• The KillerFrogs

UAPB Band

zfrawg

Active Member
They were 52 point favorites going into the game. They covered.

I'm sure our band is technically great and I know they love and support the frogs through all kinds of weather/conditions, etc. but sitting in the end zone after UAPB played, I swear I've heard louder elevator music. My wife didn't even realize they had started playing until I said something 3-4 minutes in.

I have to believe a real spread would have been much higher.
 

TooColdU

Active Member
I'm sure our band is technically great and I know they love and support the frogs through all kinds of weather/conditions, etc. but sitting in the end zone after UAPB played, I swear I've heard louder elevator music. My wife didn't even realize they had started playing until I said something 3-4 minutes in.

I have to believe a real spread would have been much higher.

Just wait until the new music building is done. Then we can finally get better band recruits
 

Big Frog II

Active Member
I'll take their announcer too. The thing about UAPB that I like is they march. Our band no longer marches. Our band is like all the Texas high school bands now. They have a theme, they have all of the percussion instruments along the sidelines, and they don't play anything anyone wants to hear. That stinks! Why can't we take a lesson form these SWAC schools march, play loudly, and play songs people like. How hard is that?

Finally, we can't even play Deep in the Heart of Texas the correct way. What numbskull thinks this jazzy rendition sounds good? IT DOESN'T!
 

tcumaniac

Full Member
I'll take their announcer too. The thing about UAPB that I like is they march. Our band no longer marches. Our band is like all the Texas high school bands now. They have a theme, they have all of the percussion instruments along the sidelines, and they don't play anything anyone wants to hear. That stinks! Why can't we take a lesson form these SWAC schools march, play loudly, and play songs people like. How hard is that?

Finally, we can't even play Deep in the Heart of Texas the correct way. What numbskull thinks this jazzy rendition sounds good? IT DOESN'T!
We still march. I just don’t think we marched this past game bc it was the first game of the season and they must not make the students get to campus early to learn a routine for the first game.

Either way, UAPB kicked our ass at half time. Wasn’t even close.
 

What Up Toad

Active Member
As much as our football team has to beat the odds with recruiting, our marching band has it much worse.

First off, a typical school has about 1 band member for every 100 undergrad, which means TCU should have around 80-90 people in the marching band. TCU manages to get over 200, but the way they do that is by allowing anyone who has ever picked up an instrument into the band. Schools like UT and OSU have auditions and you have to prove you know the music. TCU can't afford to do that and have a similar sized band. (UAPB has a huge band for how big their enrollment is btw)

2nd, most schools don't force their music majors to be in the band. You'd think having music majors in the band would make it better, but it doesn't when half of them don't actually want to be there. Imagine if you were an engineering major on an engineering scholarship, and they said, "As part of your scholarship stipulations, we want you to spend 10 hours a week practicing water aerobics so that you can perform while showing us math equations at the weekly swim meet. And we're going to pair you up with a bunch of people who struggled to complete algebra II." You wouldn't put much effort into it.

Lastly, the actual caliber of players at TCU is much lower than many public schools simply because of how expensive it is to go to TCU. It is much cheaper and much more prestigious to go to University of North Texas if you're wanting to become a professional musician. When most music majors are looking to either take a teaching job (making less than $50,000) or go on to graduate school, it doesn't make financial sense to go to TCU.

All that being said, I think our band does a decent job. I'd personally rather have their performances over Rice or Stanford's.
 
As much as our football team has to beat the odds with recruiting, our marching band has it much worse.

First off, a typical school has about 1 band member for every 100 undergrad, which means TCU should have around 80-90 people in the marching band. TCU manages to get over 200, but the way they do that is by allowing anyone who has ever picked up an instrument into the band. Schools like UT and OSU have auditions and you have to prove you know the music. TCU can't afford to do that and have a similar sized band. (UAPB has a huge band for how big their enrollment is btw)

2nd, most schools don't force their music majors to be in the band. You'd think having music majors in the band would make it better, but it doesn't when half of them don't actually want to be there. Imagine if you were an engineering major on an engineering scholarship, and they said, "As part of your scholarship stipulations, we want you to spend 10 hours a week practicing water aerobics so that you can perform while showing us math equations at the weekly swim meet. And we're going to pair you up with a bunch of people who struggled to complete algebra II." You wouldn't put much effort into it.

Lastly, the actual caliber of players at TCU is much lower than many public schools simply because of how expensive it is to go to TCU. It is much cheaper and much more prestigious to go to University of North Texas if you're wanting to become a professional musician. When most music majors are looking to either take a teaching job (making less than $50,000) or go on to graduate school, it doesn't make financial sense to go to TCU.

All that being said, I think our band does a decent job. I'd personally rather have their performances over Rice or Stanford's.
They need to earn the chip!
 

Realtorfrog

Full Member
Even sadder is that many of our band members are not even TCU students. TCC and UTA students can get paid for marching with our students or it would be even smaller!!
 

Frogo

Full Member
I'll take their announcer too. The thing about UAPB that I like is they march. Our band no longer marches. Our band is like all the Texas high school bands now. They have a theme, they have all of the percussion instruments along the sidelines, and they don't play anything anyone wants to hear. That stinks! Why can't we take a lesson form these SWAC schools march, play loudly, and play songs people like. How hard is that?

Finally, we can't even play Deep in the Heart of Texas the correct way. What numbskull thinks this jazzy rendition sounds good? IT DOESN'T!

They also had a ton of brass, which a marching band should have. UAPB had roughly twice as many tubas, for instance, as we do.

I didn't mind the jazzy Deep in the Heart for the first ten years they played it, but it's getting a little repetitious and long in the tooth.
 

Dutch

T C U Froooogs
I do not intend to slam our band students. It is our philosophy. Jungle Boogie for 25 years. The same music all the time. I hate to say it, but SMU with 100 brass players is always loud, creative, entertaining. TCU’s music department is great. We produce fantastic educators every year. I don’t suggest more quantity. We have quality kids and teachers that are fine musicians. TCU is not going to have the same band that an HBCU puts out there, but TCU can be unique, innovative and loud. Do more with less. I am just suggesting we reinvent the football show.
 
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