German reacts to the TEXAS A&M AGGIES MARCHING BAND (4 WAY CROSS) 

I am actually marching in this video, whoop! Drummer ‘18

I have auditions for the A&M marching band in a couple of months... y’all wish me luck

It's Republic of Texas my friend. Texas A & M, Corps of Cadets Marching Band... we take shit seriously here. GIG 'EM!

Hey Marvin! I was in the Corps of Cadets from 2011-2015 and now live in Germany. Glad you enjoyed it! Makes me proud to watch back on those performances and see you enjoy it. 😊

In case you are interested: Texas A&M, the oldest university in Texas, had more alumni serve as officers in WW2 than all of the U.S. military service academies combined did. American football teams field eleven players, but the Aggies have The Twelfth Man tradition. To show their readiness to substitute into the game to help their team, A&M students stand throughout their football games.

This was my last drill on Kyle Field as a senior in Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band! Thank you for posting this video! I love seeing reaction videos like this! - A-Co ‘18

I was in this drill my freshman year. Just finished my last year in the band and it has been an incredible experience. Let me tell you, we LOVE reaction videos like this! We all live in the same dormitory, so we go up and down the halls quoting lines from reaction videos. Thank you for watching and I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks and Gig Em! -C-Battery '21

Glad you enjoyed the greatest university band in the world....an Aggie Mom

My son is currently in the middle of his Junior year at Texas A&M Galveston, Sea Aggies. Studying Marine Engineering. GIG'EM 👍

Nobody beats the Aggie Band. But it is a military precision marching band which is a completely different genre than other colleges' bands. It's possible to enjoy their performances too. But nobody beats the Aggie Band.

Years ago televised college football games would air the half-time shows of the marching bands. Always a sight to see. Sadly now we don't get to see those performances during the halftimes anymore and usually just have announcers recapping what we just saw or talking about other games along with a ton more commercials.

Some of these formations are ruled impossible by drill programs, as sets have multiple people on the same coordinate at the same time. The Fightin Texas Aggie Band likes those odds.

Reveille is the mascot. She lives with one of the Sophomore Cadets and apparently goes everywhere that cadet goes. Sousaphones are the large tuba-like instruments. A&M is big on tradition, you say HOWDY to everyone you see on campus and they say HOWDY right back.

Dedication, discipline, and devotion, greatest college band period.

I was a ‘01 AGGIE BAND MOM, WE WERE THE MOST PROUD. I NEED TO MENTION THAT THE AGGIE BAND LEARNS A NEW PERFORMANCE EVERY WEEK,.....EVERY WEEK. WE ARE THE BAND OF THE NATION. WHOOP ‘01. Thank you for showing the cross through👍

So wholesome I am not in the band but I’m in the Corps of Cadets and this makes me so proud of our band 🥰 Gig ‘em!!

Hello, Marvin! I love listening to non-Americans reacting to such a very American thing. I spent many years in marching bands, and this is something that we did in junior high school (ages 11 to 14), high school (ages 14 to 18), and throughout university. My father taught a marching band, and I was its mascot -- four years old, marching with his band. This tradition is just something that Americans take for granted: if you play a wind or percussion instrument, you'll be in marching band. You'll learn to play your instrument while marching like this, and/or while dancing (look at Kyoto Tachibana High School Marching Band for a great example of a Japanese high school doing this). And you do it almost entirely as the halftime break between quarters of American football, while people just get up and go to the bathroom or get a drink or socialize, because they see it as just some boring thing that happens between halves of their sports game. Maybe a third or a quarter of game attendees actually stay and watch all the hard work we put in. In fact, all throughout school, every marching band would come up with a whole different show -- different music, different choreography -- every single week during the football season. 12 weeks or so, 12 different shows. So few people actually pay attention at all. We often forget that it's actually a very hard thing to do, so hearing someone react who hasn't seen anything like it before is very gratifying! Thank you for being impressed with it and reminding me that actually, we accomplished some very cool and amazing things. It feels great to hear that. Thank you.

Kyle Field capacity is 102, 733.

