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SOTOGAB

inspectah said:
Why on earth aren't we allowed to contact prospective band members? That seems nuts.
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It IS nuts...Let me clarify: the administration no longer provides the information that identifies prospective band members. If there were a list, the students would be contacted. No list = wait until the student inquires about band membership.
 
banddeac said:
It IS nuts...Let me clarify: the administration no longer provides the information that identifies prospective band members. If there were a list, the students would be contacted. No list = wait until the student inquires about band membership.
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What perks come with membership these days? Stipend? Course credit?
 
The covid season hurt the numbers too, because Salem College students and Forsyth Tech students were not able to participate last year. They are back this season, to some degree, but not in huge numbers.
 
deacdixieboy said:
What perks come with membership these days? Stipend? Course credit?
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Small stipend for 3rd and 4th year members, course credit, free travel to road games. That's about it. There is a small scholarship fund that gives ONE student in each class a nominal amount.
 
banddeac said:
The largest SOTOGAB in recent history was 126, shortly after the Orange Bowl year. Currently at about 70 members. The administration has handcuffed recruiting by not allowing direct access to incoming students' information, so it is no longer possible to make direct contact with the majority of prospective band members. It's up to the student to make the first contact. That is a major reason why the numbers are down....no opportunity to build a relationship with the incoming band student to make them feel wanted and welcome.
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Well that's an administrative problem and an administrative fix. Perhaps the new President can undo that because it is not the kind of policy that will attract and retain good band directors and staff beyond having a P5 school on the C.V. It also won't attract good band members. Really dumb and unnecessary. This isn't a school district decision that is detached from the schools it oversees and especially the fine arts departments of those schools it affects. This can all be reversed in-house and with the stroke of a pen and no bureaucracy. Undo it and create a little fund that allows the band director to hit up the big conventions nationally and recruit talent.
 
Somebody get Bob McCreary on the phone and tell him to buy us a bigger band
 
Deacfreak07 said:
I refuse to believe that a school like wake doesn’t have a higher than average percentage of students with some band experience in High School.
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probably true but do they want to devote most of their time to rehearsal/practice
 
inspectah said:
Not likely to happen. The band's already pretty big proportional to the size of the school. WF only draws so many marching-band types.

Pitt's just another big public diploma mill. Naturally they've got a good band.
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Quit running down other schools just because they beat us!! Pitt is #58 in the US News National rankings (to our 28th) with a $4 Billion endowment and a great med school. Their band ought to be bigger than ours—the school has 19,200 undergrads to our 5400.

I doubt seriously we are ever going to get a bigger band!
 
Y’all it’s 2021. No one under the age of 45 cares about the band. Scrap the band and just give DJ Hek Yeh the turn tables!!!
 
TheReff said:
Quit running down other schools just because they beat us!! Pitt is #58 in the US News National rankings (to our 28th) with a $4 Billion endowment and a great med school. Their band ought to be bigger than ours—the school has 19,200 undergrads to our 5400.

I doubt seriously we are ever going to get a bigger band!
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Relax. I know Pitt's a good school but I get to run them down precisely because they beat us. Your feelings might change if you visit the Pitt board and read some of the shots they're taking at us (we're all a bunch of "whiny bitches" among other gems. (In fairness, there have been a few gracious comments over there.)
 
banddeac said:
There are 68 band members on the roster this year, so I missed by 2...
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They weren’t all there then. There were under 50 at Fanfest and on the field at halftime + 6 flag girls.
 
I've been impressed by the elevated "talent" in the cheerleader and dance squads the last few seasons, which at the same time has had me wondering how you get coeds with presumably good social skills/connections to forgo the pregame tailgate scene and to be on your (presumably) best behavior while your buds are jamming in the parking lot. And I get that you have the band has some of the best seats in the house, but given the choice of standing by Clawson on the sideline vs. my nosebleed seats along with 3 hours of pregame tailgating with my besties, I'll take my current situation thank you very munch.
 
DownEastDeac said:
I've been impressed by the elevated "talent" in the cheerleader and dance squads the last few seasons, which at the same time has had me wondering how you get coeds with presumably good social skills/connections to forgo the pregame tailgate scene and to be on your (presumably) best behavior while your buds are jamming in the parking lot. And I get that you have the band has some of the best seats in the house, but given the choice of standing by Clawson on the sideline vs. my nosebleed seats along with 3 hours of pregame tailgating with my besties, I'll take my current situation thank you very munch.
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Had some fraternity brothers in band back in my day. They definitely still tailgated with us back in the mid aughts.
 
inspectah said:
LOL, well that may explain why the band's size has fallen off over the last decade or so.
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This is probably true. I was in marching band for 2 years and really the only reason was court side seats to Tim Duncan.
 
birdman said:
This is probably true. I was in marching band for 2 years and really the only reason was court side seats to Tim Duncan.
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I think the band should break from the “ marching band” thing, and do basically performance theatre. Be irreverent and out of the mold
 
Get rid of the band and have frisbee dogs perform at halftime.
 
inspectah said:
Relax. I know Pitt's a good school but I get to run them down precisely because they beat us. Your feelings might change if you visit the Pitt board and read some of the shots they're taking at us (we're all a bunch of "whiny bitches" among other gems. (In fairness, there have been a few gracious comments over there.)
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Probably would be the same if Wake had won in similar fashion and we would praise our QB for doing the electric slide.
 
I always thought Wake should work out a deal with WSSU to combine band forces. Maybe NCA&T, too.
 
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