Marching Bands

Miscellaneous discussions. Things that don't have anything to do with Western, Leatherneck Athletics, college sports in general, etc.
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wiu712
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The NIU Marching Band looked small at Saturday's game.

I am a NIU grad and have seen a lot of NIU games over the years. I have never seen the NIU Band as small as it was on Saturday.

The Western Marching Band has been smaller in the past 2 years. And so has the Monmouth College Marching Band.

Is this all part of a current trend ??? Is the popularity of a marching band not as attractive for students ???
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sealhall74
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Illinois may be suffering from the same problems that Califormia has. Budget issues have something to do with it.
Here is a very scholarly article about their situation.

http://www.californiamusicproject.org/R ... enceq.html

I also think technology may play a role in the decline. A lot of the music we hear today is composed and autotuned 100% electronically. Walking around with a manually-controlled musical instrument probably seems like ancient stuff to young kids today. However, some colleges have made strides incorporating the electronic music into their marching band repertoire. Western Carolina comes to mind.
Embrace the pace of the race.
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sealhall74
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I just watched the latest rendition of WCU band. I think I even saw a frickin' drone or two flying around during their half-time show. Now that is pushing the envelope "big league", to borrow a well-know Trumpism.

[youtube][/youtube]
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wiu712
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sealhall74 wrote:I just watched the latest rendition of WCU band.
WOW! That was impressive. Their enrollment is approx. 10,000. Not much different than Western.
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ST_Lawson
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Yea, WCU is known for being very much in the style of the modern drum corps. The problem for Western is a lack of $. If we had a lot more money, we could hire staff that know how to do that type of stuff, as well as being able to afford the equipment necessary to do it. That stuff isn't cheap and not everyone can design for it well (and those that can get a pretty decent salary/consulting fee to do it).

Last year the bands office budget was cut by 35% and because of that, they've been unable to travel to any of the nearby away games that they otherwise would have liked to go to (Illinois and Illinois State last year, Eastern and/or Northern this year).
Scott Lawson - Board Admin
Western Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000
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