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.