Taylor-Made'90
I'm 'Citrix SSO' batch!!!
PsychoJag said:
:tup::tup:
Adolescence..... They (PB) think they know everything , when they're this age... :shame:
:swink:
What has Dr. Liddell done for the Sonic Boom lately?
- Thread starter BG
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:tup::tup:
Adolescence..... They (PB) think they know everything , when they're this age... :shame:
:swink:
dacontinent
Preacher
There is a lot of hip-hop and r&b styling today that I do or don't care for. However, the genre does not govern what you arrange, teach, and produce musically. Being aggressive definitely has its place. However, trumpet players screaming around (and not through) a melody line tends to showboating, bad partials, and overtone series that are musical distractions rather than enhancements. And when you miss and blow through phrases trying to do that, the effect is that much worse. When is the last time you heard a tune played and thought "those notes in that phrase were accented well"? I can't remember the last I hear a clip of the Boom and thought that the dynamics being played were anything more than loud and without any articulation markings. THAT BOTHERS ME. Whether the arrangements are written that way, whether the directors have implemented the tunes that way, or whether the performers have been given the liberty to present it that way...it is sophomoric and does not reflect the level of refinement and professionalism that I expect from the "legacy of the Boom".jaydog said:
What I have heard very positive about Dr. Liddell is that the play of the Wind Ensemble has been elevated yet higher. I think that is great!! I just want to see those gains translated into the musical presentation of the band that happens to be marching.
I do like the growth and strength that has occurred with the Boom under Dr. Liddell. Recruiting students in the program is vital. I think he can do even more if he stretches and challenges them yet stronger. Players today are better than they were back in my day. They play better instruments, more study privately, etc. Yet the presentations are less musical. There are plenty of ballads in popular music that are recorded with strings, colors, and timbres galore; it is an aspiring arrangers blank sheet. But, we don't hear that coming out of SWAC bands. We do hear that coming from some of the MEAC bands, and it is impressive. When I read and listen to the stuff that Lindsey Sarjeant writes for FAMU, it is almost like Prof. Davis dumped his heart in to Sarjents mind and then kicked it up a notch. It is really gorgeous stuff. I don't hear anything like that coming out of the SWAC.jaydog said:
Yes, I know the SWAC carries and edge and a swagger. Nothing wrong with that. Just bring me greater variety, PLEASE.
Who is still stuck in 1980's, The Swac Bands Do play a Variety of Music, NO one wants to hear ballads all day. To be honest with you, IF I have to watch a MEAC band battle, chances are that I will fast foward the Tape. I could watch a SWAC battle Vs Meac with no problem or Swac vs SWAC.
To be honest Dr Liddell has made the all those Directors live on through out the Boom each year, You want to know why and How I know. (how many songs does the boom play today written by those old directors) We are living their arrangements every year we play them.
I want to ask a question, how many Battle of bands did they have back in the day going from state to state.
Time has changed so has Music....... New Music does not contain the variety such as a saxaphone, trumpets, trombones, etc.... parts.......
Now days all those instruments are in a Key Board and not used by todays Artist. What does one school look like playing all old school and nothing new.
I would even say WTF
either everybody is going sleep the entire game or complain about the music.
To be honest Dr Liddell has made the all those Directors live on through out the Boom each year, You want to know why and How I know. (how many songs does the boom play today written by those old directors) We are living their arrangements every year we play them.
I want to ask a question, how many Battle of bands did they have back in the day going from state to state.
Time has changed so has Music....... New Music does not contain the variety such as a saxaphone, trumpets, trombones, etc.... parts.......
Now days all those instruments are in a Key Board and not used by todays Artist. What does one school look like playing all old school and nothing new.
I would even say WTF
either everybody is going sleep the entire game or complain about the music.
dacontinent
Preacher
I agree with you about ballads. I am not suggesting that playing ballads is the answer. I am suggesting that the arrangements be changed and the players brought into conformance with textures, dynamics, and noticeable articulation. Just because popular artists don't do that in their recordings does not mean that marching bands and their arrangers should not incorporate those musical techniques in their presentations.1995mobb said:
I really wish I knew the real answer to this question. What I do know is that our signature tune, Get Ready, is completely different. It's not a bad arrangment, it's just a less musical one.1995mobb said:
I don't remember ANY BOTB's back in the day. Everything was head-to-head. I am not sure what point you are after there.1995mobb said:
Well...before the advent of electronic music, those keyboard parts would be played by...go ahead...say it...right...saxaphones, trumpets, trombones, etc. So, my 17 year-old realizes this and writes decent arrangements of those parts for marching band...and jazz band...and concert band. He is a prodigy, but the arrangers at our universities have far more experience than that. They are professionals. If I can take a Fred Hammond tune like "You Are My Daily Bread" and make an arrangement of a song that has original instrumentation that includes sax, bone, trumpet, bass, drums, organ, piano, and two synths and cover them all for marching band, I know that these arrangers at the schools can do a better job than I can...but I don't hear that creativity. It bothers me.
