All Things Pride of Minnesota 2017 thread

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Gameday Schedule is out!

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Lots of stuff with the High School Band Day, fell a bit behind:
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My daughter participated in the band day and had a blast. Thanks for a great time!
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
My daughter participated in the band day and had a blast. Thanks for a great time!
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Glad she had fun! Sounds like the day was a great success this year. Hopefully more bands can participate next year!
 


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I'm a little late with this feedback, but I have to say that Band Day was a disappointment for me.

Marching band music is supposed to be stirring and bombastic. With an 800-piece band I expected to rock out to some fun marches. Instead we got Lady Gaga and some other lilting pop music. I was astonished by this, and everyone I talked to about the performance expressed disappointment. It fits a pattern, as I've been puzzled by some of the musical selections the last several years.
 

everybody knows my name said:
I'm a little late with this feedback, but I have to say that Band Day was a disappointment for me.

Marching band music is supposed to be stirring and bombastic. With an 800-piece band I expected to rock out to some fun marches. Instead we got Lady Gaga and some other lilting pop music. I was astonished by this, and everyone I talked to about the performance expressed disappointment. It fits a pattern, as I've been puzzled by some of the musical selections the last several years.
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I mean, you have to understand there needs to be a balance between fun to listen to, relevant, and easy enough to learn to memorize in a week. In addition, there were over 600 high schoolers who also had to learn this music and have fun playing it.

Plus with 900+ people playing the same song, and only 1 morning practice to practice playing together as a whole, you also have to pick songs that are easy to keep together. Playing pop music is significantly easier to keep in tempo for 900 people stretched across 100 yards. I guarantee the performers would have torn apart if they had attempted a loud, bombastic march.
 



If they can only spend a week learning the music and if they can only practice it together for one morning, maybe it isn't worth doing. I had imagined that the band members would be anticipating Band Day with as much excitement as I was, but if it's only worth one week of preparation, I guess it wasn't so important.

I stand behind my statement that some of the recent musical selections have been puzzling.
 

everybody knows my name said:
If they can only spend a week learning the music and if they can only practice it together for one morning, maybe it isn't worth doing. I had imagined that the band members would be anticipating Band Day with as much excitement as I was, but if it's only worth one week of preparation, I guess it wasn't so important.

I stand behind my statement that some of the recent musical selections have been puzzling.
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It's worth doing.

They've always done some randomish stuff. The regular tributes to billy joel are always... a thing.

But whatever, it's their thing. They do plenty of the regular band stuff too.
 

everybody knows my name said:
If they can only spend a week learning the music and if they can only practice it together for one morning, maybe it isn't worth doing. I had imagined that the band members would be anticipating Band Day with as much excitement as I was, but if it's only worth one week of preparation, I guess it wasn't so important.

I stand behind my statement that some of the recent musical selections have been puzzling.
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I mean, I'm sure the high schools had the music much longer, but you can't expect the high schools to be able to make it to the 4:00-6:00 evening practices the band has. Especially bands who are getting close to 1hr away driving time without rush hour traffic. The Pride only has a week, maybe two, between each game to practice. Its a lot to put together, with a lot of logistics, so you have to make some compromises somewhere.

In terms of music selection, we have a wide range of music tastes in the fans. The band can't satisfy everyone, every halftime. Sometimes we cater to the students, sometimes to the older fans, etc. And above all the band still needs to have fun playing the song. Plus we're 2 halftimes in, who knows what other music the band is going to play this year?
 

I'm trying not to make a bigger deal of this than it is, but I'm not buying it. Most people want to hear a marching band play marching music. That's what it's about. I wouldn't go to see Metallica play a concert of Monkees music, and I wouldn't go to a Stevie Wonder show expecting to hear Vivaldi. It's pretty elementary that you stick to doing things you do well, and the band didn't sound good playing a Beatles medley last year, either.
 



everybody knows my name said:
I'm trying not to make a bigger deal of this than it is, but I'm not buying it. Most people want to hear a marching band play marching music. That's what it's about. I wouldn't go to see Metallica play a concert of Monkees music, and I wouldn't go to a Stevie Wonder show expecting to hear Vivaldi. It's pretty elementary that you stick to doing things you do well, and the band didn't sound good playing a Beatles medley last year, either.
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I was not at all disappointed with the music selection. And in fact, I very much enjoyed it, especially Lady Gaga.

