For most of the last 50 years, our band has been viewed as a source of inspiration and a point of pride for Miami University. It’s appearances at the Inauguration Parade, the BOA in Indy and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade brought acclaim to the university. They looked sharp at Michigan and Ohio State and at the battle of the bands in St Petersburg they held their own against an SEC contingent. If the band is no longer serving this purpose, something needs to happen to rejuvenate the organization. I haven’t seen them perform since the Lending Tree Bowl.
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Again, the Miami Administration and Trustees are to blame for ignoring “branding opportunities” which includes things like ICA and the Miami band.
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Ah…….the Think System way of playing.
And if anyone plays off key or gets out of position when marching, the claws come out
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I was lucky enough to be in the band when Dave Shaffer was still there. Hell of a guy and an outstanding composer
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Plenty of cash laying around for initiatives the admin.prioritizes.
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$50,000 for a student organization with 250 members that serves as a highly visible ambassador for the university seems appallingly low. That’s about $200 per member per year. Baffling!
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All of Perdue’s music “stuff” is on their own. That’s band, glee club, Purduettes, etc.
I was there after transferring from IU, where I’d played in the Marching Hundred, and played in the 1969 Miami Marching Band for a year under Nick Poccia’s direction. His career was coming to a close and he didn’t have the fire and drive to upgrade the band to compete with other Midwest university bands. Meanwhile, Ohio’s Marching 110 was starting to gain an identity as an exciting show band. When Nick retired, Dr Lyles arrived with a passion to make Miami one of the better bands in the country. He succeeded over about 20 years and handed the band off to Dr Shaffer, who continued the excellence. Apparently, our band is in need of rejuvenation.
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Don’t get me started!
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I hate to say it but I would watch the Ohio Marching 110 ten times out of 10 before watching our band. They bring the heat whereas our band seems to have been doing show tunes for the last 40 years.
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There appears to be a lot of money floating around Purdue’s bands. I’m not certain the university doesn’t directly contribute. They charge each band member $100 a year to participate in the form of an academic fee. That would only account for $30-35k. The extra operating money comes from somewhere. Someone just donated $10 million to build a new bands and orchestra building - and they don’t evfn have a school of music. Looks like there are also some band/orchestra endowments.
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Athlon’s 2023 preview magazine arrived today. It used to be that P5 teams had 2 pages each and G5 teams had one. Now P5 teams get 1 page each… and G5 teams get 1/2 a page (literally 2 paragraphs apiece).
Athlon predicts Miami to win the East with an 8-4 record (6-2 in conference play, beating OU to win the tiebreaker) before losing to Toledo in the MACC. I have purchased this magazine every year since 1999 and Miami has never been predicted to win the MAC. I guess consistency counts for something. Overall, Athlon ranks Miami #90 and projects a Potato Bowl matchup vs. Fresno State.
No projected first-team All-MAC players. Holskey, Suttle, Ugwu, Salopek are listed as second-team players and Gabbert, Marshall, Dowell, and Nicholson are there as third-team players.
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Lindy’s is almost a copy of Athlon . This is the last year I waste money on this rag. Guess Phil Steele is last mag that gives detailed info on the MAC
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Oh I forgot the annual “quote from an opposing MAC assistant coach”:
“It really all comes down to their offensive line and their QB play. They’re hard to predict, I consider them a swing team this season. Could be awful; could be bowling.”
The glee club gets by on wealthy donors and what they charge for appearances. I can tell you the donors MUST either be many or have deep pockets, because they even offer scholarships to the lads. Not a jillion dollars but still significant. Same with Purduettes. And the PMO hall was built by them as well I believe.
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Could be awful- could be bowling. Yikes. My expectations are way higher than those two goal posts
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Yeah, where the heck did the nameless assistant get “could be awful”? Bare minimum should be bowling, that shouldn’t be the upswing result.
24/7 predicts we’ll play San Jose in the Famous Potato Bowl. If we don’t make the MACC, I’m guessing it’s probably our turn for a winter trip to Boise.
Dream scenario: Miami and Toledo both start either 6-1 or 7-0 and GameDay finally comes to Oxford! CBSS is televising a MAC game at noon on Oct 21. I’m guessing that’s Miami vs Toledo if both teams take care of business.
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