As season nears its end, top bands are showing why they march past the rest


Fiyah

Fiyah

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It’s December, and we’re done with the classic football games, homecomings and most performances, so these are the penultimate ESPN/The Undefeated HBCU Band Rankings of the season before we crown champions.

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Prairie View is new atop Division I and Benedict College retains its top Division II spot in December ranking

Who are the best HBCU bands in the land? We rate and explain why in a series of rankings this season. It’s December, and we’re done with the classic football ga…
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Jackson State has been ranked #1 most of the season in polls, rankings and of course "hearsay." Congrats to Prairie View! There is always a Boom before Thunder and a Storm! Get your rain-gear handy for an approaching Storm, because raindrops keep falling on my head! ;)
 
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JSU
PVtAmu
AAMU/SU
Grambling/TxSU /Alcorn
Bama State
MVSU/UAPB

Best overall sound on the field= AAMU
Best overall sound in the stands= JSU/PV and an honorable mention= Grambling for the MASSIVE improvement.
Best drilling Band= JSU/SU/AAMU in that order.
Overall improvement= tie TxSU/Grambling. Both improved. Grambling has improved from the years since 2004. TxSU has improved literally from band camp and midseason. TxSU before midseasin seemed to be on a down swing overall. They improved their tonality, clarity, playing as an ensemble, execution, etc in spite of whatever has been going on. They even improved their drilling. Kudos. Grambling has actually stepped it ALL up. The only thing holding them back from being top 2 is their baritones playing wrong notes, tone quality and book size and some things in drilling. They are solid and VERY entertaining.
PV WOULD edge JSU with better drilling concerning spacing. I get they don't do kaleidoscopic and that's fine, it works. Maybe take a page from tAMU or more DCI in spacing and it's a wrap on the field.
JSU is a complete package. What really sets them above everyone is their attacks and releases in the stands with tone quality. These are things you get from actually tonguing notes, and having an efficient WARM UP. JSU clearly still does these things and despite their occasional lemonheaded trash talkers THAT is what separates an ensemble from...mere competitive bands. Fundafuckingmentals. Range is nothing without the complete sound envelope and the attack and JSU uses that in their marching band. Someone at that hbcu is TEACHING. Argue with your tuning slide and ya mammy.
 
AAMU is the best band in Alabama. They don't get mentioned for how good they are because their fans clearly don't give in to the straight ignorant trash talking. But we all should stop playing with them. They are one heck of a program as well. If they step up the drilling, they are top two. They're also fine with being themselves top to bottom. They don't sound or look like anyone BUT AAMU. I see a lil TnSU "influence" but not enough to be close to a xerox. Kudos. Elevate. Oh, I also want to impregnate the Stingettes, the Motion, and just to piss off BlaquePrince and S Phi S and Bewildered.... One Black Fox so I make a Tigranther baby 👶. #abomination
 
lilC said:
JSU
PVtAmu
AAMU/SU
Grambling/TxSU /Alcorn
Bama State
MVSU/UAPB

Best overall sound on the field= AAMU
Best overall sound in the stands= JSU/PV and an honorable mention= Grambling for the MASSIVE improvement.
Best drilling Band= JSU/SU/AAMU in that order.
Overall improvement= tie TxSU/Grambling. Both improved. Grambling has improved from the years since 2004. TxSU has improved literally from band camp and midseason. TxSU before midseasin seemed to be on a down swing overall. They improved their tonality, clarity, playing as an ensemble, execution, etc in spite of whatever has been going on. They even improved their drilling. Kudos. Grambling has actually stepped it ALL up. The only thing holding them back from being top 2 is their baritones playing wrong notes, tone quality and book size and some things in drilling. They are solid and VERY entertaining.
PV WOULD edge JSU with better drilling concerning spacing. I get they don't do kaleidoscopic and that's fine, it works. Maybe take a page from tAMU or more DCI in spacing and it's a wrap on the field.
JSU is a complete package. What really sets them above everyone is their attacks and releases in the stands with tone quality. These are things you get from actually tonguing notes, and having an efficient WARM UP. JSU clearly still does these things and despite their occasional lemonheaded trash talkers THAT is what separates an ensemble from...mere competitive bands. Fundafuckingmentals. Range is nothing without the complete sound envelope and the attack and JSU uses that in their marching band. Someone at that hbcu is TEACHING. Argue with your tuning slide and ya mammy.
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Yea I marched under Little, he definitely believes in tonguing and attacking. We articulated so much with him in high school that some of our arrangements were choppy lol lol
 
1) Southern- Excellent sound quality, excellent arrangements, and excellent drill execution. I saw nothing this season that made me question my ranking. Very few bands can bring you ignant power, beautiful ballads rich with melodies and counter melodies, and highly technical pieces in the same performance as well as give you a well-executed drill.

