New SWAC band rankings with FAMU


Also, you keep bragging about Bama State getting kids from New Orleans, that's nothing new for Southern. New Orleans is one of SU's main feeder areas. Plus, there are musical talent from all over Louisiana, especially South Louisiana.
 
Also, you keep bragging about Bama State getting kids from New Orleans, that's nothing new for Southern. New Orleans is one of SU's main feeder areas. Plus, there are musical talent from all over Louisiana, especially South Louisiana.

so a lot of NO kids are marching with SU again? Seemed like they had mostly Texas, Mississippi and Baton Rouge kids for a while & all the New Orleans players went to JSU or Texas Southern
 
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so a lot of NO kids are marching with SU again? Seemed like they had mostly Texas, Mississippi and Baton Rouge kids for a while & all the New Orleans players went to JSU or Texas Southern

I'm not sure what's the percentage of New Orleans kids in SU's band now, but when I marched, at least 50% of the kids were from New Orleans. I'm sure there's still a large number of kids from New Orleans. Also, SU has always had kids from Texas and Mississippi as well. It really doesn't matter where the kids are from, as long as they can play. The thing about SU and New Orleans, SU's band has always played New Orleans jazz and second line music. When I marched, we played a lot of the traditional brass band music, such as South Rampart Street Parade, Basin Street Blues, Bourbon Street Parade, and others. Now days, SU's band plays the more modern day second line music.
 
Also, you keep bragging about Bama State getting kids from New Orleans, that's nothing new for Southern. New Orleans is one of SU's main feeder areas. Plus, there are musical talent from all over Louisiana, especially South Louisiana.

yea i'd say New Orleans/Louisiana is right behind Atlanta when it comes to musical talent

I'm not sure what's the percentage of New Orleans kids in SU's band now, but when I marched, at least 50% of the kids were from New Orleans. I'm sure there's still a large number of kids from New Orleans. Also, SU has always had kids from Texas and Mississippi as well. It really doesn't matter where the kids are from, as long as they can play. The thing about SU and New Orleans, SU's band has always played New Orleans jazz and second line music. When I marched, we played a lot of the traditional brass band music, such as South Rampart Street Parade, Basin Street Blues, Bourbon Street Parade, and others. Now days, SU's band plays the more modern day second line music.

id like to see the Jukebox play more jazz at games. fully embrace that culture
 
When I marched in SU's band, we would have regular visits by individuals like Dizzy Gillespie. SU's music program is one of the best in the country, which is why so many collegiate and high school band directors have matriculated through SU.

Cab Calloway and tons of others. Alvin Baptist was one of the best Jazz clarinetist and instructors in the world. Folks think they know but have no idea.
 
Cab Calloway and tons of others. Alvin Baptist was one of the best Jazz clarinetist and instructors in the world. Folks think they know but have no idea.

I remember back in the day Eubie Blake visiting S.U. Some of them just don't know better.....
 
I remember back in the day Eubie Blake visiting S.U. Some of them just don't know better.....

Folks wonder why Doc never recruited. He didn't have to because we have a pipeline. We had so many folks walking around that didn't make the cut after the first week that we could've fielded two additional bands.
 
so a lot of NO kids are marching with SU again? Seemed like they had mostly Texas, Mississippi and Baton Rouge kids for a while & all the New Orleans players went to JSU or Texas Southern
Have to remember our current assistant director is from New Orleans. New Orleans has some solid representation in the band now, but Texas definitely has the largest representation in the band.
 
Have to remember our current assistant director is from New Orleans. New Orleans has some solid representation in the band now, but Texas definitely has the largest representation in the band.

And probably a lot of kids from Texas have roots in Louisiana. It's similar to LSU out recruiting Texas schools for football players. I'm pretty sure the 4-star QB LSU just recruited from Texas has Louisiana roots. I was watching an interview of him at his home, and in the background were the fleur de lis symbol hanging on the wall. If Louisiana could redo its tax system to grow its economy the right way, a lot of folks from Louisiana wouldn't have to move to Texas for a job. But as of now, big corporations, particularly the oil and gas industry are like Louisiana oligarchs.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RWTic9btP38
 
Y’all keep talking about who VISITED the band room in Baton Rouge..

but the Bama State Collegians is one the most well known college jazz ensembles in the country.
 
