Best Marching bands in Big 12

[iowaboy]

I know I know. Many of you could care less. But I find when I attend a College or High school game that the Marching Band adds greatly to the atmosphere. The Marching Bands in many cases can be the largest student group representing many schools and it can give you a pulse as to whom they are representing.

Not necessarily in any order but IMO the better Bands in the Big 12 are

Oklahoma State
Texas
Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Iowa State
Texas Tech
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas State
Baylor
Colorado
Kansas

Bear in mind this is Marching Band only. Some Colleges put little into on the field shows BUT have tremendous Music programs. My son Graduated from Iowa State majoring in Music. He went to Stoolwater once to watch a game and came back shaking his head as to how great OSU's Band was. Iowa State known for its energy, pre- game traditional show to please the Alumni, yet half-time programs to be current with the times. A&M while large is very plodding like per their Military mantra.

Iowa high-schools also are very good in many cases especially the ones who "compete" against others in the fall. My father was also a Band Director and it brings back many memories. In any event comment if you wish and to those who could care less, fine. IB

 

[wxman1]

I think your rankings are pretty good but I would put A&M at the two spot.

That being said our band could be better if the fan base bought into the band more/there was more to chant along with what the band does. Look at OU/K-State and other bands they play something and everyone sings something whatever it is be it that stupid sooner song or the k-state thing after touchdowns and kickoffs it is super annoying to opposing fans and we have nothing like that. If our band could come up with something to play up to a kickoff or something like other bands do that would help as well imo.

 

[CyLoboClone]

I have a long musical life, and I remember marching band in HS in Iowa, we went from formation stand and play to something similar to the ISU band's shows. In my opinion, it is great to have a marching band, but the truly awesome field units are found in DCI- Drum Corp. Get the winds out of there, prance around and blast the audience! Watch a DCI show and then go to a football game, and it wont matter who the university is, it will suck in comparison.

 

[iowaboy]

I have a long musical life, and I remember marching band in HS in Iowa, we went from formation stand and play to something similar to the ISU band's shows. In my opinion, it is great to have a marching band, but the truly awesome field units are found in DCI- Drum Corp. Get the winds out of there, prance around and blast the audience! Watch a DCI show and then go to a football game, and it wont matter who the university is, it will suck in comparison.

That's true. I go way back to Drum Corps when they were sponsored by the Legions! I was at the first DCI competition in Whitewater, Wisconsin in 71 or 72. HOWEVER, Drum Corps today while great is more about dancing and props. IMO, Drum Corps peaked for BRASS in the years 89-96 when they would park and bark and tear the shirts right off your backs. As you know, the most fanatical fans around are true drum Corps fans. They will scream and go nuts at practices!!!

 

[cyhiphopp]

I have a long musical life, and I remember marching band in HS in Iowa, we went from formation stand and play to something similar to the ISU band's shows. In my opinion, it is great to have a marching band, but the truly awesome field units are found in DCI- Drum Corp. Get the winds out of there, prance around and blast the audience! Watch a DCI show and then go to a football game, and it wont matter who the university is, it will suck in comparison.

I marched in both DCI (Dubuque Colts '00 and '01) and ISUCF'V'MB (00-03). Marching band is just for fun and getting to watch cheap football games. It was rarely more serious than your average high school band and often less so. Not to mention the gameday hangovers after the keggers (mostly at my house)! Don't get me wrong, I loved band. I made great friends that I am still close to and had a lot of fun. If they tried to get too serious, noone would put the effort to it. There are just too many things you have to do in college to put that much into band.

DCI is a whole other level. It is a serious physical challenge, especially when you are in Texas in the summer. I lost about 30 lbs over my first summer with the Colts. Add the 13 hour rehearsal days to sleeping mostly on a bus or, if you're lucky, a gym floor, and it can be very pysically and mentally taxing.
It was all worth it though.

It is hard to describe the satisfaction derived from it to someone who hasn't experienced it. My wife was in one of the best HS Marching Bands in the country and even she doesn't belie me that it wasn't even close to being on tour. Some of the best timesof my life.

 

[iowaboy]

Then she had to have Marched in Texas or Indiana as they have incredible high-school Bands. Sioux Falls is also very good as is a few Bands in Minnesota. Broken Arrow, Ok is loaded also.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Not necessarily in any order but IMO the better Bands in the Big 12 are

Oklahoma State
Texas
Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Iowa State
Texas Tech
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas State
Baylor
Colorado
Kansas

I don't understand - if they're not necessarily in any order, you just named all of the B12 teams as the better bands. Or is this intended to be your ranking from 1-12?

In any case, I remember being absolutely blown away by the A&M band a few years ago. It was the most impressive marching display I've seen.

I'm sure I've seen the Oklahoma St. band as well, but I don't remember them being all that memorable. However, there's a good chance I had been drinking...

 

[wxman1]

I marched in both DCI (Dubuque Colts '00 and '01) and ISUCF'V'MB (00-03). Marching band is just for fun and getting to watch cheap football games. It was rarely more serious than your average high school band and often less so. Not to mention the gameday hangovers after the keggers (mostly at my house)! Don't get me wrong, I loved band. I made great friends that I am still close to and had a lot of fun. If they tried to get too serious, noone would put the effort to it. There are just too many things you have to do in college to put that much into band.