2) JSkate- Excellent sound quality, but they wet the bed against their biggest competition on both the field and in the stands late in the season. Can't have that happen if you want to be the Kings of the SWAC.

3) AAMU- Excellent sound quality, but the song selection is very questionable at times.

4) Grambling- I'm glad to see the improvement, it's making the Battle of the Bands a whole lot more competitive. Keep improving those arrangements and you'll really make a splash.

5) PV- Good sound and drills. The arrangements and song selection is lacking at times.


Most Improved: Grambling, for me to actually place them in my top 5 let's you know how much they improved, just have to work on those arrangements and consistency if they want to reach the upper echelon.
 
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number1 said:
1) Southern- Excellent sound quality, excellent arrangements, and excellent drill execution. I saw nothing this season that made me question my ranking. Very few bands can bring you ignant power, beautiful ballads rich with melodies and counter melodies, and highly technical pieces in the same performance as well as give you a well-executed drill.

2) JSkate- Excellent sound quality, but they wet the bed against their biggest competition on both the field and in the stands late in the season. Can't have that happen if you want to be the Kings of the SWAC.

3) AAMU- Excellent sound quality, but the song selection is very questionable at times.

4) Grambling- I'm glad to see the improvement, it's making the Battle of the Bands a whole lot more competitive. Keep improving those arrangements and you'll really make a splash.

5) PV- Good sound and drills. The arrangements and song selection is lacking at times.


Most Improved: Grambling, for me to actually place them in my top 5 let's you know how much they improved, just have to work on those arrangements and consistency if they want to reach the upper echelon.
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The only thing I would change for my rankings is I would have Grambling at #3.
 
Shockingly, I’m going to give JSU band of the year. Southern had two good field shows all year long, the PV and JSU game. The band is missing something and have lost its touch. Hopefully the staff fixes it next year. These past two years don’t meet the SU standard of excellence.
 
2019
1. Alcorn - quality sound, very high in regards to song selection and entertainment. Good drills and solid showmanship. Great balance and trumpets fleshed out arrangements. Could be extremely powerful despite size but didn't fall prey to trying to be loud. Bested SU, JSU, and edged out Grambling during season (SU got em for the SCG)

2. SU - quality sound high in entertainment had some up and down moments during the year. Balanced sound, extremely powerful with wow factor. Excellent drill and song selection

3. A&M - great sound quality poor song selection. Sound quality was so great that it superceded poor arrangements and song choices and average entertainment value

4. JSU - great tone and volume. High entertainment value, good drills. Started season off strong and tapered off due to poor song selection and terribly unbalanced sound. Tubas carried them as far as they could.

5. Grambling most improved band of the season. Solid song selection, good entertainment value. Arrangements still need work along with execution

6. PV started out extremely remarkable and suddenly fell off a cliff during battles with SU and Gram. Sound quality began amazing and later had a ton of dreadful moments. Solid field shows. Decent entertainment value
 
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The amount of blasphemy in this thread is incredible. SU is top 3 but #1 um stop it? We gone sweep under the rug Florida A&M and that L they took at crankfest and they got shocked by grambling not gone say grambling won I’ll give it too SU but grambling closed the gap in one year under a new director... STOP rewarding SU for the bare minimum.... that group couldn’t sniff any SU of old and Real jukes know this to be true. Alcorn improves but they’re still not there yet because that’s clearly not their identity they sound like SU this year and that’s the only reason they’re in the top 10 , and it doesn’t hurt they had a solid trumpet section. JSU song selection was only questionable in SU 5th and that Lizzo could’ve been kept in the band room. Alcorn , the boom went back to what they do and that’s thrive on selection, entertain like no other during halftime, and stick the butts in seats that we did have because it sure as hell wasn't because of the product on the football field. JSU had the complete and better year , challenged and bested every band successfully with the exception of that fifth against SU.