Keep in mind, everyone has an opinion, and everyone has different tastes. Also, as pointed out, there are people from multiple generations at the game, so it's impossible to make everyone happy.
 



Thanks for the this thread. My first post and my first season here on Gopher Hole. My son is a Freshman in the Clarinet section and is having an absolute blast in the band! We are out of state and I was able to fly in for the Middle Tennessee game and High School Band Day. I was very impressed! I am looking forward to coming back on 10/14 to watch the Gophers beat MSU! Go Gophers and Go Pride of Minnesota!
 

jpc763 said:
Thanks for the this thread. My first post and my first season here on Gopher Hole. My son is a Freshman in the Clarinet section and is having an absolute blast in the band! We are out of state and I was able to fly in for the Middle Tennessee game and High School Band Day. I was very impressed! I am looking forward to coming back on 10/14 to watch the Gophers beat MSU! Go Gophers and Go Pride of Minnesota!
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Glad to have you! As a former member of the Pride I can say your son made a great choice!
 

everybody knows my name said:
I'm trying not to make a bigger deal of this than it is, but I'm not buying it. Most people want to hear a marching band play marching music. That's what it's about. I wouldn't go to see Metallica play a concert of Monkees music, and I wouldn't go to a Stevie Wonder show expecting to hear Vivaldi. It's pretty elementary that you stick to doing things you do well, and the band didn't sound good playing a Beatles medley last year, either.
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I had the opposite impression of the Beatles medley last year, on the Plaza and in the stadium.
 

Taji34 said:
I mean, I'm sure the high schools had the music much longer, but you can't expect the high schools to be able to make it to the 4:00-6:00 evening practices the band has. Especially bands who are getting close to 1hr away driving time without rush hour traffic. The Pride only has a week, maybe two, between each game to practice. Its a lot to put together, with a lot of logistics, so you have to make some compromises somewhere.

In terms of music selection, we have a wide range of music tastes in the fans. The band can't satisfy everyone, every halftime. Sometimes we cater to the students, sometimes to the older fans, etc. And above all the band still needs to have fun playing the song. Plus we're 2 halftimes in, who knows what other music the band is going to play this year?
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I like the variety. Also won't be disappointed if they played Immigrant Song every other halftime tho...:)
 

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Very good show from Saturday!

I am excited to report that for the first time, my son has made the pregame block! He had done B1G flags for the prior 2 games but will be in the pregame block this next game (Parent and Family weekend so we will be there!!!)
 

jpc763 said:
Very good show from Saturday!

I am excited to report that for the first time, my son has made the pregame block! He had done B1G flags for the prior 2 games but will be in the pregame block this next game (Parent and Family weekend so we will be there!!!)
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That's awesome! I didn't make it into the pregame block my entire rookie year, but I made every one after that. It was so exciting when I got in the first time. Pregame is one of the best parts of being in the band IMO.
 

jpc763 said:
Very good show from Saturday!

I am excited to report that for the first time, my son has made the pregame block! He had done B1G flags for the prior 2 games but will be in the pregame block this next game (Parent and Family weekend so we will be there!!!)
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Very cool, hard work pays off! All the moving formations were a big hit with everyone around me.
 

Just a few thing I missed last week, so I don't get too behind before the next home game:

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Hey everyone, I'm sure you remember me posting pictures and stuff from when Coach Fleck surprised this year's band rookies and showed up to speak with them at our "Welcome the Rookies" event in Northrup. After that a member of the band wrote him a Thank You letter, and Coach Fleck took the time to respond personally! Here is his response (with permission from the person who wrote the original letter):
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