DCI is a whole other level. It is a serious physical challenge, especially when you are in Texas in the summer. I lost about 30 lbs over my first summer with the Colts. Add the 13 hour rehearsal days to sleeping mostly on a bus or, if you're lucky, a gym floor, and it can be very pysically and mentally taxing.
It was all worth it though.

It is hard to describe the satisfaction derived from it to someone who hasn't experienced it. My wife was in one of the best HS Marching Bands in the country and even she doesn't belie me that it wasn't even close to being on tour. Some of the best timesof my life.

It is getting much more serious more rules and such. If you were at the bowl game you would notice that most of our drumline did not perform because they were caught with alcohol in their rooms the first night in Phoenix. There are strict no alcohol, no smoking, no drug use, rules and if you get caught swearing you get some glares.

 

[alarson]

It is getting much more serious more rules and such. If you were at the bowl game you would notice that most of our drumline did not perform because they were caught with alcohol in their rooms the first night in Phoenix. There are strict no alcohol, no smoking, no drug use, rules and if you get caught swearing you get some glares.

well... thats more due to Mr. Smith's policies than anything else. I drank with several UM band members down in Phoenix, a few that i knew through drum corps. I wouldnt say its much more serious on the performance\rehearsal side though. Its still mostly about having fun, which is fine, thats what a college band should be.

 

[MNCyGuy]

It is getting much more serious more rules and such. If you were at the bowl game you would notice that most of our drumline did not perform because they were caught with alcohol in their rooms the first night in Phoenix. There are strict no alcohol, no smoking, no drug use, rules and if you get caught swearing you get some glares.

Makes me glad I was done before they started cracking down quite that hard. Some rules to keep people from being complet morons and ******* things up for everyone? Fine. Just seems like they are taking away more and more of the fun side stuff.

 

[alarson]

Then she had to have Marched in Texas or Indiana as they have incredible high-school Bands. Sioux Falls is also very good as is a few Bands in Minnesota. Broken Arrow, Ok is loaded also.

Someone definitely knows their good marching band areas.

Ever hit up Bands of America Grand Nationals in indy? I've heard there are some decent shows, never been myself though.

 

[alarson]

DCI is a whole other level. It is a serious physical challenge, especially when you are in Texas in the summer. I lost about 30 lbs over my first summer with the Colts. Add the 13 hour rehearsal days to sleeping mostly on a bus or, if you're lucky, a gym floor, and it can be very pysically and mentally taxing.
It was all worth it though.

Agreed, its definitely on a whole nother level. (I marched Blue Stars 05-06 and interned there in 07) The goal is perfection... every second of the show literally has hours of rehearsal. Amazing to be on that level.

It is hard to describe the satisfaction derived from it to someone who hasn't experienced it. My wife was in one of the best HS Marching Bands in the country and even she doesn't belie me that it wasn't even close to being on tour. Some of the best timesof my life.

Agreed. Definitely the best few summers ive ever had. Maybe we need to get a CF group together at a local show.:yes:

 

[aeroclone]

I don't understand - if they're not necessarily in any order, you just named all of the B12 teams as the better bands. Or is this intended to be your ranking from 1-12?

In any case, I remember being absolutely blown away by the A&M band a few years ago. It was the most impressive marching display I've seen.

I'm sure I've seen the Oklahoma St. band as well, but I don't remember them being all that memorable. However, there's a good chance I had been drinking...

I will agree that the A&M band puts on a great show and it is really cool to see, but it is also hard to compare to what the other Big 12 schools do, because it is an entirely different style. A&M marches one single show the entire year, where the other schools will learn something new for each game. And the A&M show is a military style show. All the marching is in a straight line, and each step is the same size. Since this is all that they do, they can focus in and perfect it where other bands really can't do that. If you tasked the A&M band with learning a more traditional field show like ISU does in a week, I don't think you would notice much difference between the two.

That said, I have seen the bands from A&M, Nebraska, KU, KSU, Mizzou, Okie State, Iowa State, UNI, and Iowa. I won't rank A&M with the others for the reasons I mentioned. But based on what I have seen, I would say I thought OSU was the best, with ISU right up there. That said, it has probably been 7 or 8 years since I saw OSU perform, so they may not be at the same level today.

 

[wxman1]

Makes me glad I was done before they started cracking down quite that hard. Some rules to keep people from being complet morons and ******* things up for everyone? Fine. Just seems like they are taking away more and more of the fun side stuff.

I agree with the rules for the most part, they are for the most part the reason why we get so many compliments on our conduct while traveling. That being said the rules and how the director treats you like children most of the time is leading to a good number of people quitting.

 

[MNCyGuy]

I agree with the rules for the most part, they are for the most part the reason why we get so many compliments on our conduct while traveling. That being said the rules and how the director treats you like children most of the time is leading to a good number of people quitting.

It really didn't seem that way when I started, and that was only 5-6 years ago. I wonder what the hell happened. I have some ideas, but nothing that would really explain such a drastic change in approach.

 

[dualthreat]

texas a&m wins. texas next. then OU.

 

[vmbplayer]

texas a&m wins. texas next. then OU.

I really don't get the love for the OU band at all. They're very close to the bottom of my list.

 

[CycloneJoe]

I think Oklahoma is the best

 

[alarson]

I really don't get the love for the OU band at all. They're very close to the bottom of my list.

Agreed.

 

[wxman1]

OU is not a good band at all