My top 5
1 JSU
2 SU
3 Tennessee State
4 PV
5 Grambling

Honorable mentions

Alabama A&M
 
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LuvTheBoom16 said:
The amount of blasphemy in this thread is incredible. SU is top 3 but #1 um stop it? We gone sweep under the rug Florida A&M and that L they took at crankfest and they got shocked by grambling not gone say grambling won I’ll give it too SU but grambling closed the gap in one year under a new director... STOP rewarding SU for the bare minimum.... that group couldn’t sniff any SU of old and Real jukes know this to be true. Alcorn improves but they’re still not there yet because that’s clearly not their identity they sound like SU this year and that’s the only reason they’re in the top 3 and it doesn’t hurt they had a solid trumpet section. JSU song selection was only questionable in SU 5th and that Lizzo could’ve been kept in the band room. Alcorn , the boom went back to what they do and that’s thrive on selection, entertain like no other during halftime, and stick the butts in seats that we did have because it sure as hell wasn't because of the product on the football field. JSU had the complete and better year , challenged and bested every band successfully with the exception of that fifth against SU.

My top 5
1 JSU
2 SU
3 Tennessee State
4 PV
5 Grambling

Honorable mentions

Alabama A&M
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How you gon say Alcorn in the top 3 then NOT list em? lol that's what's blasphemous.
Alcorn sounds like Alcorn, late 80s early 90's routinely was a trumpet heavy sound with a nice punch. Especially the sounds of 98, 99 and 2000 our arrangements are just much better than those times. And no you did not have a better 5th vs Alcorn. The SU and Alcorn games exposed JSU's weakness, trumpet section.
 

Brave said:
How you gon say Alcorn in the top 3 then NOT list em? lol that's what's blasphemous.
Alcorn sounds like Alcorn, late 80s early 90's routinely was a trumpet heavy sound with a nice punch. Especially the sounds of 98, 99 and 2000 our arrangements are just much better than those times. And no you did not have a better 5th vs Alcorn. The SU and Alcorn games exposed JSU's weakness, trumpet section.
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I have y’all #7 I had a typo from typing that I’ll fix here in a sec... your current director is an SU alum and the sound is SU philosophy while the concept and tradition is Alcorn. I don’t think JSU was exposed, do they have the greatest trumpet section compared to SU (whose trumpet section regressed because they cut the fat from the 55 - 60 they had at the beginning of season) to Alcorn who I admitted had a solid group at trumpet, no. JSU was balanced and with dominant lower brass noticeably the tuba section. JSU trumpets were in the pocket not at the top of the band like SU and Alcorn. They could be heard and this was the most complete I’ve heard the boom at least since ‘15 ... you think about 16-17 we were unbalanced with emphasis on Mellos to cover up an even weaker trumpet group than the one this year you heard. Y’all have some work too do with arrangements and getting the musicians to buy into the philosophy of consistent quality even on songs that may not be trendy and the kids want to play .... Alcorn struggles with it and you can tell by how they perform. I’ll be happy to point that out if you would like. I’ve heard the band live and remember early 2000s Alcorn and this was definitely at the front door of that awesome Alcorn that marched but not there yet. Yall give me a catalog with 50 plus songs with maybe 7-8 of them being worth being called out. Y’all do not have a true arranger. That’s what is holding y’all from top 5 in my opinion over the bands I have named. This was yalls better years on the field too so kudos.
 
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LuvTheBoom16 said:
I have y’all #7 I had a typo from typing that I’ll fix here in a sec... your current director is an SU alum and the sound is SU philosophy while the concept and tradition is Alcorn. I don’t think JSU was exposed, do they have the greatest trumpet section compared to SU (whose trumpet section regressed because they cut the fat from the 55 - 60 they had at the beginning of season) to Alcorn who I admitted had a solid group at trumpet, no. JSU was balanced and with dominant lower brass noticeably the tuba section. JSU trumpets were in the pocket not at the top of the band like SU and Alcorn. They could be heard and this was the most complete I’ve heard the boom at least since ‘15 ... you think about 16-17 we were unbalanced with emphasis on Mellos to cover up an even weaker trumpet group than the one this year you heard. Y’all have some work too do with arrangements and getting the musicians to buy into the philosophy of consistent quality even on songs that may not be trendy and the kids want to play .... Alcorn struggles with it and you can tell by how they perform. I’ll be happy to point that out if you would like. I’ve heard the band live and remember early 2000s Alcorn and this was definitely at the front door of that awesome Alcorn that marched but not there yet. Yall give me a catalog with 50 plus songs with maybe 7-8 of them being worth being called out. Y’all do not have a true arranger. That’s what is holding y’all from top 5 in my opinion over the bands I have named. This was yalls better years on the field too so kudos.
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lol at 7, I should have stopped reading right there, and we have a true arranger in Dr. Everson Martin
and we sound very similar if not better than late 90's Alcorn.
JSU as far as tone is the best sounding band but you all were all chords this year especially in the later rounds vs Alcorn. That can get you passed bands without good trumpet sections but better bands will crease you because their sound is more complete. Why am I even explaining this you know this already. You could not hear the melody it killed your sound.