Great call! Glad you watched one of the more complicated routines!!! The instruments you were looking at were mostly saxophones, though there were some trumpets on the left of the screen. At the leading edge of the band is Bugle Rank, 12 seniors chosen largely for their marching ability and leadership skills. While they hold the bugle to their lips to begin the routine, they are rarely played, and, from my recollection, it's NEVER in tune when they do, so they don't do it...they are for show. 3:24 was a "TAM" extraction to face the student body. The Aggie Band traditionally makes a block T formation to end its drills. As you guessed, T for Texas. Sometimes they do a "TAM" to reflect Texas A&M's logo. Marching that into the formation requires more than a little bit of coordination. How is it possible? From the centerline of a person to centerline of a person, they march 60 inches apart. It looks WAY less from the side, but you have about 3-6 inches of clearance on either side of you when marching through the band. They practice these step sizes for the entire year, so they are VERY precise. 15 years after leaving the Aggie Band, I had to mark out a distance of 100 yards (~100m) just by marching and counting out 120 steps. It was later measured and found to be off by less than 2 inches (6cm) You asked HOW they did the 4 way drill. Every 2 steps, someone's left foot is either between another person's feet or their feet are straddling said left foot. As the right foot comes forward, the other person's right foot moves out of the way simultaneously. For that ONE step, they are clear of other bandsmen. The next step puts them in the opposite configuration (if your foot was between another's feet last time, you're now straddling a person's foot and vice versa). Your shoulders are SUPPOSED to brush as you pass them and you angle your upper body toward the person you're "colliding" with. in practice, usually, your sleeves get rolled up. While everyone (except the trombones) play their instruments in the 4-way cross through, it's WAY important to get your instrument in the correct position. If not, your instrument can be ripped from your hands and there is NO going back to retrieve it. I remember a saxophone that was flattened when dropped. I distinctly remember the first time I went through the 4-way at Kyle Field. The roar of the crowd was so much that I couldn't hear MYSELF play. What you may not have noticed is that the drum major is in the MIDDLE of the 4-way cross through (the one with the mace conducting the band) JUST left of the 50 yard line. The largest horns are sousaphones. They are the marching equivalent of a tuba and designed by John Phillip Sousa, a prominent marching band composer. At A&M, they don't call them sousaphones, but bass horns. Unless mocking them, they are NEVER called "tubas"...it has the letters "t.u." in them, our appointed abbreviation for our archrival the University of Texas (we call them "t.u." for "the university"...always in lowercase to further indicate our contempt for them). The opening song is the Aggie War Hymn, which was actually written in Germany by one of our former cadets, J.V. Pinky Wilson while he was performing guard duties on the Rhine river...during WWI (water under the bridge for the hostilities, my friend) To answer some of your questions, at the end of the performance, the entire Corps of Cadets joined the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band on the field. Band members are members of the Corps of Cadets which is, effectively, a military school within a larger University. At the time, the Corps of Cadets was approximately 2300 cadets, so your estimate wasn't far off! Yes, that was Reveille, the mascot of the University. She's an American Collie and is the highest ranking Cadet in the Corps, a Cadet General. She lives with the cadets and even goes to classes with her handler. If she hops on your bed in the evening, you get to find somewhere else to sleep...you don't dare disturb her. If she barks during class, traditionally, class is dismissed as the professor's material "clearly wasn't interesting enough". If you're ever in the States during the fall when we DON'T have a global pandemic, let me know. I can probably hook you up with some tickets so you can watch them in-person and perhaps even meet some band members. You're welcome any time!

Yes, that's the mascot - a collie named Reveille. Americans love our football & marching bands.

Yes sir! Aggies always win halftime!!! Thanks fro reacting!

I would like to see a college football game between Texas A&M and Ohio State. Yeah, two good football programs, but to see the A&M band, and The Best Damn Band In The Land would be worth the price of admission.

The saying at A&M is our band can beat up your football team 😂

I have goosebumps the entire time I watch them perform. Every time I watch them perform. 20' A Whoop!

HAHAHAHA!!!!!! I knew you'd love the 4 way cross and was NOT disappointed in the reaction! Another Texas A&M tradition worth noting is at 8:44 you see there's 5 people in white, one on each side of the T and three that walk down to stand on the sideline with the three drum majors. These are cadets known as the "Yell Leaders". In the US if your school has a sports team, it also has a squad of cheer leaders, but not Texas A&M, we have Yell Leaders. Yell Leaders do not do the gymnastics that traditional cheer leaders do, they do however lead the student section (and I'm sure several other sections) in yells much the same as a cheer leader would, but with way more success. The Yell Leaders use hand signals called "Pass backs" to inform the students/fans what yell is coming up. An example would be: Closed fist rotating around each other in alternating directions; everyone knows that's going to be "Farmers Fight". They they also use gestures to help everyone yell in time. On a normal game day, couldn't usually hear what yell was being yelled, but with the COVID restrictions, you could sure tell at a home game!

Gig ‘Em!!

Not an Aggie but I have marched in a military-style marching band before and the key to how it's done is just a meticulous amount of math and practice, every person marching has a series of numbers and moves memorized that allows them not to collide with anyone else throughout the drill. Military Style marching bands are a primarily Texas thing, with a handful of high schools marching military (it's cheaper for rural schools than other styles because there's no props and traditionally no color guard) and Texas A&M. The precision and the math behind it is absolutely beautiful.

