At the end of this Honda there was no winner based on public opinion. After the last band performed, we all waited for a winner to be announced, but we all got was kicked out of the stadium by the MC.
In retrospect, no winner being declared was a good representation of the day. As I’ve discussed the event with others I’ve noticed that bandheads rank in the bands in wildly different orders. To some, my Prunalysis I’m sure will be no different than that. My rankings will be probably be quite a bit different than some others. I however will back up every word, and as always I will tell it like it is.
More to come...
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First Up
The Mass Band- “Lift Every Voice & Sing” & “Star-Spangled Banner”
Sadly, I was late last year, and therefore didn’t get the chance to see this. This year , in 2015 however I was in the in the house. It was great seeing all of the bands together on the field sporting their unique colors. It was like looking at a giant bag of skittles, and I am a fan of skittles.
I particular enjoyed the sound of the combined ensemble. In some years past I wasn’t very impressed by the sound of approximately 2,000 band members playing together. This time however I truly loved the blending of multiple musical colors to create a beautiful auditory tapestry.
My own personal preference would have been to skip having the singer sing with the group and just go full band all the way. In my mind what’s the point of bringing that many musicians together only for them to play back-up to a vocalist. That just me though. I thought the young lady did a great job during the end of the National Anthem.
I really enjoyed how the trumpets played the melody and then changed to fanfare at major points of “Lift Every Voice & Sing.”
Before I move on to the competition I thought I would provide one more opinion. I think bands should always start with the “National Anthem” and then play “Lift Every Voice & Sing.” I just personally believe that we are Americans that are proud of our heritage instead of black people that also happen to be Americans.
Next Up
Talladega College
Introduction
The introductory fanfare seemed a little cluttered . It was little hard to determine who was playing what and what parts were important. The sound of the band was very strong however. I thought it was interesting though that Talladega’s band faced the away side to do their fanfare, then the band performed the rest of their show facing the home side.
“Family Guy”
This song sounded pretty good, but I highly disagreed with its placement in the show. “Family Guy” seems like one of those things that you do when are trying to switch it up on your audience. You play “Family Guy “ after doing some more traditional things in order to keep your audience guessing as to what you’re going to play next. Playing “Family Guy” at the beginning does very little to increase the energy of a show, that is of course unless you are playing a TV themed show.
Drill
Talladega’s marching was ok, although sometimes lacking in intensity. During the drill the band formed “DEGA” and marched it across the field. I don’t understand why the G had an extra line on it though. It doesn’t seem to be a part of their official logo or anything.
Dega started marching step-two drills. This started ok, but started to get wobbly as the band moved into the double diamond formation.
Next Up...
Featured Dancer Tune
Good sound from the trombones and baritones during the melody. I like how these two instruments split from each at the end of the melody. Good sound from baritones throughout.
Dance Routine
The band then double-timed to their Dance Block formation which of course upset all the FAMU people in the area.
Dance Routine
The overall dance routine was pretty lackluster. The energy was not very high and the moves were pretty traditional.
Overall
My first words after seeing Talladega’s show was, was that Talladega’s Honda show? I was happy to see that the band performed a full show, something I hadn’t seem them for their first few performances of the season. I however was very disappointed by the lack of creativity and originality by the band.
The show format was basically Fanfare(s), Drill/Float the name of the school, Featured dance tune, Dance Routine. It was a great show for the first game of the season, not a show the Honda BOTB’s. Its hard to imagine that anyone thought that this show could actually win Honda.
The band performed pretty well overall, but in no way was this show a Honda Show.
I ranked them number 8.
Next Up – The Howard University "Showtime Marching Band"
Early into Howard’s show the band began to make several formations representing the Pan-Hell fraternizes and Sororities as well as TBE and KKY. This really worked in 2 ways.
1. It showed a lot of the skill for the band to create multiple formations in that way.
This worked really well for Honda. It’s a shame the announcer keep making mistakes (1906 instead of 08” was big one). Was he doing by memory?
