Well since I move out of the state in June this will be my 1st time in 10 years I won't be at a WIU football game. I hope to catch some on ESPN3. There is something I want to share, and hear your thoughts, on the lack of a pregame show and marching band. My 1st ever WIU game was back in 2006 against Morehead St. The final year of the wooden bleachers and the pit for tailgating. I was excited thinking that there will be some kind of school traditions or routines. Obviously that is drinking yourself stupid at the pregame. I am an odd person when it comes to games as I like to arrive early to see the pregame shows. In 2006 I remember the WIU band use to march in formation by walking from one end of the endzone to the other and forming a W at the 50 while playing the Marine Corps Hymn. I thought that was cool. I have never seen that again. Hell for a while, the band stopped playing the hymn for a few years. I remember the band used to pay attention to the game and played appropriate music at the right time, also their famous chant for the WIU offense near the endzone, "free beer in the endzone score necks score."
Over the last 10 years I have noticed that the pregame seems to be lackluster and the band doesn't seem to pay attention to the games anymore. I was hoping with the new video board that pregames will change, but it has not really. At my high school, fans interact with the band. The band will play "Hey, Look me Over" behind the home bench and the fans will clap to the song. It is tradition to get the fans ready. It is such a favorite it is played a 2nd time when the band is making some kind of formation of the high school letters, and the fans do the same clap. There is nothing like that at WIU in any way. I am hoping I can give some suggestions that can be sent to the AD offices and Band Director by some of our influential alumni.
- 1st, continue to play the Marine Corps Hymn while marching into a W formation. This shows our respect of the tradition of Rock Hanson getting us the Leatherneck name, to the men and women of the corps, and the school history as the W seems to be coming back.
- 2nd, a video history of the leatherneck football program similarly like how the Blackhawks show before every home game. Coach Fisher is the 1st coach that has said he wants the past to come back to help and teach the current Necks. Doing a video history will help.
- 3rd, a hype video of the upcoming game. Play some music and find good highlights to get the fans blood pumping to cheer on the team.
- 4th, after the coin toss and before the kickoff, whoever is in charge of music at the game should play WWE's Triple H theme song "The Game" If you have not heard it, look it up on YouTube. Tell me how that song does not fire up anyone before a game.
- 5th, have the marching band play new and appropriate music during the game. Let's face everyone does the ESPN theme song and the Darth Vader song and it gets old. How hard is it to learn a new song to play for every home game? Also, why do the play the ESPN theme song on a 2 yard run or when the WIU QB gets sacked, and what is with that chant they do in the 3rd or 4th quarter. It has nothing to do with the game or to get the fans involved.
We all know that a winning team or program brings butts to the stadium, which I bet a lot of the more senior alumni have seen in the past, but changes to the pregame may bring just a few more then just the parents, die hards, locals, and students who are sober enough to watch the game. I know this school and program is hoping for some kind of revenue and they need to find new methods to expand to get new and more fans to attend games outside of Macomb and McDonough County. I hope some of these changes happen and the guys have a successful year.
Always a Leatherneck.
Pregame/Band Improvement
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sealhall74
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Good ideas, certainly worth a try. Like you, I love to show up early, walk around, catch the warmups, and get into the right frame of mind. My two cents worth is this:
1) If we had some nice pre-game traditions on the field and video board, few would see the show. I dont go to a lot of WIU home games living out of state. However, from what I have seen, I think we suffer from the perpetually-slooooooow arriving crowd syndrome (on the flipside, I guess that means our tailgating is really really good) and I am not just talking football. That has to change. People need to have butt in seats at least before opening kickoff.
2) We need a gameday choreographer who is in constant communication with the leader of the band, they guy at the controls of the video board, and the DJ responsible for the canned music. That guy/gal is responsible for what tune gets played and when. If the band has a favorite chant or yell, why not let the rest of the crowd in on it by splashing it on the video board. Also, the canned music should NEVER be louder than the band music (i.e. make them both loud). Just a dumb question, but I will ask it anyway. Is the band seating area already wired up with juice and jacks? If not, we need to address that in the near future. I am not a traditionalist when it comes to music. Electronic instruments in the marching band can be effective and IMO, we need to include some of it.
You are lucky I only have two cents and not a Susan B. Anthony on me.
1) If we had some nice pre-game traditions on the field and video board, few would see the show. I dont go to a lot of WIU home games living out of state. However, from what I have seen, I think we suffer from the perpetually-slooooooow arriving crowd syndrome (on the flipside, I guess that means our tailgating is really really good) and I am not just talking football. That has to change. People need to have butt in seats at least before opening kickoff.
2) We need a gameday choreographer who is in constant communication with the leader of the band, they guy at the controls of the video board, and the DJ responsible for the canned music. That guy/gal is responsible for what tune gets played and when. If the band has a favorite chant or yell, why not let the rest of the crowd in on it by splashing it on the video board. Also, the canned music should NEVER be louder than the band music (i.e. make them both loud). Just a dumb question, but I will ask it anyway. Is the band seating area already wired up with juice and jacks? If not, we need to address that in the near future. I am not a traditionalist when it comes to music. Electronic instruments in the marching band can be effective and IMO, we need to include some of it.
