Band?

[thetorch]

3 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

I don’t go to the game to hear the band. I moved my seats a decade ago to get as far away from the band as I could. I don’t go to the game for the intro video. I don’t care who the PA announcer is.

I go to the game to see the game. 

Where is the bad post button?

Horrible take.

The band has for decades helped us establish a true home court advantage. For most of my 40+ years of fandom they outnumbered the student section 2 to 1, were the rowdiest section in the arena, and are always there EVERY GAME, unlike our fairweather students.

Their music sets the tone for the game. They keep the crowd involved better than any piped in music or our MC leading cheers.

The Band was something we could be proud of and the AD has slowly bled them to death. I can't imagine our best teams in seasons past, spoonball, Hughes, miracle in memphis, and the Majerus without the soundtrack of the Worlds Greatest Pep Band in the background.

Bring back the conch shells

Bring back 25 or 6 to 4

Free The Band

[HoosierPal]

43 minutes ago, RiseOfTheBillikens said:

Good times.

For me that was Collins best game of the year.  He definitely outplayed Davis. 

[cgeldmacher]

14 hours ago, thetorch said:

Where is the bad post button?

Horrible take.

The band has for decades helped us establish a true home court advantage. For most of my 40+ years of fandom they outnumbered the student section 2 to 1, were the rowdiest section in the arena, and are always there EVERY GAME, unlike our fairweather students.

Their music sets the tone for the game. They keep the crowd involved better than any piped in music or our MC leading cheers.

The Band was something we could be proud of and the AD has slowly bled them to death. I can't imagine our best teams in seasons past, spoonball, Hughes, miracle in memphis, and the Majerus without the soundtrack of the Worlds Greatest Pep Band in the background.

Bring back the conch shells

Bring back 25 or 6 to 4

Free The Band

Someone answer this for me.  Are any other pep bands in the A-10 or even outside the A-10 made up of roughly 60% non-students and 40% students?  Seems like every other pep band out there is is student organization.  That's what the University and its clubs are for, the students.  It would be similar to 60% of our cheerleading squad being made up of 40 to 60 year old alumni.  If that split is a standard makeup of university pep band, then things should have been left alone.  If not, then I have no problem with the University and the Athletic Department wanting to transition to a student only band like everyone else.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

5 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

Someone answer this for me.  Are any other pep bands in the A-10 or even outside the A-10 made up of roughly 60% non-students and 40% students?  Seems like every other pep band out there is is student organization.  That's what the University and its clubs are for, the students.  It would be similar to 60% of our cheerleading squad being made up of 40 to 60 year old alumni.  If that split is a standard makeup of university pep band, then things should have been left alone.  If not, then I have no problem with the University and the Athletic Department wanting to transition to a student only band like everyone else.

The issue with that is that it's always been that way. That's part and parcel of the SLU Pep Band that makes it unique. There used to be a waiting list to get into the band, but so many people had either graduated or moved or couldn't commit to coming to a few games, that making it a student only band would be untenable. If I remember correctly, Richmond's band had some older looking folks in it at a home game I once went to, so we're not the only school that at least occasionally allows alumni.

[cgeldmacher]

Just now, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

The issue with that is that it's always been that way. That's part and parcel of the SLU Pep Band that makes it unique. There used to be a waiting list to get into the band, but so many people had either graduated or moved or couldn't commit to coming to a few games, that making it a student only band would be untenable. If I remember correctly, Richmond's band had some older looking folks in it at a home game I once went to, so we're not the only school that at least occasionally allows alumni.

No, we always have 60% alumni in the band.  Not occasionally to fill in.  The fact that it has always been that way 1) is probably not true, and 2) doesn't resonate with me.  If having more than 50% non-students in your pep band is not a thing, then we really should move to a student only band.  Like I said before, these organizations are for the students.  That's why they exist.

[billiken_roy]

23 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

Someone answer this for me.  Are any other pep bands in the A-10 or even outside the A-10 made up of roughly 60% non-students and 40% students?  Seems like every other pep band out there is is student organization.  That's what the University and its clubs are for, the students.  It would be similar to 60% of our cheerleading squad being made up of 40 to 60 year old alumni.  If that split is a standard makeup of university pep band, then things should have been left alone.  If not, then I have no problem with the University and the Athletic Department wanting to transition to a student only band like everyone else.

Nice idea only it's pretty obvious that we don't have the student musicians to be credible.  Both from a quantity and quality viewpoint.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

12 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

1) is probably not true,

It is true. Alumni have always been welcome.