Featured Dance Tune – “Conga”
I thought it was interesting that some of the runs that are played by the “horn section” in the original were played by the percussion section this time. I’m not sure if this would be considered cheating or watering down the arrangement. Doing the runs with the percussion section instead of the winds provide an opportunity for weaker musicians not to be exposed.
The dancers seemed to be low in energy.
During the dancer song the rest of the band just stood in place and played. It would have been nice to see someone in the band look like they were enjoying themselves. Tubas, drummers, somebody move just a little bit.
More to come...
“Going In Circles” – Friends of Distinction/Luther Vandross
As soon as I saw Howard moving toward a tight circle in the middle of the field I knew what was coming next. “Going In Circle.” I begged them not do it as I’ve seen that very same drill several time of last few years, and I really wanted them to do something more original.
But therein is the difference between watching the show as a bandhead and as a civilian. Bandheads say “I can’t believe they are doing that again.” Civilians say “Wow that was really cool!”
I will admit that “Going In Circles” working well for Howard at the Honda. For those of you have never seen before (although I don’t know how), the band condenses on the drum major in the center marching at regular tempo much like Southern’s U’s famous circle drill. The band then turns and marches outward from the circle in 360 degrees marching in 6/8, one step per every 3 eighth notes.
The whole time the band is forming concentric circles. At the chorus the band, still in 6/8 changes their marching to one step per every eighth note. The trombones sounded great during this song.
I notice that some of the squads particular the baritones actually march the drill backwards instead of marching in the direction of the circle like in the past. This was creative as it helped to keep the baritones facing straight ahead.
Good work from the trumpets as they took over the melody here. While still playing “Going In Circles” Howard’s band then created a heart with a arrow going through the center. This formation really needed work as many of the lines that made up the heart were not straight.
Dance Routine
I noticed some nice tonal bass drum work here, otherwise the dance routine was not really memorable.
The end of Howard’s show was anti-climatic.
More to come...
I placed Howard at number 6.
A&T’s band started with a fanfare that seemed to lose tempo as it went on.
Drill – Disco Inferno Interesting formations in the drill.
High energy in the music.
Percussion Feature – As usual A&T pulled out all the stops for their Honda show. This performance was different than previous years.
This time the wind players of the band continued playing during the percussion feature. Purist percussion may have disagree with maneuver. After all, it was hard to hear with the percussionist were playing with the winds playing.
I however completely agree with this move. The dome and the use of the particular type of percussion equipment that A&T uses already makes it hard to really hear what the percussion section is doing. Having the wind players play turns the percussion feature into almost a purely visual feature. For civilians this is often what works the best for them.
This whole section was filled with excitement.
One portion even had the snare drum players sitting on each others shoulders and playing on very thin snare drums.
More to come...
This was the third uniform change for Golden Delight.
Nice snare part during the featured dancer routine.
Slow Selection
“Fire & Desire” – Rick James
Smooth trombone playing. I like the glissing of the trombones in the power section. Nice drill formation here.
Dance Routine The dance routine marked a 4th uniform change for “Golden Delight.” Very hype dance moves for A&T overall.
As we reached the end of A&T’s show the announcer said that A&T does things like nobody else. From here A&T delivered something that was essentially the same as the last appx 5 seconds of their show from last year.
This portion fell flat for me. A&T’s show was good up until this point but they deliver on the promise of doing something completely original.
Don’t get me wrong, no other band did the corpstyle maneuvers that A&T did at the end of their show, but A&T did not deliver something that was unique as compared to what we have seen from them before.
More to come...
Overall
Last year, after A&T performed there was no doubt that no one else even needed to perform. At this Honda however they did not close the door on other bands that could possibly outperform them.
Their execution was pretty good and it seemed like this year's band played better than last year's incarnation but the show overall was not earthmoving.
More to come...
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