college in some random town in Wisconsin. More people come to football games for us than the actual football game
Of course, there are some corps style college marching bands. The following is from my freshman year at Marshall University in 1997. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-woD_6yNfi0k.htmlsi=avjMVZAPdENaMV0z
Oh yes I think this is a common trait across the college professor sphere really should be encouraging it if they want a stellar guard brass and drum line
The University of Alabamas Million Dollar Band has probably the most under rated band. It’s never really talked about anywhere but they are really good
I'm currently a second year in OSU's marching band and I think it's awesome that a DCI youtuber is reviewing people like us! It's really humbling 😊. Anyways, I really enjoy your DCI content, keep it up man!
For the future, University of Wisconsin Eau Claire has a giant marching band for size. 475 marchers this year in a school of 10k. Our assistant director is David Lofy of the Madison Scouts. We’re very much a fun style band, not really corps focused, not military, not big 10. We do drill, but nothing insane. I highly recommend anything from 2018-2023, but anytime is good. Look up the Blugold Marching Band!!
I should mention, the band is entirely student run, minus our director and assistant director. All drum majors are students, music and visuals are taught by students, equipment managers are students, etc. Numbers wise, this year we have 70 something trumpets, and 50+ trombones
Fantastic choice of bands! I’m so glad you looked at OSU! You should also look at the Ohio University Marching 110. Ohio is proud to have two fantastic marching bands that are less than 60 miles apart from each other!
Honestly, college marching has never been my thing. I've only ever played in corps-style groups and other styles influenced by the drum corps activity. I don't know if I ever will do college band. For me, at least, competition in the judges and scores sense is kind of a must if I want to do any kind of marching activity. That being said, I really appreciate what college marching is in the context of what it's there for. It's still talented musicians doing cool things.
Hey, I’m writing this comment with the presumption that you may or may not know about the style that the Aggie band uses, which is actually a very popular style used here in Texas called military, marching and military marching comes with its own stepsize which is 6 to five and contains many of its own drill, moves such as TTRs flanks crossover’s, and more very specific military style marching moves. The schools, including college and high school, here in Texas obviously have Core marching, but we have military style marching at some high schools too and the military, marching side to high school actually has its own competitive league just like core marching in Texas has the UIL state marching competition.
If you do a part 2, react to West Chester Iniversity. They are the most similar to any sort of drum corps/high school marching band from what I've found
I will second the vote for West Chester University from PA. First D2 school to be awarded the Sudler shield. They will be in the Rose Parade this New Years Day and at the festival of bands they will be performing their field show “In Bloom”. The guard is the best collegiate group and the drill, music and pageantry are at corps level.
You should check out the West Chester University Incomparable Golden Rams Marching Band! Very drum corps oriented college band in terms of show design, we even use props! We're also the only D2 school top receive the sudler trophy which is also pretty neat. I'd recommend watching either our 2018 show at BOA Grand Nats or our 2021 show at the collegiate marching band festival at J Birney.
I recommend watching Michigan State's marching band, they play with highest level of sound and drill that I've seen in college marching band. I also believe that the BIG 10 conference and other schools in the midwest region have the best performance style and traditions.
Auburn University has an awesome show that they partnered with the engineering department for- their honoring America halftime show from 2021! They use a combination of drill and lights to do some really cool stuff.
Please do University of Alabama 2023. The level of music from the front ensemble is easily at a top 12 drum core level with many of our marimbas marching in DCI this year. I think you would enjoy our show!
I HATE the $¢ band with a passion. Mainly because they’re rude and arrogant to other bands. However, the Trojan Band is leaps and bounds better than both the Ohio State and Texas A&M bands in terms of talent (though the clip you chose didn’t really showcase them well). As a musician and a band nerd, I just don’t see how Ohio State’s band is so overrated. Texas A&M is its own thing so and they are good at it. I would get really bored playing music at 120bpm and 8-to-5 all the time though. I love HBCUs! My only issue with them is that they overblow their instruments. I think you should be comparing pregame shows because it’s when college bands shine, shows their traditions, and showcases their marching styles better. I never thought college band would be as fun and amazing as I thought it would be when I marched with the Cal Band. I miss those days.
TBDBITL is ALL TRADITION. The reason we do 8-5 and 6-5 all the time is cause it’s how we stay clean. That’s why it’s super militaristic. That’s why we focus so heavily on chair stepping. It’s all tradition and the things that we do make it easier to control your movements diagonally and doing crossovers.
I think you tapped into a new market doing analysis of college bands! I'd love to see more. I was a part of Kansas State's marching band. In 2015, they received the Sudler trophy, which honors the nation's top collegiate college band. I'm partial to 2010's Glee show. There's a sweet percussion feature, while the rest of the band does some cool drill marching. The pre-game drill is also rooted in some heavy tradition, most notably the Wabash Cannonball. Keep up the great work!
