re: Jacksonville State Band Honors LSU & Flood Victims

quote:

---

I would hope that someone, TAF maybe, would get involved. I find it hard to believe that people would just stand by and do nothing while Alexander, Queen, and Alleva destroy TGBFTL from within.

---

You left out Talley and Llinas.....
1. They ARE ALREADY DOING IT. 100% of Tigerama proceeds DO NOT go to the Tiger Band as they have in the past (tradition gone).
2. The Tiger Band budget is not controlled/protected by athletics anymore (tradition gone). Queen/Talley control the money.
3. Talley (with Queen's support) have already announced using Tiger Band budget/scholarships for students NOT in Tiger Bad (tradition gone).
4. No full band trips (tradition gone).
I could go on and on....stay tuned.

quote:

---

It just doesn't make sense that the School of Music would want to deliberately cripple, because that's what this is, the organization that is their most visible and recognizable representative. The solution seems simple enough, reclassify TGBFTL and the Bengal Brass as "spirit organizations" similar to the cheerleaders, and move them back under the control of the athletic department and TAF. The problem is, how do you do that when the university president is the one who began all this mess to begin with?

---

Easy answer...The school of music wants to "redistribute" the Tiger Band budget as they see fit. In other words, they want to "steal" it. Within that budget is the all important "scholarship account." Dean Queen would never allow the band to go back under control of athletics because he would lose allocation control of the $400,000.00 scholarship account. Enrollment at the school of music has been in decline and Dean Queen is desperate. F. King would not allow the athletic department to alter/decrease the band budget no matter how bad the band gets. To the school of music, Tiger Band is nothing more than a cash cow. There is a long tradition (even during Wickes' era) of the school of music mistreating Tiger Band members......they/school of music do not care about the band. They do not see it as the "face" of the school of music.

quote:

---

What else can we do?

---

Not sure....I am uncomfortable just sitting around for things to evolve into a Tiger Band we are disappointed in. All I know to do is keep calling attention to the things they are doing and who is doing it. I am confident about one thing...They (Queen, Tally, Llinas) are counting on everyone becoming complacent and basically forgetting what "standard of excellence" we used to have. They are planning to change (the things I mentioned above) slowly at first hoping nobody notices.

quote:

---

The reason has to do with the payments made to band members. However, it is those payments that help to insure the quality of the membership. This is especially true since the scholarship numbers are down from when I was in school.

---

Wrong....Each member still gets $1000.00 (at least for now). The current level of scholarship money is no different than 2009 and earlier. The numbers were GROWING (hence the numbers they were cutting) from 2009 to this year.

quote:

---

When I was there, there was a large number of music majors in the band for 2-4 years. I was in all 4, even though I was a performance major. Most of the Music Ed majors I knew stayed in for at least 3 years. That made such a big difference in the quality of all of the LSU bands.

---

Wrong again....the percentage of music majors in the band has NOT changed in the last 25 - 30 years. During that time, it has been around 20%.

quote:

---

The quality of sound is always more important than quantity.

---

I agree. However, with fewer students applying for membership, the quality is certainly going to drop.

quote:

---

Also, JSU isn't the only band marching that many. FSU was over 500 when I was there in the late 90s to 2000. I'm pretty sure Texas A&M runs that large too.

---

Not sure what your point is. My point is that LSU SHOULD have 325 (and be making cuts to get there). I'll use your words to illustrate the point about the LSU band's numbers....."....but when the program is run properly."

quote:

---

Didn't Queen pretty much ruin the band at Colorado State, before he came to LSU.

---

I don't know about ruin but he did some shifty stuff there (raided the band budget, fired people without cause, has pending lawsuits). Any of that sound familiar?

I really don't know what the hell you are talking about. You were the one complaining about numbers in comparison to another band with greater numbers. My point was that TGBFTL has stayed in the 300-325 range instead of graphing larger because that's what the payment system can support. I'm sure they could pump the numbers up if they cut the stipends way back or did away with them, but in my opinion, the arrangement they currently have is better as long as the right leadership is in place. I do agree that the current setup of the entire band department and the leadership need to change.

As for the number of much majors, I can absolutely guarantee you the percentage was higher than 20% from 93-97. We were 35-50% on the drum line alone through that period. As for now, I can't say for certain, but a few recent members on Facebook have been reporting declining numbers over the last 5 years. Considering the split in the band department, this wouldn't be surprising. When I was at FSU for grad school, I knew 1 percussion major who was in the marching band. Even the Music Ed majors who marched only did it for 1 or 2 years, depending on their scholly situation. That is how a lot of programs are. Tiger Band used to be an exception, but there are people who say that's changing. I actually hope you are correct, but I don't think the current band dept setup will support that.

quote:

---

As for the number of much majors, I can absolutely guarantee you the percentage was higher than 20% from 93-97. We were 35-50% on the drum line alone through that period.

---

The drum line always had a higher music major percentage (until Brett Dietz was hired). John Raush always promoted the band. Also, Raush had a large studio along with his attitude = more in the drum line. Think about this....if every trumpet music major was in tiger band what would the music major percentage be? Same question for percussion studio/drum line.
Mr. Wickes told me that in the late 80's/early 90's that the music major percentage sometimes got close to 25%, but never higher (full band). He said it has (and did until last year) hover around 20%.

quote:

---

I'm sure they could pump the numbers up if they cut the stipends way back or did away with them

---

What?? You think if the stipends were removed, the Tiger Band numbers would increase? Dumb.

quote:

---

My point was that TGBFTL has stayed in the 300-325 range instead of graphing larger because that's what the payment system can support.

---

I get that. My point is that the overall talent to choose from has declined this year because they only had around 275 show up at camp. There is a big difference between having 400-450 to choose a 325 piece band from verses having 275 to choose from. Something has changed, and not for the good.

quote:

---

a few recent members on Facebook have been reporting declining numbers over the last 5 years

---

Wrong.....they were still cutting between 75-100 every year for the past 5-6 years. I got my stats directly from the staff.