Hey, Marvin, another thing you may not have known about these marching bands you're watching: A good marching band has to have a good drill writer. A drill writer is someone who plots out on paper where everyone will be, where every instrument will be, and what direction they will be facing at every point in the music. This is very important for the band to be able to achieve a well-balanced sound on the field at every point in their show. A good drill writer has to have a good grasp not only on the music itself, but also on how the timbre of each type of instrument sounds on the field, and he has to have a solid understanding of how acoustics work on the field.

Class of '88. If anyone has a DCI video of a 4-way Cross, share it. I sincerely doubt ANY other band in the world is doing this. Gig 'em, Aggies!

Texas A@M and Ohio States Marching bands are some of the Best in the World

THAT WAS ONE MORE BEAUTIFUL SIGHT. I LOVE TEXAS AND M SPORTS FOOTBALL AND LADYS BASKETBALL.

There were over 2000 Cadets that made up the Block T. Always breathtaking!

Gig ‘em! Traditions are big here at A&M and we love our Fightin’ Texas Aggie band!!

long hours and practice. They are awesome cadets!!! 😍😍😍😍

My dorm was right by the field where the band practiced. The band practiced A LOT.

I understand if you don't want to do a video on it, but the 2020 4 way cross is one of the most difficult drills the band has done in the last 40 years. I highly recommend watching it

I grew up as a wee boy in the College Station area. Instrumental music was emphasized ridiculously in that immigrant German region. I did all of this, and appreciate the regional emphasis.

Gen George Patton said "Give me an Army of West Point Graduates and I'll win a battle, but give me a handful of Texas Aggies and I'll win a War" I was stationed in your beautiful country for 7 years, wish I had never left

I love my hometown band. I don't even understand football. I just went to see the band! And scream when the canon blew for the touchdown! #gigem

I was at this game and filmed this from the other side of the stadium!

I currently go to that school. It’s pretty impressive to see a game in person! So, here’s some info I can give you as a regular schoolgoer. I am not a part of the Corps of Cadets, the guys who are in the band and make the T at the end. Most of Corps guys are going to be in the military, and are getting military style training. That’s why the routines are high precision and unified. It’s a lot of work for those guys. The corps is the largest student group on campus, making up around 5 thousand people. The field that they’re at, Kyle field, can seat 100k people. And, 100k people is roughly the population of students, both undergraduate and graduate. The school is growing fast and recently overtook a Florida school to be the largest in the USA. The students do not sit down during football games, and doing so is looked down upon. Almost all of the students, even in the stands are taught the various yells that you saw, even the whooping! There are different yells for each of the 4 classes. You were right! The dog is our mascot, her name is Reveille IX, the 9th in line. By technicality, she is the highest of command in the Corps of cadets, and is often referred to as “Queen Reveille.” One Corps student is assigned as her handler and she is often seen around campus, accompanying whoever her handler is in their classes.” I am an engineering major, and our engineering department is one of the best in the country, rivaled only by schools of similar standing and beaten by private schools specifically for science, like MIT, Stanford, and Ivy League schools. A&M ends up being a great bargain since it is similarly ranked and is a public school, being much cheaper. Let me know if you would like to know more! :)

I lived in one of the dorms right next to the practice field my Freshman and sophomore year. Nothing like a 6:00AM wake up call most mornings. You eventually get used to it, but damn are they loud 🎉 Class of '08.

Whoop! Wow what a performance

They say that the very best marching band in the world is a High School band from Japan. I can personally testify that I am not a band geek of any fashion, but I sincerely enjoy two things: The Texas A&M University Fightin' Texas Aggie Band, and The Kyoto Tachibana High School Green Band

Marvin your reaction was priceless

Precision at its finest

Gig 'em Aggies!! #whoop!!!

Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. Whoooooop!

The dog is Miss Revelries, the highest ranking officer in the corp of cadets and the school mascot. It’s said that if she barks in class that that class is canceled for the day. She is cared for by one of the members of the corp.

I am a tuba player in a marching band and this stuff is extremely hard

Gig 'em from the class of '22👍

Texas A&M always reminds me of the marching we would do “for fun” on Sundays during basic training.

Dude, I love how you just get right into it. Wish more videos just got to the point.

Love at 2:30 "this is so confusing"...just you wait my friend, just you wait

This was such a fun video to watch as an aggie. GIG EM! 🥰

Another Aggie here. Glad you liked the performance. That band and their continued excellence is the heart and soul of every A&M football game. Gig Em!

GIG ‘EM AGGIES!

Marching band computer programs state that the 4 way cross canNOT be done because it puts too many people in the same spot.

You noticed the aggie call texas a and m agriculture and mechanical. A place where farmers could send there sons and daughters to school to get an education and bring it home to the farm for betterment of family. The whoooooop is a way to call cattle out of the overgrown riverbottoms in texas to the clearer fields or high ground. Its still in use today. A little sweet feed pellet trains them to come when called, to get a treat and allows them to be counted and observed for medical intervention etc. A school slogan is fight farmers fight! Whooop!