Here's one: How many arrangements are there in the ENTIRE SWAC of uptempo tunes for our marching bands that feature an instrumental solo? I know that I have not heard one in 25 years of listening to SWAC bands. The same is true for the MEAC. It bothers me. Maybe I am the only one; and that is okay.
Bandextraordinaire
New Member
kremesaver said:
Hahahahahahaha!!!!! :lol:
BLUEBENGAL
Senior Member
Tigger2 said:
Didn't Haughton introduce the floating JSU drill? Dowell Taylor accomplished more in 7 years as band director than many have in a career. Didn't Liddell march in JSU's band under William Davis? Didn't he learn anything from Davis? I think Liddell has added nothing new to the Boom.
Bandextraordinaire
New Member
TXSU said:
This statement is very STUPID.
Everybody is talking about the SIVAD sound. Liddell has been the band director at JSU since 1992 and everyone knows that the sound of the BOOM then was not the W.W. Davis sound. Davis' bands were the "Little Band with the Big Band sound" if you want to be truthfully honest. JSU band rosters are substantially larger than Davis would have ever dreamed. I agree that the sound of JSU's band program has changed but, it has been changing through the years. I don't know what you people have been listening to but, Taylor's editons of THE Boom DID NOT sound like Prof. Davis' bands. Marches were almost non existent through all of the Haugton and Taylor years. Furthermore,the power arrangements came in through Taylor. Those arrangements such as "Get Ready"(86-present), "I'm Dreamin"(91),"Right Stuff"(88), "System of Survival"(88), although these were not bad arrangements, all true musicians know that these arrangements were written for POWER. In 1993, when Michael Magruder was added to the band staff he brought about some of the most symphonically musical arrangements that this band(JSU) has ever played. Songs like: "Cry No More"(94), "I Miss You"(94),"Anytime,Any Place"(94),"Who Can I Run To"(95), "What Kind of Man"(96),"Our Love"(97),"Happy Ever After"(99), "Just Be A Man About It"(2000). All of these Years were Dr. Lewis Liddell years, so to say that the band lost its' identity when Liddell took over and that the symphonic sounding,musical cutthroat sound on and off the field left when Liddell came is a LIE!!!!
Having said that, I do agree that this Southernized(SU approach)sound of the latter years in the new millenium DOES NOT give you that beautiful sound on the ballads as we are used to hearing. The 2002,2003 and 2004 editions of The Boom are light years LOUDER than some of the other editons aforementioned, but the ultimate questions for EVERY musician and also the present Sonic Boom directors that may read this is, Does a louder band have to mean poor sound quality,tuning problems and blaring? Is the quality of sound and cleanliness worth compromising for this loud unbearable power?
In my opinion, I believe that they can BOTH be accomplished, but this will take 100% discipline from all LEADERS of sections in the band and also a DETERMINED,STRONG back up from a band staff that is on ONE accord.
Bandextraordinaire
New Member
Oh we have good memories at JSU, we didin't forget 1988 and we also didn't forget about the KLEPTOMANIACS in "The Ocean that STOLE!!!"
dacontinent
Preacher
Bandextraordinaire said:
No they did not, but they played MUSICALLY.
Bandextraordinaire said:
I don't know about the Taylor era, but SIVAD and Haughton INSISTED on marches.
Bandextraordinaire said:
IN INTERNET-ESE I AM MOST CERTAINLY SCREAMING: PLEASE QUIT USING THE WORD POWER WHEN YOU MEAN VOLUME. THE POWER OF MUSIC IS MOST CERTAINLY NOT IN HOW LOUD IT IS PLAYED. The rest of that quote is on target.
Taylor was cutthroat. That was his edge and one of the things that he will be remembered for. It made SU edgier. Taylor did it with excellence and that is what is missing. Not every tune warrants a symphonic sound. My complaint about the JSU sound today is not the arrangements at all: It is about the musicianship that is TOLERATED.Bandextraordinaire said:
No compromise: that seems to be the difference between Taylor and Liddell. Plus we have a different animal in today's band member. The values are very different. My observation is that the students feel way too much entitlement and that keeps them from excelling to the levels to which they are capable. As a group they are far more talented that we were, but their respect and work effort are woefulling lacking by comparison.Bandextraordinaire said:...but the ultimate questions for EVERY musician and also the present Sonic Boom directors that may read this is, Does a louder band have to mean poor sound quality,tuning problems and blaring? Is the quality of sound and cleanliness worth compromising for this loud unbearable power?