for reference in regards to your misinformed statement in regards to our sound.

View: https://youtu.be/qZRbEiMCAsg


View: https://youtu.be/tngLgDmQAiY
 
Brave said:
2019
1. Alcorn - quality sound, very high in regards to song selection and entertainment. Good drills and solid showmanship. Great balance and trumpets fleshed out arrangements. Could be extremely powerful despite size but didn't fall prey to trying to be loud. Bested SU, JSU, and edged out Grambling during season (SU got em for the SCG)

2. SU - quality sound high in entertainment had some up and down moments during the year. Balanced sound, extremely powerful with wow factor. Excellent drill and song selection

3. A&M - great sound quality poor song selection. Sound quality was so great that it superceded poor arrangements and song choices and average entertainment value

4. JSU - great tone and volume. High entertainment value, good drills. Started season off strong and tapered off due to poor song selection and terribly unbalanced sound. Tubas carried them as far as they could.

5. Grambling most improved band of the season. Solid song selection, good entertainment value. Arrangements still need work along with execution

6. PV started out extremely remarkable and suddenly fell off a cliff during battles with SU and Gram. Sound quality began amazing and later had a ton of dreadful moments. Solid field shows. Decent entertainment value
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JSU & poor song selection should never go together. They book is always blazing. Alcorn IMPROVED but I wouldn't put them at #1 but you biased so I get it. I like your top 5 but I would rearrange the top 5
 
atl hornet said:
lmao at anyone from SU talking about poor song selection
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Dude give it a rest. You need to worry about your band's song selection, sound, drills, dancers, instrumentation, dance routines, and overall execution. I'm sure I forgot something but you get the drift.
 
PsychoJag said:
Dude give it a rest. You need to worry about your band's song selection, sound, drills, dancers, instrumentation, dance routines, and overall execution. I'm sure I forgot something but you get the drift.
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Naw that dancers are the face of the band they ranked #1 in every dance poll blog and overall in 2019 they were #1 in everyone poll and awards things on fb and YouTube stuff that's what holding their band on Is their dancers
 
tony11 said:
Naw that dancers are the face of the band they ranked #1 in every dance poll blog and overall in 2019 they were #1 in everyone poll and awards things on fb and YouTube stuff that's what holding their band on Is their dancers
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Who did you march for?
 
LuvTheBoom16 said:
The amount of blasphemy in this thread is incredible. SU is top 3 but #1 um stop it? We gone sweep under the rug Florida A&M and that L they took at crankfest and they got shocked by grambling not gone say grambling won I’ll give it too SU but grambling closed the gap in one year under a new director... STOP rewarding SU for the bare minimum.... that group couldn’t sniff any SU of old and Real jukes know this to be true. Alcorn improves but they’re still not there yet because that’s clearly not their identity they sound like SU this year and that’s the only reason they’re in the top 10 , and it doesn’t hurt they had a solid trumpet section. JSU song selection was only questionable in SU 5th and that Lizzo could’ve been kept in the band room. Alcorn , the boom went back to what they do and that’s thrive on selection, entertain like no other during halftime, and stick the butts in seats that we did have because it sure as hell wasn't because of the product on the football field. JSU had the complete and better year , challenged and bested every band successfully with the exception of that fifth against SU.

My top 5
1 JSU
2 SU
3 Tennessee State
4 PV
5 Grambling

Honorable mentions

Alabama A&M
Click to expand...
Truth be told, Grambling was steadily improving each year prior to the "Queen of Ballads" taking over. lol
 
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