Yes, the Aggies mascot is a border collie.

Ooooooo it still gives me goose bumps

Gig'em Marvin! 👍

Best band ever!! Glad you enjoyed it! Gig ‘em Aggies!!👍🏼

So you like how we train our military band. You should see how we train our soldiers!

Gig'em aggies 👍🏻💪🏻💪🏻

Military marching on the elite level

400 band members plus all the graduating seniors on the field at once.

You should watch some videos about the texas a&m mascot "reveille"

The big shiny instruments are called “Bass Horns” or “Basses”. The freshman polish them before every game. I was a Bass Horn player in FTAB many years ago. To get a unique perspective there’s some videos of a person wearing a go pro going through the 4 way Cross.

This is precision marching and playing. Texas A&M is good at it. There are other groups that know how to to put on shows on the field. Here in the US one finds a wealth of marching band talent..

Your reaction warmed my heart! As a proud member of the Fight'n Texas Aggie class of 2014, some of my fondest memories are watching the band ❤ they are truly incredible every single time you see them perform!

In high school we marched military style my freshman and sophomore year, then the new band director changed us to “corp style” (curves and free form) popular in today’s schools. What isn’t seen is the planning by the band director in choosing the music and planning out the military drill formation so that it all works. TAMU class of ‘92

Has anyone recommended DCI? If not, I’ll start. You should definitely watch the Blue Devils 2014’s program, Felliniesque. Also, say squirrel please.

It is a tuba ! I love how they squat when they turn.

I wish you could find Troy University their pregame is awesome! Don’t want to spoil it, but they play into the stadium like a colosseum!!!

I really enjoy your reactions. The word in English for the instrument you referenced is "sousaphone."

The people who ran on at the end, if I heard correct, were our cadets they will be, if they make it, our future officers in the Army.

Earned my sub man! Keep doing you and putting out great videos!

So a few fun facts... the software that is commonly used to route the routines for bands is not used by Texas A&M because it cannot comprehend that two people need to occupy the same place, so they have to draw out the routines by hand still. In the four way cross, people actually have to occupy the same space which is why they have to bump into each other like that. The "whoop" you hear is a privilege earned by Juniors and Senior (uni students in their 3rd or 4th year) or alumni. You watch a special performance where the Seniors in the corps of cadets are honored, which is why so many of them were on the field. Also, not every student at Texas A&M is in the corps, so you saw maybe 25% of the senior class of Texas A&M University.

Does Germany have any exhibitions of a similar type? I would love to see them. Maybe they should invite the Texas Aggies to perform for the next World Cup?

WHOOP GIG 'EM '81

Farmer’s Fight!

For a different version of a US band (high stepping) you should watch the Southern Unniversity Human Jukebox band, they are awesome.

hehe very good reaction! go a&m :)

Hallo aus Amerika! Meine Familie wohnen in der Nähe von Stuttgart. Ich wohnte in Altena-Evingsen (in der Nähe von Iserlohn/Dortmund. Tschüss!!

Want to watch a truly unique band? Watch any Kyoto Tachibana HS video & when you do remember they are just in High School, but be prepared to become addicted.

GIG EM👍

Earned urself a follow, and those big instruments are called trombones

Hallo Marvin , freut mich, dass dich die Aggie Marching Band so begeistert ! Aber life ist das ganze noch viel faszinierender ! Also, auf nach Aggieland während Football Season !

Texas Aggie marching band 400+ band members!

It’s been seriously said that the band has to be in better shape than the football team.

The big brass instrument is a sousaphone. I have no idea how they manage to navigate all this with one of those on them.

When I would go to games at Kyle Field, I always got a kick watching the bass drums and tuba (large horns) making the turns, they always really exaggerated the turns, and since they were usually the last groups to go through, you could easily see them. The songs the band is playing are almost always the same, from one performance to the next, so they don't have to concentrate so much on learning new songs for each performance, and they can just concentrate on being in sync with their movements. I also contend that, while the sport of American football does rely on the yardage markings on the field for parts of the game, another significant reason that those markings are still on the field is for marching bands at the high school and collegiate level, since they use those markings to help coordinate the marching performances, i.e., "you should be at this spot on the field at this point in the song".

React to #3 Georgia Highlights Vs. #2 Oklahoma | Rose Bowl 2018 please!

Welcome to Aggieland Marvin.

Whoop!

The more intricate routines are computer generated, then put into fruition on the field. The "computer" said the 4 Way Cross was not possible because members would be running into each other. Watch closely and you will see band members drop a shoulder, point their instrument down, etc just to make it happen

You should check out the Purdue University All-American Marching Band! Especially our pregame show, where we do a very different style of marching called the chair step!

That's Miss Reveille. Not " a dog". Study up. It's amazing

THAT IS THE TEXAS FLAG