[brianstl]

5 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

No, we always have 60% alumni in the band.  Not occasionally to fill in.  The fact that it has always been that way 1) is probably not true, and 2) doesn't resonate with me.  If having more than 50% non-students in your pep band is not a thing, then we really should move to a student only band.  Like I said before, these organizations are for the students.  That's why they exist.

The only reason it exists at SLU is because of the alumni and the pep band has always been that way.  Well at least since the Grawer era when the current band started near the end of the Grawer era.  That band started out, if I remember correctly, mostly consisting of alumni and Waterloo (I think) high school band members because SLU didn't have enough students interested in the band.  

I may get a few things wrong in this part because most of this was before I was alive, but ......

Before that there was only the alumni trumpeters in two different versions. The first version was before Ekker and the second was when Grawer brought them back.  The first version ended when Ekker decided SLU needed new traditions (does that sound familiar?).  Well Ekker got rid of the trumpeters, replaced the Billiken with Billie Lou and I think hired a lounge act to play music at the games.  I think I remember hearing that the lounge act had a singer who would sing to Billie Lou.  That ended up with SLU almost dropping to D3 after getting rid of Ekker. 

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

42 minutes ago, brianstl said:

The only reason it exists at SLU is because of the alumni and the pep band has always been that way.  Well at least since the Grawer era when the current band started near the end of the Grawer era.  That band started out, if I remember correctly, mostly consisting of alumni and Waterloo (I think) high school band members because SLU didn't have enough students interested in the band.  

I may get a few things wrong in this part because most of this was before I was alive, but ......

Before that there was only the alumni trumpeters in two different versions. The first version was before Ekker and the second was when Grawer brought them back.  The first version ended when Ekker decided SLU needed new traditions (does that sound familiar?).  Well Ekker got rid of the trumpeters, replaced the Billiken with Billie Lou and I think hired a lounge act to play music at the games.  I think I remember hearing that the lounge act had a singer who would sing to Billie Lou.  That ended up with SLU almost dropping to D3 after getting rid of Ekker. 

This sounds like everything I've heard. Didn't know the bit about the lounge act, though.

[brianstl]

3 hours ago, brianstl said:

The only reason it exists at SLU is because of the alumni and the pep band has always been that way.  Well at least since the Grawer era when the current band started near the end of the Grawer era.  That band started out, if I remember correctly, mostly consisting of alumni and Waterloo (I think) high school band members because SLU didn't have enough students interested in the band.  

I may get a few things wrong in this part because most of this was before I was alive, but ......

Before that there was only the alumni trumpeters in two different versions. The first version was before Ekker and the second was when Grawer brought them back.  The first version ended when Ekker decided SLU needed new traditions (does that sound familiar?).  Well Ekker got rid of the trumpeters, replaced the Billiken with Billie Lou and I think hired a lounge act to play music at the games.  I think I remember hearing that the lounge act had a singer who would sing to Billie Lou.  That ended up with SLU almost dropping to D3 after getting rid of Ekker. 

I can't find a picture of Billy Lou, but I did find a picture of the Billy Lou Strutters that replaced the cheerleaders.

[Lord Elrond]

Billy-Lou Strutters?  

[Cowboy II]

4 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

No, we always have 60% alumni in the band.  Not occasionally to fill in.  The fact that it has always been that way 1) is probably not true, and 2) doesn't resonate with me.  If having more than 50% non-students in your pep band is not a thing, then we really should move to a student only band.  Like I said before, these organizations are for the students.  That's why they exist.

-tell me where the logic falls apart on if the Band should only have students then attendance at games should only consist of students -  all of the teams are student organizations, like the version of the Band for which you seem to advocate

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

2 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-tell me where the logic falls apart on if the Band should only have students then attendance at games should only consist of students -  all of the teams are student organizations, like the version of the Band for which you seem to advocate

A band of only student would also drastically decrease attendance at women's games, unfortunately. Sometimes we were among the few who showed up during the rough years pre-Lisa Stone.

[thetorch]

Since SLU doesn't have a music program a full band is tough to sustain with only current students.  The Alumni have always been welcome and relied on in the band.  I can't think of a good reason for barring band alumni?  Why would SLU want to alienate any alumni who want to help the program?

[SLUAvtr]

56 minutes ago, thetorch said:

Since SLU doesn't have a music program a full band is tough to sustain with only current students.  The Alumni have always been welcome and relied on in the band.  I can't think of a good reason for barring band alumni?  Why would SLU want to alienate any alumni who want to help the program?