In my opinion, I believe that they can BOTH be accomplished, but this will take 100% discipline from all LEADERS of sections in the band and also a DETERMINED,STRONG back up from a band staff that is on ONE accord.
CriTAUcal
Do Good; Good Follows
SUtrp96 said:
The article is almost 6 years old. I doubt there is a link. The only way that I know to find it is to go to the library and look in archives.
The Clarion-Ledger does have an online archive system, but it doesn't go back 6 years. And if you physically go to the Clarion-Ledger, I believe they only keep articles (on hand and easily accessible) for about a year or so.
Bands go to war
Friday, September 22, 2000
Bands go to war
By Donnie Snow
Clarion Ledger Staff Writer
The Sonic Boom of the South, Jackson State University?s marching band, takes on Southern Unversity?s Human Jukebox Saturday in the Superdome in New Orleans. And by most accounts, it?s going to be a smackdown the size of which hasn?t been seen since Ali and Frazier ? but with music instead of blood, of course, these are musicians not pugilists. ?The Southern fans will see the light, and sound for the first time when we get there, ?promises Lewis Liddell, director, or more accurately, commander in chief of the Sonic Boom, and Southern?s Jukebox is gonna know about the Sonic Boom. They gonna do what they have to do, but you can be sure we?re gonna do what we have to do. They think they?re the best?we know we?re the best.? They better come ready, he says, or it?ll be a blowout! ?Liddell has my utmost respect, says Southern?s Band Director Isaac Greggs, himself a Southern graduate. What he does is a reflection of his own personal discipline. There?s always been a wholesome and clean rivalry between our bands?but I don?t really care who it is, we?re gonna be just as good for no matter who we play. I don?t get up for other people, they get up for me. ?When you?re riding high in the saddle, you catch a lot of arrows. ?I ride highest in the saddle.? Wait a minute this isn?t a Rockne-fueled football championship, these are marching bands. They wear plumes and stuff. ?Fans travel to see us much as the football team, boasts Donyale Walls, a trumpet playing psychology junior at JSU. At 20, the Detroit native has seen a few JSU-Southern face offs. ?When they came to Jackson last year, they stole some of our fans, ?reminds 21 year old Kendra Hardy, a JSU biology senior, and French horn player, from Jackson. ?We know how important this week is, so no one?s complaining about staying late.? Rehearsal hours have been extended to nearly five hours a day this past week. ?Some think we got blown out last year, she said. ?This year, we have something to prove. ?They may play louder than we do, but we have more musicality. We have style.?
On the football field, in his crisp black uniform and snow white gloves, Liddell, a Jackson native stands like a field marshal. In the band hall he directs like Bob Knight, without the shoving. ?Horns up!? he shouts during rehearsals. ?Lock it in place! Don?t breathe at the bar! Resist the temptation to breathe.? (For the untrained, that?s more of that musicality stuff.) ?Don?t play like a little girl.? ?You got to get aggressive! ?Our fans expect nothing but the best because they?ve seen nothing but the best,? he said following a news conference announcing a visit from the United State Marine Corps Band. ?They?ve might seen some good band across the field, but they don?t compare us with those. They compare us with the best JSU bands of the past.? Liddell, a JSU band member from 1963 through 1967, credits the Mississippi blues and New Orleans jazz traditions for the SWAC show style of marching, a rollercoaster style;hot and high-stepping. ?When the freshman show up, they don?t really know how strenuous this is or how popular we are, ?explains Walls, ?But it only takes a couple weeks for them to get so involved.? Popular is right. The JSU-Southern rivalry, one of the great SWAC showdowns is finally slotted for the Superdome which seats over 70,000. Southern officials say they expect more than 50,000 to attend. And a fair amount of those will be there for the bands, most agree. ?I know in many instances I?ve lifted a defeat into victory by getting the team and the fans hyped,? claims Greggs. In Mississippi and Louisiana, its very family oriented, Walls says, explaining the popularity of the marching bands. ?Fans are much closer to schools such as Southern and JSU. And they?re very supportive of the bands.? With both football teams less than sterling so far this season, more attention might turn toward the musical tete-a-lete, but artistic fandom aside, this week is as much about being better than Southern than putting on a good show. That?s thanks to a long-ago snubbing, says Liddell, when he and Greggs were high school band directors. Liddell leading the band at a ?country? school felt the burning tinge of condescension from Greggs, a champion ?city director. Liddell says he?s never forgotten the slight and never will. ?The Southern game does pull something out of ?Doc, ?explains Walls. He and Dr. Greggs have this professional rivalry. It?s like him against Dr. Greggs. ?He wants to make him look bad.? So much the better for the fans in the stands. ?When it?s time to play after the game, and we pull out the marches, they should just pack up,? warns Liddell with a broad smile. ?I?ve been through four band directors at Jackson State, ?says Greggs, chuckling, I didn?t make Southern great, it?s always been great, I just took it to another level. And I don?t blame all the other directors for imitating me, because if I was somebody else, I?d imitate me.?
