Marching to the Beat

A statement that precisely describes marching bands at HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and University’s) is that “the show doesn't start until halftime”. I believe that I would get a multitude of people to agree with that quote from the 2002 box office hit Drumline. However, HBCU’s aren't the only schools that believe in this motto as you will see later on.

When HBCU marching bands come on to any football field, crowds immediately expect a show, as mentioned previously. These bands include everything from trendy song selections, to extravagant dance moves, to formations that just blows everybody’s minds away. One would never expect that from a predominately white school however.

I didn't think that a predominately white marching band would be able to pull off what a Morgan State, Southern University, and both HU’s (Howard University and Hampton University) are able to do as far as getting people anxious for what they might see as far as marching bands are concerned. Majority schools are usually stereo-typically the wholesome bands that display very safe formations with little to no movement besides the marching. There is nothing wrong with all of that. After all, it is called a “marching band”. However, if you are looking to entertain young college students while your school football team is in recess, you might want to spice things up a little bit and not have the majority of your song selection exclusively come from a catalog of 18^th century patriotic American songs.

The Ohio State University proved me, along with millions of other people wrong with this stereotype as they put on a display that I will not forget for a very long time. In this Michael Jackson tribute performance, they shattered every stereotype that I ever had of a marching band that is not from an HBCU. The performance was a medley of hits from the Thriller album by Michael Jackson, who is known by many people around the world to be the greatest performer of all time, so they couldn't disappoint. The band started off the performance by playing the song, Thriller. Then they went on to perform their own rendition of Bad, using the band members to actually spell out the word “BAD”.

Ohio State Marching Band

The most impressive part of the whole performance took place when they went on to play Billie Jean. The band members joined together to form what appeared to be Michael Jackson’s contour. You could hear the crowd’s loud reaction as everybody began to realize what they just did. And as if that weren't enough for the crowd’s entertainment, they took that same formation and did perhaps Michael Jackson’s most iconic move, The Moonwalk. The crowd got louder with every move being made.

This performance definitely raised the standard to how marching bands across the nation should perform from that moment. The Ohio State University marching band showed that they can compete with any marching band, as they put on one of the best performances, if not the best you will ever see.

To see another great performance by the Ohio State marching band, click here.

Is this the Life?

A career in the music industry can be a very rewarding and fun one if in it for the right reasons. Many people hear about the success that comes from this career. However, what you see from the outside isn't all it is said to be. This blog is especially about the financial aspect of the industry.

If you take a look at one of my previous blogs, 4 Myths About the Music Industry, I talk briefly about the common misconceptions that people have when it comes to the finances of the music industry as a whole. 

Well, in this blog, I wanted to go a little more in-depth on this topic.

If you watch these artists on television, you will see a plethora of elegant, expensive material things such as big houses, nice cars and the like. There are three explanations as to how they get a hold of these luxurious things. That is they actually have the money to buy them, they are spending   beyond their means, or these things are not actually theirs and they’re borrowing them. In a lot of cases, they do have the finances to live this flashy lifestyle, but there is as much of a chance that what they’re showing you is actually just a figment of their imagination.

On average an artist may make several million if they are lucky on his or her first recording contract. However, like Damon Dash points out at the beginning of this video, that several million dollars you make can quickly dissipate. You have to keep in mind that a chunk of that goes into taxes, then some people who see this kind of money get overly excited and want to go haywire as soon as they get that check. The money goes towards things such as cars, clothes, big houses, and forms of entertainment that shall remain unmentioned. They also have to keep in mind that they have family and friends who want a piece of that pie. Not to mention, there are still bills that have to get paid and food that has to be put on the table. Before they know it, those millions of dollars that they thought would seem infinite is no longer there.

Many people think that the amount of album sales equals money in the pockets of recording artists. This may be true if the artist chose to go the independent route. In that case, he or she gets all of the revenue that comes in. However, if the artist is signed to a major recording label, only about 10-15% of the total record sales are going to the artist according to this Cheka Digital article. The way artists usually make their money is through tours and any merchandise that they sell. People are in the mainstream scene now and are selling millions of records but getting just a small percentage of what they actually sell as a result of being signed to a record label. The difference may not be much between an artist signed with a major deal and an independent artist. In some cases, if handled right, an independent artist may end up having more success in the long run.

Women Progressing in Music World

For a long time, women in some cultures were looked at as being the inferior gender in the human race. They would be the ones to have the responsibility of cooking, cleaning, looking after their kids and that is all they were allowed to do as a livelihood. Shelly M. Jargow mentioned in an article she wrote that “…women were expected to become home-keepers, bear children for family labor, and perform daily domestic duties”. If they went as far as to think about doing a job that was considered as being a man’s responsibilities, they would have dealt with some repercussions, including death. However, we live in a world today where women are no longer confined to a certain space that society placed them into. Women, at least in America for sure, are free to do anything they want so long as it is not detrimental to society’s well-being. This includes pursuing a career in music, specifically any kind of composition or leadership position, such as a band conductor.

Women in the career of music also need to be held at a higher regard when it comes to the quality of music they create. For example, I listened to a piece by Amy Bach titled “Symphony in E Minor” about a year ago. If I would have listened to this without knowing the composer’s name, my inclination would have suggested that a male composed this piece. This is not because I didn't think that a woman was capable of composing such a piece, but because I never really thought about a woman being a composer. I have heard of a Bach and Beetoven, who are two of the greatest classical music composers of all time. As I heard the piece by Amy Bach for the first time in my music class, I was thinking to myself that this had to be one of the greatest pieces of music that I've ever heard. It had everything that a good classical piece would have. It was very cinematic, emotional, and just sonically pleasing overall. However, due mostly in part to her gender, I think that this had a long-term impact negatively on her legacy as a whole.

Marin Aslop

As far as females in the world of music conducting goes, it has improved, however, there is till that disparity in equality between men and women. Marin Aslop, whom in 2007 became the first woman to ever conduct a major orchestra (The Baltimore Orchestra) and also became the first female to conduct the Last Night of the Proms, which is a popular classical music event in Britain stated in an interview with BBC that she is honored by all of her achievements but also said that there’s no room for complacency. She recalled the time when she first started her career and could not get any employment, with her gender being a factor. “I was rejected for so many things partly because I was a woman”. She suggested that especially on her quest to being an orchestra conductor it was especially challenging because people weren’t used to seeing this kind of thing. She compared it to a woman operating a plane and admitted that she even hesitates because that’s something she’s not used to.

As a society, I think that we need to do a better job of judging a person’s work based off of quality, not based on their gender. This goes for any career field, not only music. Although I’m not a female, I do sometimes get tired of hearing the phrase “You do that well for a woman”. I think that there is still a ways to go when it comes to gender equality.