EXACTLY the point all of us alumnus have been making all along.  Folks also don't realize the amount of time we sacrifice each year away from family, events, etc.  We're there for rehearsals...we're there for equipment moves...we're there for all the holiday break games...we're there for all the extra events the AD asks the Band to do at the last second...we have just about as much skin in the game as the students do.  Sometimes even more!

Don't get me wrong, free admission to the games is plenty to start, but really, the only other compensation we've really ever asked for is to not mess with what we know was working all along.  Leave the music to the musicians, ESPECIALLY to the musicians/group who've done it for DECADES!  Don't rely on some newly hired game-day lackey attempting to quote "start new traditions" and literally suck the life out of the building with the entire game scripted...ugh, I would settle for just the AD hiring someone who could read a room/arena for God's sake!

[BilliesBy40]

Luckily we win 20 games every season so none of this bullish!t matters.

[cgeldmacher]

14 hours ago, Cowboy II said:

-tell me where the logic falls apart on if the Band should only have students then attendance at games should only consist of students -  all of the teams are student organizations, like the version of the Band for which you seem to advocate

All other college bands I see are student bands.  Should alumni be able to participate in students musicals just because non-students are in the audience?  Should alumni be able to play for the baseball team just because non-students are in the stands?  The only reasoning behind why we have the only mostly non-student band anywhere is that "its always been that way.  Where is the logic behind that?

[cgeldmacher]

19 hours ago, billiken_roy said:

Nice idea only it's pretty obvious that we don't have the student musicians to be credible.  Both from a quantity and quality viewpoint.

I think that is because the band has never really been pushed to be a student only organization like all other college pep bands.  If its filled up by alumni, then there's no pressure to fill it up with students.

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

15 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

I think that is because the band has never really been pushed to be a student only organization like all other college pep bands.  If its filled up by alumni, then there's no pressure to fill it up with students.

Pressure to do it won't make it work. You've seen student attendance at games. What makes you think you could push students to do another thing when sometimes it's hard to get them to show for a game? Not bashing current band students because they're awesome and work hard, but there are legitimately not that many students who play instruments or are bought in to spending their free time watching a sport they may not care about. Alumni have experience, memories, buy-in, they spend money, they help mentor the new students, they forge connections which are life-long in some cases. There's no real argument against the alumni remaining.

[Lord Elrond]

I think you’d have to give out credit hours in music for participating in the band, maybe even a stipend in addition, to attract enough students to participate. 

[Billiken Rich]

13 hours ago, BilliesBy40 said:

Luckily we win 20 games every season so none of this bullish!t matters.

Same stuff different day......

[Cowboy II]

1 hour ago, cgeldmacher said:

All other college bands I see are student bands.  Should alumni be able to participate in students musicals just because non-students are in the audience?  Should alumni be able to play for the baseball team just because non-students are in the stands?  The only reasoning behind why we have the only mostly non-student band anywhere is that "its always been that way.  Where is the logic behind that?

-our history is different than the other bands, it may not be logical but up until last Oct/Nov it seemed to be working 

 

 

[brianstl]

1 hour ago, cgeldmacher said:

All other college bands I see are student bands.  Should alumni be able to participate in students musicals just because non-students are in the audience?  Should alumni be able to play for the baseball team just because non-students are in the stands?  The only reasoning behind why we have the only mostly non-student band anywhere is that "its always been that way.  Where is the logic behind that?

It has always been that way because SLU doesn't have a band program.  SLU used to not have a band play at the games until alumni on their own started bringing instruments to the games and created the "Trumpetiers".  SLU decided they wanted a band at games after finishing second in the NIT tournament in 1989 and student interest in the basketball program was  as high as it has ever been.  Well student interest in playing in the band was so low they not only needed alumni members to fill out the band, but they needed high schoolers from the band director's high school band.

So if you only want a band consisting of students, the sad fact is you are probably going to end up having no band at all.  Maybe, no band at all is the actual goal.  If it is, the right thing to do would be to just admit it.

[brianstl]

Here is what SLU had before the pep band started in 1989.  

[Lord Elrond]

I have to agree that if you want only students in the band, the current incentives they have will not interest enough students to have a band at all. Probably it would take offering a way to get some form of course credit for participating in the band and maybe a bigger stipend, I would say ask the students what would motivate then.  As an alternative, SLU could go to SLUH or another high school and see if they are interested in having their jazz band or equivalent performing at all the SLU games, or bringing in different bands for different games like the Cardinals do with choirs for singing the national anthem.