Friday, September 22, 2000
Bands go to war
By Donnie Snow
Clarion Ledger Staff Writer
The Sonic Boom of the South, Jackson State University?s marching band, takes on Southern Unversity?s Human Jukebox Saturday in the Superdome in New Orleans. And by most accounts, it?s going to be a smackdown the size of which hasn?t been seen since Ali and Frazier ? but with music instead of blood, of course, these are musicians not pugilists. ?The Southern fans will see the light, and sound for the first time when we get there, ?promises Lewis Liddell, director, or more accurately, commander in chief of the Sonic Boom, and Southern?s Jukebox is gonna know about the Sonic Boom. They gonna do what they have to do, but you can be sure we?re gonna do what we have to do. They think they?re the best?we know we?re the best.? They better come ready, he says, or it?ll be a blowout! ?Liddell has my utmost respect, says Southern?s Band Director Isaac Greggs, himself a Southern graduate. What he does is a reflection of his own personal discipline. There?s always been a wholesome and clean rivalry between our bands?but I don?t really care who it is, we?re gonna be just as good for no matter who we play. I don?t get up for other people, they get up for me. ?When you?re riding high in the saddle, you catch a lot of arrows. ?I ride highest in the saddle.? Wait a minute this isn?t a Rockne-fueled football championship, these are marching bands. They wear plumes and stuff. ?Fans travel to see us much as the football team, boasts Donyale Walls, a trumpet playing psychology junior at JSU. At 20, the Detroit native has seen a few JSU-Southern face offs. ?When they came to Jackson last year, they stole some of our fans, ?reminds 21 year old Kendra Hardy, a JSU biology senior, and French horn player, from Jackson. ?We know how important this week is, so no one?s complaining about staying late.? Rehearsal hours have been extended to nearly five hours a day this past week. ?Some think we got blown out last year, she said. ?This year, we have something to prove. ?They may play louder than we do, but we have more musicality. We have style.?
On the football field, in his crisp black uniform and snow white gloves, Liddell, a Jackson native stands like a field marshal. In the band hall he directs like Bob Knight, without the shoving. ?Horns up!? he shouts during rehearsals. ?Lock it in place! Don?t breathe at the bar! Resist the temptation to breathe.? (For the untrained, that?s more of that musicality stuff.) ?Don?t play like a little girl.? ?You got to get aggressive! ?Our fans expect nothing but the best because they?ve seen nothing but the best,? he said following a news conference announcing a visit from the United State Marine Corps Band. ?They?ve might seen some good band across the field, but they don?t compare us with those. They compare us with the best JSU bands of the past.? Liddell, a JSU band member from 1963 through 1967, credits the Mississippi blues and New Orleans jazz traditions for the SWAC show style of marching, a rollercoaster style;hot and high-stepping. ?When the freshman show up, they don?t really know how strenuous this is or how popular we are, ?explains Walls, ?But it only takes a couple weeks for them to get so involved.? Popular is right. The JSU-Southern rivalry, one of the great SWAC showdowns is finally slotted for the Superdome which seats over 70,000. Southern officials say they expect more than 50,000 to attend. And a fair amount of those will be there for the bands, most agree. ?I know in many instances I?ve lifted a defeat into victory by getting the team and the fans hyped,? claims Greggs. In Mississippi and Louisiana, its very family oriented, Walls says, explaining the popularity of the marching bands. ?Fans are much closer to schools such as Southern and JSU. And they?re very supportive of the bands.? With both football teams less than sterling so far this season, more attention might turn toward the musical tete-a-lete, but artistic fandom aside, this week is as much about being better than Southern than putting on a good show. That?s thanks to a long-ago snubbing, says Liddell, when he and Greggs were high school band directors. Liddell leading the band at a ?country? school felt the burning tinge of condescension from Greggs, a champion ?city director. Liddell says he?s never forgotten the slight and never will. ?The Southern game does pull something out of ?Doc, ?explains Walls. He and Dr. Greggs have this professional rivalry. It?s like him against Dr. Greggs. ?He wants to make him look bad.? So much the better for the fans in the stands. ?When it?s time to play after the game, and we pull out the marches, they should just pack up,? warns Liddell with a broad smile. ?I?ve been through four band directors at Jackson State, ?says Greggs, chuckling, I didn?t make Southern great, it?s always been great, I just took it to another level. And I don?t blame all the other directors for imitating me, because if I was somebody else, I?d imitate me.?
Terrell_SU
Wow! Stupid pple do exist
Re: Bands go to war
Thats classic Doc right there! :saw:
JSU said:
Thats classic Doc right there! :saw:
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