Please rate / categorize the Vanderbilt marching band for me

LittleLostFlute
Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:40:28 +0000

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 (coughUTcough), 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: