https://www.lonestarlive.com/life/2024/12/texas-am-alumnus-accidentally-joins-band-says-they-pretended-to-play-for-4-years.html

My t-shirt teasippers friends are all laughing about this. I thought everyone knew a lot of BQs didn't play and only marched. I knew this as far back as the 1980s.


Is this going to jeopardize the Aggie Band's chances of winning a trophy for playing an obscure Broadway tune while marching in the shape of an ampersand?

My BIL was in the band in the late 80s and wasn't allowed to play. He told me that's because he was a freshman. He's completely atonal. I suspect that might have had something to do with it as well.

same. yet another self inflicted aggie joke

I figured everyone knew the FTAB isn't there to sound good, they are there to look good.

Ask them if they could do it…

Yeah, thought so.

HillCountry15 said:

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This is not new at all. Was a drummer in the Aggie Band, but I also marched with a trombone and a trumpet for a few halftime drills

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I heard from a couple of BQs that every year there are a bunch of guys that show up expecting to play trumpet, and they don't need trumpets. So they give them a saxophone or trombone, and tell them to march without playing.

I was in the band. I'm not sure if it's 100% true, but I was told that my freshman year (1997) was the first year you had to do a tryout to prove you could actually play your instrument well. I knew several upperclassmen at the time that marched around with a horn and never knew how to play a note.

I heard similar stories when i was in school ('08-'12)

Approximately accurate with respect to the timing for having to do a music audition.

A decade before that, you just selected Aggie Band and Corps of Cadets during your New Student Conference.

I talked to Major Brewer (TSG) for a few minutes, told him I had played in HS and then he told me he was doing me a solid by putting me in B-Company. I had no idea what I was getting into.

When I came down to College Station to interview for my Army ROTC Scholarship, the Army ROTC Cadre actively discouraged me from joining the Band. I guess there was more conflict with the Band in the 1980s.

But yeah, there were definitely guys who were crappy players (like me) and several guys who couldn't play at all.

A funny story about drummers is that there were more of them than there were slots in the drum rank and one of my buddies had to march with a piccolo a couple times. We used to give him a hard time about it.

Burdizzo said:

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HillCountry15 said:

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This is not new at all. Was a drummer in the Aggie Band, but I also marched with a trombone and a trumpet for a few halftime drills

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I heard from a couple of BQs that every year there are a bunch of guys that show up expecting to play trumpet, and they don't need trumpets. So they give them a saxophone or trombone, and tell them to march without playing.

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Not sure it quite that way. They may have a hole at trombone and the only alternates may play sax, so then that week they hold a trombone

In my time in the FTAB (2000-2004) I only knew of two folks that couldn't play an instrument. One was a legacy member. Hell, I'll be honest and say I rarely played and when I did I'd just make up my own stuff that went along with the tune.

Dr. Rhea did a good job of making this a thing of the past when he took over. And the band is much better today thanks to him.

JABQ04 said:

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In my time in the FTAB (2000-2004) I only knew of two folks that couldn't play an instrument. One was a legacy member. Hell, I'll be honest and say I rarely played and when I did I'd just make up my own stuff that went along with the tune.

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Jazz flute

Picard said:

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Dr. Rhea did a good job of making this a thing of the past when he took over. And the band is sounds much better today (playing weird ass stuff) thanks to him.

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FIFY

In fairness, we didn't have to compete with the House DJ or TV timeouts during my era.

I think the most concerning part of the story is the guy couldn't figure out how to properly choose a dorm after he got accepted and enrolled. I'm sure he's a good Ag and all, but geez, when I enrolled in the 90's everything was through mail correspondence and I didn't have any problem when choosing a dorm determining which ones were reserved for the Corps and which ones were not.

HollywoodBQ said:

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Picard said:

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Dr. Rhea did a good job of making this a thing of the past when he took over. And the band is sounds much better today (playing weird ass stuff) thanks to him.

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FIFY

In fairness, we didn't have to compete with the House DJ or TV timeouts during my era.

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I will forever lobby for the FTAB to march to the theme from Hogan's Heros

Burdizzo said:

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https://www.lonestarlive.com/life/2024/12/texas-am-alumnus-accidentally-joins-band-says-they-pretended-to-play-for-4-years.html

My t-shirt teasippers friends are all laughing about this. I thought everyone knew a lot of BQs didn't play and only marched. I knew this as far back as the 1980s.


Is this going to jeopardize the Aggie Band's chances of winning a trophy for playing an obscure Broadway tune while marching in the shape of an ampersand?

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Band smack?

Wow …

Ryan the Temp said:

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I figured everyone knew the FTAB isn't there to sound good, they are there to look good.

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Which is why I'm amazed when people poo poo on DCI videos I post that sound INSANLEY amazing and they're all like ":gee I don't like that style".

The best in the world isn't your "style"?

Midget porn, band smack, and BQ shenanigans all in one post. Well done, sir! Well done indeed!

Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Well since they have been playing the same 5 songs for 50 years, how hard could it be to learn to play? You could start prepping in high school and show up ready on day 1 to learn the steps.

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The movie Patton came out in 1970. What did the Aggie Band play prior to 1970?

Also, I have asked before. Are there lyrics to Noble Men of Kyle?

Lyrics? There's barely music!

Burdizzo said:

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Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Well since they have been playing the same 5 songs for 50 years, how hard could it be to learn to play? You could start prepping in high school and show up ready on day 1 to learn the steps.

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The movie Patton came out in 1970. What did the Aggie Band play prior to 1970?

Also, I have asked before. Are there lyrics to Noble Men of Kyle?

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And what is a Strategic Air Command anyway?

Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Burdizzo said:

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Emotional Support Cobra said:

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Well since they have been playing the same 5 songs for 50 years, how hard could it be to learn to play? You could start prepping in high school and show up ready on day 1 to learn the steps.

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The movie Patton came out in 1970. What did the Aggie Band play prior to 1970?

Also, I have asked before. Are there lyrics to Noble Men of Kyle?

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And what is a Strategic Air Command anyway?

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First rule of Strategic Air Command is don't mention Strategic Air Command

Peace, until we turn you into a smoking pile of goo.

There's a few songs that are always played. They're part of what is played for parades, frequently in drills, etc. every year two a couple of songs get semi-retired and a few new/different ones are brought out or returned to the play list.

Some are pretty basic and easy. Others require some talent/skill to play some parts. I always played, every time, first game onward. I had the ability. The band does music practice in addition to drill field work. In theory we play from sheet music in the stands but mostly I just memorized it all except the new stuff for that year unless we had to memorize it for a drill.

The one song I had trouble with was the 12th man, as we practiced it a few times then basically almost never lost a home game while I was in school. When we finally had to play it, the entire band was pretty rusty at it.

We got a collective ripping from the director for that if I recall correctly.

MouthBQ98 said:

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There's a few songs that are always played. They're part of what is played for parades, frequently in drills, etc. every year two a couple of songs get semi-retired and a few new/different ones are brought out or returned to the play list.

Some are pretty basic and easy. Others require some talent/skill to play some parts. I always played, every time, first game onward. I had the ability. The band does music practice in addition to drill field work. In theory we play from sheet music in the stands but mostly I just memorized it all except the new stuff for that year unless we had to memorize it for a drill.

The one song I had trouble with was the 12th man, as we practiced it a few times then basically almost never lost a home game while I was in school. When we finally had to play it, the entire band was pretty rusty at it.

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I have always liked that song. I just hate that the only time we hear it is after a loss or at Muster