re: Hearing some rumors about tGBFTL head band director is leaving LSU.

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He was in TGBFTL and will have much more of an appreciation of it than previous SoM admins.

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Eric is a "friend" of the studio teachers + faculty in the school of music......that makes him an enemy of the Tiger Band. Eric played in the bands because he had to (no saxes in the orchestra).

Sources from inside the band staff tell me it was mostly a diversity hire from the get go, but also LSU wanted to keep it in-house for the hiring process anyway.

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Also, check out the Directors page on the website. The Asst. Director for the band doesn't even have any kind of music degree listed and is an instructor for "Leadership Development" classes.

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This is secretly the worst hire within the band program. They basically took a former drum major who wasn’t actually a music major and created some position for him years ago.

The guy being “Assistant Director of Bands” is an insult to any music teacher, even someone teaching inner city EBR schools.

TexasTiger makes a great point...

When I was a HS principal, I hired a new band director from a smaller school as his recommendations were good & I liked his interview. There were a couple of bumps, but the quality of the band greatly improved.

Since then, he went to UK as an assistant & earned his doctorate. He moved on to be one of the top assistants at Purdue, which has an excellent band. I was able to attend one of their practices at Orlando and spent a day with their band & was so impressed with how far he has come.

He's now starting his first year as the head band director at Washington State. Hopefully he will continue to do well.

It seems to be the same track as the new band director at LSU. While I'm disappointed that we didn't do a national search, with the late resignation of Dr. Jones, I can understand the hire... I would hope that he's an interim and then we get to judge his abilities to lead the band.

I'm disappointed in the progress of the band since Dr. Wickes retired and there seems to be too much political maneuvering with the folks in the School of Music. Just the fact that Dr. Talley has to make sure that he's on the ladder to direct the National Anthem tells me what I need to know.

GBFTL Alums and Fans......

WELCOME SIMON HOLOWEIKO as the new GBFTL Director. (Maybe he's a young Frank Wickes and will be awesome for Tiger Band or maybe he's the 4th straight "Mike Archer" hire for TGBFTL)

We've got another "Linda Moorhouse" scenario here.

She took the Head DOB job after Frank Wickes retired in 2010, but soon got into negative talks with then School of Music Dean Lawrence Kaptain concerning "Funding and Finances." (Negative enough that she abruptly resigned and left LSU for the University of Illinois)

This was over the Summer and at that late date, soon before the football season started, there was simply not enough time to do anything progressive in the way of hiring another DOB.

Assistant Roy King was promoted to replace Moorhouse.

Several years later, Assistant Dennis Ilinas replaced Roy King.

Several years later Assistant Kelvin Jones replaced Ilinas.

And here we are yet again, with TGBFTL Head Director resigning over the Summer with no time to do anything but promote another Assistant.

Of course, you could open it up and interview candidates with an LSU/Tiger Band background that might be interested in the job and even at this late date, the transition would work. (Hey Dr. Corey Spurlin of Auburn, would you like to be TGBFTL Head Director?)

If there are candidates out there that would be interested in applying for the position, but are denied that right, then it opens up a can of worms for LSU/LSU Department of Bands.......

After reading this thread, I have a new respect for our band and the people who care about it’s success. I’ve learned a lot!

The Bands is what makes College football so special. And TGBFTL is ours. I want it back to its former glory.

Obviously, our alumni care about the music program and music majors being able to compete for jobs upon graduation. But the face of the LSU music program is tiger band. No matter who is in charge the band needs to increase in musicians to at least an average size SEC band. The problem of course is sound production. I’m not sure why but there are occasions you can no longer hear the band when it plays. I’m not sure if the director realizes how weak the sound is. Of course you would like to see symmetry and straight lines or people in the right spots when they are on the field but a few years ago Troy state was louder and bigger than tiger band. It’s one thing to be outsized by a sec band but we can do better.

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The problem of course is sound production. I’m not sure why but there are occasions you can no longer hear the band when it plays. I’m not sure if the director realizes how weak the sound is.

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Two issues.....1. inability to recruit balanced/talented instrumentation.....2. Director's lack of knowledge to teach student's to produce the sound needed/desired (part of this is the director's inability to motivate the students).

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Troy state was louder and bigger than tiger band. It’s one thing to be outsized by a sec band but we can do better.

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In the past, the LSU band has matched up with bigger/more talented bands before (Texas, Michigan State, etc), but has always found a way (motivating the students to give 110% and not give up) to emerge as the better band. The current Tiger Band is a shadow of its predecessors for one reason....Damon Talley. He is a fraud. He hides behind the talented students recruited by the studio teachers and pretends their success is because of himself. Damon was hired for one reason, he agreed (with the school of music administration) to destroy everything that was built by Frank Wickes.

from Facebook

LINK

The Golden Band From Tigerland
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We are pleased to announce that Dr. Simon Holoweiko, Associate Director of Bands, will serve as the next Director of the Golden Band from Tigerland. Holoweiko joined the LSU faculty in 2020 following a national search and has been heavily involved with Tiger Band for the past three years. In addition, his responsibilities have included leading the LSU Symphonic Winds and teaching courses in conducting. Prior to his time at LSU, Holoweiko held a successful faculty appointment at Michigan State University and taught in the Florida public school system.


We are also excited to welcome Weston Lewis back to LSU as Visiting Assistant Director of Bands for the upcoming season. A Texas native, Lewis holds wind conducting and music education degrees from LSU and the University of Houston, respectively. He is currently a Doctoral degree candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to his graduate studies, Lewis was a successful high school director in the Klein ISD public schools in Houston. His duties at LSU will include assisting with the Tiger Marching Band, conducting the Symphonic Band, and teaching undergraduate conducting courses.
Please join us in welcoming these faculty in their new and expanded roles as we prepare for the start of a landmark 130th season in August!
#TGBFTL