You are lucky I only have two cents and not a Susan B. Anthony on me.
Embrace the pace of the race.
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Neckfansince71
- Posts: 1185
- Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2014 7:06 pm
"gameday choreographer"
I am in total agreement with this! Yes, victory on the field is the most important thing, but in some places the college game has become a spectacle seeping with tradition from the pregame show to the post game show. It's "collegiate!" I have had the opportunity to go to a number of other venues to watch college basketball and the best game show there is is at West Layette inside the basket arena! The huge band, cheerleaders, students, and fans are perfectly choreographed. Yes its pretty much the same every night, but everyone in the place gets it and responds accordingly. It can be done! But it takes time and cooperation. Put a headset on both the video board man and the band leader! Their cooperation with each other could really make the difference! jc
I am in total agreement with this! Yes, victory on the field is the most important thing, but in some places the college game has become a spectacle seeping with tradition from the pregame show to the post game show. It's "collegiate!" I have had the opportunity to go to a number of other venues to watch college basketball and the best game show there is is at West Layette inside the basket arena! The huge band, cheerleaders, students, and fans are perfectly choreographed. Yes its pretty much the same every night, but everyone in the place gets it and responds accordingly. It can be done! But it takes time and cooperation. Put a headset on both the video board man and the band leader! Their cooperation with each other could really make the difference!
jcWhen we played Appalachian State in that 2010 playoff game, I thought that their band had a good pre-game show. The crowd certainly got into it.
One thing to notice is that their band plays their Fight Song twice--once while facing the main stands, and then again facing the "visitors" side.
When I was going to Western, the band would spell out W-I-U in the pre-game. And the "W" was always different at every game.
The Western band used to have a post-game show--especially on Homecoming and Family Weekend. But that has not occurred for the past few years.
I remember one band gaffe from last year: Trenton Norvell got thrown for a big loss. The Western band played "That's the Way I Like It" (KC & The Sunshine Band). OOOPS! Probably not the best song to play given the circumstances. The family of one of the players was sitting in front of me. The Mom turned around and said "I can't believe that they are playing that".
One thing to notice is that their band plays their Fight Song twice--once while facing the main stands, and then again facing the "visitors" side.
When I was going to Western, the band would spell out W-I-U in the pre-game. And the "W" was always different at every game.
The Western band used to have a post-game show--especially on Homecoming and Family Weekend. But that has not occurred for the past few years.
I remember one band gaffe from last year: Trenton Norvell got thrown for a big loss. The Western band played "That's the Way I Like It" (KC & The Sunshine Band). OOOPS! Probably not the best song to play given the circumstances. The family of one of the players was sitting in front of me. The Mom turned around and said "I can't believe that they are playing that".
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sealhall74
- Posts: 6000
- Joined: Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:18 pm
- Location: Wherever, Windblows
Western Carolina rolls out a stage onto the field for their guitarists and drummers and have keyboardists along the sidelines. No marching duties for them but they blend in very well IMO. I don't think they have a copyright on this. I think when it comes to the arts, progressive thinking does wonders for recruiting. How many new music department personnel would it take?
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[youtube][/youtube]
Embrace the pace of the race.
Seal, the band performance and the leatherneck history on the video would be at different times. Kind of lead one and transition into the other. I am kind of disappointed more people are not talking about this. Either they are content with this or just don't care. Just the like players, the fans have got to change their attitudes on a program. Fans need to be more engaged into the game. It is weird going to a WIU football and not hear much of anything, but going to a high school game or other football games and the fans are screaming from 1st to 4th quarters.
I think that the trend in recent years of going with more recorded music has not been a positive one. Often times the crowd would stop yelling when the loud music came on.
Long-time Western football fans will remember the days of the "cheer and response" involving both sides of the field.
For example:
West side yells "Go". East side responds with "Western".
West side yells "Purple". East side responds with "Gold".
Long-time Western football fans will remember the days of the "cheer and response" involving both sides of the field.
For example:
West side yells "Go". East side responds with "Western".
West side yells "Purple". East side responds with "Gold".
Well...there's a lot of stuff going on in this thread, so I'll try to answer a few questions and clarify a few things so people understand what's going on.
Regarding the band's pregame show - a lot of it has to do with who the director is and what they want to do (as well as how well the band is learning the music). I know that some years they've played the Marine Corps Hymn, but only a couple of games in...reason being, if they played it at the first game or two, it would sound like crap. The band has quite a bit of music and drill to learn, and with their current practice schedule, they have to prioritize what they learn. So they start with the first couple of songs of halftime (and "Georgia"), the fight song, the national anthem, and the alma mater. If they have time, they'll try to get further through the halftime show and/or work on the Marine Corps Hymn, but if something isn't going to sound at least halfway decent, they're not going to play it.
Video history of the football program - isn't that what they started doing last year or the year before on the video board? IT's not really like a full-length history video, but it does show some clips from the 80's/'90's era (with commentary from former voice of the Leathernecks, Larry Derry). Might be a good suggestion to include more, although there's probably not much in the way of video earlier than the '80s.