Alvin Batiste, Sr. I bet a lot of people think Doc Greggs was the only music legend from Southern.

 
It was no coincident that SU's band was picked to perform in New Orleans first Superbowl ( Superbowl IV) with the likes of Al Hirt.
 
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SWAC band rankings that include FAMU, should look like this:
1. Southern University/Florida A&M University
2. Jackson State University
3. Prairie View University
4. Grambling State University/Alabama A&M University
5. Alcorn State University
6. Alabama State University
7. Texas Southern University University/Mississippi Valley State University/University of Arkansas Pine Bluff

The notoriety and respect that a band enjoys is earned over the course of many consecutive, grueling years of hard work. You can't just have a good year or two and expect public sentiment to shift in your favor. You can't just wish upon a band's success, or wish away a band's success. Again, it must be earned through hard work and perseverance!. The atl hornet has expended so much of his time in this forum trying his damnest best to sway vulnearable psyches, although with little to no success, that the band of his alma mater, the ASU Hornets, is one of the best bands in the conference, and indeed in the nation. He has even ranked his band in this thread as the 4th best band in the conference, tied with SU, a suggestion that offends me greatly. To even list your band in the same conversation as SU and some of the better hbcu bands, borders on the absurd, if not the insane.
FAMU in no shape or form is better than JSU. Not even being bias. They are most likely 4th or 5th
 
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New Flash Folks.... Bands are only as good as their last season. To be honest, they're only as good as their last show. All of these programs have changed over the years based on their style, talent base, financial strength of the school, and their ability to recruit and offer scholarships. We are now in the summer of 2020 and we've already ranked the band programs based on school that will not join until 2021 and the past 30 years of the existing SWAC programs. Come on folks... let us please rise above the ignorance and stop ranking band programs because we either went to that school or marched in that band. Even I, as a musician and former band student of one of these programs, choose the leave the ranking up to the judges at the Battle of the Bands. There are just too many variables to rank. Just sit back and enjoy the shows and let these kids have their fun, we had our time......
 
New Flash Folks.... Bands are only as good as their last season. To be honest, they're only as good as their last show. All of these programs have changed over the years based on their style, talent base, financial strength of the school, and their ability to recruit and offer scholarships. We are now in the summer of 2020 and we've already ranked the band programs based on school that will not join until 2021 and the past 30 years of the existing SWAC programs. Come on folks... let us please rise above the ignorance and stop ranking band programs because we either went to that school or marched in that band. Even I, as a musician and former band student of one of these programs, choose the leave the ranking up to the judges at the Battle of the Bands. There are just too many variables to rank. Just sit back and enjoy the shows and let these kids have their fun, we had our time......

Why is there such a fuss over the FAMU band in this forum? It is precisely because and only because of the respect and notoriety it has built over the years. It has nothing to do with the band's last season or its last show. Naturally, the FAMU band program, like all band programs, has changed and evolved over the years, but the reputation it built along the way, has preceded its entrance into the SWAC, an entrance that will not take place until summer, 2021. Again, FAMU's REPUTATION has preceded it, and that reputaion was built over many years, even decades, of consistent, grueling hard work. There is nothing wrong with allowing the judges to rank the bands at the Battles of the Bands, but, as you said, there are just too many variables to rank. One set of judges could rank a given field of bands a certain way at one battle, and another set of judges could rank the same such field entirely differently at another battle. Again, as you said, there are just too many variables to rank. Meanwhile, a school whose marching band program has built a famously stellar reputation should do all it can to uphold and protect that reputation, and public sentiment will take care of the rest.
 
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Looks at rankings , smh .. famu ain’t been famu since that lil incident that we will not mention cause it made all HBCU bands look bad... I’d put famu #3 .... only cause they put together better field shows than pv, gram, and Alcorn everyone else can fall in line... Alabama state will be bigger but until Oliver retire ... who are we kidding? SU folks..... *sigh* the bias school pride just got to stop. Again, JSU 18 & 19 had better years than SU 18 and 19. SU only gets up for one band a year for a reason... carry on.
 
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