Please rate / categorize the Vanderbilt marching band for me

gadad · 09-29-2009, 05:39 PM

My HS son, who is a good student and passionate about playing snare in the marching band, is interested in looking at selective universities that have strong marching bands. In order to help him assess the marching band programs at various schools, I'm asking CCers familiar with those programs to categorize their band on the following five-point scale.

Which of these styles of bands - listed from least to most intensive - most nearly describes the Vandy marching band?

0 No on-field performing band

1 A largely student-guided "scramble" band that plays loosely and performs satirical shows (e.g. seven of the Ivies, Stanford, Rice)

2 A largely student-guided marching band that performs as a fun extracurricular (e.g. Cornell)

3 A professionally-directed but non-competitive marching band that is open to all participants regardless of skill level (e.g., Duke, where the main draw of the marching band is that it's a prerequisite to getting into basketball games as a member of the Pep Band)

4 A serious performing band with membership by audition (most bands at schools with major college football programs might fall in this category)

5 A band that is nationally-recognized as one of the top marching band programs in the country (e.g. Michigan, Ohio State)

Thanks!

futureteacher · 09-29-2009, 07:38 PM

Dear Gadad
I have to admit, I know very little about 'band' lingo, so the terms in which you were looking for info have left me blank. HOWEVER, my daughter is a freshman at Vandy, she is a part of the danceline and the danceline is under the auspice of the band as they perform during half time of football games and basketball to the band music, so I do know a bit about the band itself currently. They are highly regarded in the SEC and while I do believe they are somewhat student driven and the band members are very involved with the day in and day out practices and other deatils of the band, Dr Dwane Sagen is the head of the band dept and an amazingly talents director of the band overall. He is The Dept Head for The Blair School of Music, having graduated from Northwestern University with a masters in Music and then PHd from Iowa. He is a fantastic person and someone who is truly interested and engaged with the band in all areas. If your son goes to visit Vandy has him meet eith Dr. Sagen, you cannot help but be impressed. Go to the Vandy web site, look under athletics and you will find a link to the 'band' dept info. It is worth perusing for sure. It will also give you links to articles that have been written about the band over the years and their outlook on philanthrophy, which is huge at Vandy.
hope that helps a little.

LittleLostFlute · 09-30-2009, 12:40 AM

Hopefully I can add a little more insight. I'm currently a senior at Vandy, and I've been in the band all 4 years (I play piccolo). According to your scale, I would say we're sitting at about a 3, although all new members must go through an audition process (mostly to ensure that they can read music). We usually march about 190, so we are considerably smaller than other SEC bands. However, having friends who have been/are in other bands (*cough*UT*cough*), the atmosphere in the Spirit of Gold is wayyy different. We are largely student-run (I'm a drill instructor this year, and was a uniform manager last year), although all final decisions ultimately go to the directors. A lot of the music we play has been arranged by band members/alums, and all the shows we do have student input. Our last show of the season ("the student show") is completely written and taught by band members, which is something most other schools don't do. The band also has members from other Nashville colleges that do not have football teams (and therefore, no marching band), which lets us meet people outside of the "Vanderbubble."

If you have any specific questions, feel free to PM me and I'll try my best to answer them.

Check out the Youtube channel for videos of the halftime shows we've done so far this year:
http://www.youtube.com/user/VUSpirit.../0/Xbf1YnZ44hE

gadad · 09-30-2009, 10:44 AM

Quote:

He is The Dept Head for The Blair School of Music, having graduated from Northwestern University with a masters in Music and then PHd from Iowa.

Those are some pretty serious credentials!

Quote:

We are largely student-run (I'm a drill instructor this year, and was a uniform manager last year), although all final decisions ultimately go to the directors. A lot of the music we play has been arranged by band members/alums, and all the shows we do have student input. Our last show of the season ("the student show") is completely written and taught by band members, which is something most other schools don't do.

That sounds like the best of both worlds to me.

Bridie · 09-30-2009, 12:17 PM

I'm going to be watching the marching band with a whole new eye when I go to the game on Sat. during parents weekend. I didn't know the music etc. was arranged by the students...another impressive thing about Vanderbilt.

gman225 · 09-30-2009, 06:24 PM

agree with lost flute. 2.5

gadad · 09-30-2009, 06:31 PM

LittleLostFlute - That's a fun video clip! Are the formations the band is making abstract or do they represent images related to the music?

LittleLostFlute · 09-30-2009, 09:01 PM

For the most part, they're abstract. I believe we made the Superman shield logo during the John Williams show, but other than that I'm not sure of the exact rhyme or reason for the sets. The assistant director, Gavin Smith, wrote the drill for those two shows. The drill for this weekend's game was written by Dr. Sagen, so it's pretty different from what you saw in those clips.

vandyobsessed · 10-02-2009, 11:19 PM

Wow, I decided to check out collegeconfidential for the first time since coming to vandy, and there's a band thread!

So I am a freshman in the Spirit of the Gold, and I would agree with Littlelostflute (hi!). My band experience so far has been absolutely fantastic, and has strongly shaped my experience here at Vandy. I marched flute all through high school, but wanted to try something different so I auditioned on sousaphone. As a new sousa player, it is true that it is extremely easy to be in the band no matter your level of ability, but I hear the danceline auditions can be competitive. I also feel that SOG plays very strong musically as many of our members are music majors at Blair or Belmont.

When I was looking at schools, the music program was very important to me. I came to Vanderbilt BECAUSE of blair, even though I am in engineering. I am able to take flute and tuba lessons in addition to my academic classes, and I love it. My time here has been overwhelmingly positive, and band has definitely lead the way for me. It's very easy for freshmen to be involved with the student-run aspect as well, its encouraged in fact.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me as well, and I can provide a frosh perspective!