Band?

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

Just now, Cowboy II said:

-how are things with the Band?

They're "meh" for now. I don't have time for a longer answer at the moment, but the discontent has kind of shifted to apathy, we don't like the situation, but we come and play and watch the dumpster fire for the men's team. We had a bunch of new students join and a bunch more drop pretty early on. It's just been a weird vibe up and down most of the season, but a lot of the alums are hanging in and hanging out after games, when we can.

[SLUAvtr]

4 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-how are things with the Band?

 

Just now, BrettJollyComedyHour said:

They're "meh" for now. I don't have time for a longer answer at the moment, but the discontent has kind of shifted to apathy, we don't like the situation, but we come and play and watch the dumpster fire for the men's team. We had a bunch of new students join and a bunch more drop pretty early on. It's just been a weird vibe up and down most of the season, but a lot of the alums are hanging in and hanging out after games, when we can.

Mostly agree.  They're going, and that's about as best as it can be.  There was consternation right before Winter Break about not playing more of the repertoire that we have on hand, but I can attest that it was mainly due to the above, where we had a lot of new students, some bolted, most stayed, they're not used to the college band level yet, and the diminished number of alums we have on hand to fill that gap makes/made it difficult to play some of the more advanced stuff we had. Intermix that with just the current state of instrumentation make-up of the Band, and we want to sacrifice quality over quantity.  Give it a bit more time and we'll open up our library further, most likely starting next year.

Recently, I have went back and watched a couple of videos one of our guys shot back in the "Mike B Days", and it definitely sucks we lost that many folks/talent.  When we had 8-9 tubas alone, in just a massive wall of sound, it's hard to replace.  But alas, we adapt, we survive, we move on.

I will say in my conversations with Grant, he'd love if the alums that left would come back, and it's an open invitation to every single one of them at any time.  However, my guess would be that won't happen until a regime change happened due to that being one of the main catalysts for them leaving.

Other than that, we're chuggin' along (no pun intended...mostly :D).  We'll be playing the Fan Fest before tomorrow's game, then we have our annual Band Appreciation Event after the game.  We'll be going on both trips for the A10 tourney, so that's always a plus for the kids.  But yeah, it's going.  ::shrug::

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

4 minutes ago, SLUAvtr said:

 

Mostly agree.  They're going, and that's about as best as it can be.  There was consternation right before Winter Break about not playing more of the repertoire that we have on hand, but I can attest that it was mainly due to the above, where we had a lot of new students, some bolted, most stayed, they're not used to the college band level yet, and the diminished number of alums we have on hand to fill that gap makes/made it difficult to play some of the more advanced stuff we had. Intermix that with just the current state of instrumentation make-up of the Band, and we want to sacrifice quality over quantity.  Give it a bit more time and we'll open up our library further, most likely starting next year.

Recently, I have went back and watched a couple of videos one of our guys shot back in the "Mike B Days", and it definitely sucks we lost that many folks/talent.  When we had 8-9 tubas alone, in just a massive wall of sound, it's hard to replace.  But alas, we adapt, we survive, we move on.

I will say in my conversations with Grant, he'd love if the alums that left would come back, and it's an open invitation to every single one of them at any time.  However, my guess would be that won't happen until a regime change happened due to that being one of the main catalysts for them leaving.

Other than that, we're chuggin' along (no pun intended...mostly :D).  We'll be playing the Fan Fest before tomorrow's game, then we have our annual Band Appreciation Event after the game.  We'll be going on both trips for the A10 tourney, so that's always a plus for the kids.  But yeah, it's going.  ::shrug::

Nail on the head ^^ no more reactions, otherwise I'd like this.

[Cowboy II]

-thanks, here's to better days ahead

-apathy, such a dangerous word to have in an organization

[SLUAvtr]

22 minutes ago, Cowboy II said:

-thanks, here's to better days ahead

-apathy, such a dangerous word to have in an organization

I don't want to speak for individual feeling(s) on the situation, but I don't think it's apathy, or at least I hope it isn't.

It'll sound cheesy as hell, but the Band's heart and soul took a pretty good beating the past couple of years.  That age ole saying "time heals all" I think is applicable here, and the Band is just trying to heal itself as time goes.  Having a dismal season isn't helping heal it faster, but I believe we're back on our feet, walking, not running yet.

Those of us "seasoned" folks were ready to run full throttle and I think didn't realize we had to slow down so the new folks and Grant/Matalee could catch up (and their collective breath).  I guess we just needed to....find our rhythm?!    (OK, no more Dad jokes)

[BrettJollyComedyHour]

6 minutes ago, SLUAvtr said:

I don't want to speak for individual feeling(s) on the situation, but I don't think it's apathy, or at least I hope it isn't.

It'll sound cheesy as hell, but the Band's heart and soul took a pretty good beating the past couple of years.  That age ole saying "time heals all" I think is applicable here, and the Band is just trying to heal itself as time goes.  Having a dismal season isn't helping heal it faster, but I believe we're back on our feet, walking, not running yet.

Those of us "seasoned" folks were ready to run full throttle and I think didn't realize we had to slow down so the new folks and Grant/Matalee could catch up (and their collective breath).  I guess we just needed to....find our rhythm?!    (OK, no more Dad jokes)

Yeah, I used apathy because I've been having a bad week. I think we're in a bit of limbo and next season will probably be better (provided May and Ford are gone )