Gameday Choreographer - we actually have that now...kinda. Last year was the first year for it where they had headsets for the band leader, the guy controlling the music by the video board, and up in the box. I don't know who it was coordinating things between the music and the band and stuff, but there was a person doing it. Hopefully with this being the second year of it, things will get a bit better.
The "that's the way I like it" gaffe...the issue there is that the drum majors have very little time to call songs and have the band ready to play them. They have to tell them what to play before the play actually happens, and then start essentially right after the play is over...otherwise there isn't enough time to play. The DM had called for the band to play "that's the way I like it", but hadn't realized how bad the play was when they started conducting (they don't face the field). It was dumb, and they do try to do their best, but mistakes do happen.
Western Carolina's band - yea, WCU has had a great band for a long time They have a TON of members, and do a very "modern drum and bugle corps" type of show. There's a few issues with us doing the same, however. The first is, for a while, we have not had the personnel able to have that size of band nor the money needed to hire staff to do that sort of show, or have that kind of equipment (just fyi, WCU has about 5-6 times the band staff that we do). Remember, last year the budget was such that the band was not able to afford to travel to the U of I to perform at the football game...total cost of that is something like three charter buses and a couple of university equipment vans for one day. Depending on the school (I don't know if WCU does this, but many larger schools do), members are often paid, or even get partial or full scholarships. We, unfortunately, don't have that kind of money currently (outside of an occasional talent grant).
The trend towards more recorded music has been a request by the football team (from what I've heard). That's the kind of stuff that gets them pumped up and it's what they want to hear. The people involved have been trying to find a good balance between the prerecorded stuff and the band stuff so that there's enough of both to keep everyone happy, but it's not been an easy thing to do. The problem is, while the prerecorded music (at least at the start of the game, not sure about during the game) might get the team pumped up, it doesn't generally get the fans pumped up.
There are a lot of things that I wish were better about the whole gameday experience...unfortunately many of them would involve money we don't have. We can do some things better, obviously, and many of those suggestions can be directed towards the athletics department and/or the director of bands (and the athletics bands director).
Regarding the band's pregame show - a lot of it has to do with who the director is and what they want to do (as well as how well the band is learning the music). I know that some years they've played the Marine Corps Hymn, but only a couple of games in...reason being, if they played it at the first game or two, it would sound like crap. The band has quite a bit of music and drill to learn, and with their current practice schedule, they have to prioritize what they learn. So they start with the first couple of songs of halftime (and "Georgia"), the fight song, the national anthem, and the alma mater. If they have time, they'll try to get further through the halftime show and/or work on the Marine Corps Hymn, but if something isn't going to sound at least halfway decent, they're not going to play it.
Video history of the football program - isn't that what they started doing last year or the year before on the video board? IT's not really like a full-length history video, but it does show some clips from the 80's/'90's era (with commentary from former voice of the Leathernecks, Larry Derry). Might be a good suggestion to include more, although there's probably not much in the way of video earlier than the '80s.
Gameday Choreographer - we actually have that now...kinda. Last year was the first year for it where they had headsets for the band leader, the guy controlling the music by the video board, and up in the box. I don't know who it was coordinating things between the music and the band and stuff, but there was a person doing it. Hopefully with this being the second year of it, things will get a bit better.
The "that's the way I like it" gaffe...the issue there is that the drum majors have very little time to call songs and have the band ready to play them. They have to tell them what to play before the play actually happens, and then start essentially right after the play is over...otherwise there isn't enough time to play. The DM had called for the band to play "that's the way I like it", but hadn't realized how bad the play was when they started conducting (they don't face the field). It was dumb, and they do try to do their best, but mistakes do happen.
Western Carolina's band - yea, WCU has had a great band for a long time They have a TON of members, and do a very "modern drum and bugle corps" type of show. There's a few issues with us doing the same, however. The first is, for a while, we have not had the personnel able to have that size of band nor the money needed to hire staff to do that sort of show, or have that kind of equipment (just fyi, WCU has about 5-6 times the band staff that we do). Remember, last year the budget was such that the band was not able to afford to travel to the U of I to perform at the football game...total cost of that is something like three charter buses and a couple of university equipment vans for one day. Depending on the school (I don't know if WCU does this, but many larger schools do), members are often paid, or even get partial or full scholarships. We, unfortunately, don't have that kind of money currently (outside of an occasional talent grant).
The trend towards more recorded music has been a request by the football team (from what I've heard). That's the kind of stuff that gets them pumped up and it's what they want to hear. The people involved have been trying to find a good balance between the prerecorded stuff and the band stuff so that there's enough of both to keep everyone happy, but it's not been an easy thing to do. The problem is, while the prerecorded music (at least at the start of the game, not sure about during the game) might get the team pumped up, it doesn't generally get the fans pumped up.
There are a lot of things that I wish were better about the whole gameday experience...unfortunately many of them would involve money we don't have. We can do some things better, obviously, and many of those suggestions can be directed towards the athletics department and/or the director of bands (and the athletics bands director).
Scott Lawson - Board AdminWestern Illinois University Alum/Fan/Employee
Member of the Marching Leathernecks - 1996-2000