re: We need to talk about the Golden Girls-Tiger Girls feud

quote:

---

The School of Music stole the scholarships that had for decades belonged to the colorguard and golden girls

---

That still doesn't explain the downsizing of the rest of the band, namely brass.

quote:

---

I was also told that a donor gave a 500,000.00 endowment to the Golden Girls to be used for scholarships (in addition to their tiger band stipends) in 2013. To my knowledge, the golden girls have NOT received a penny of this.

---

Oh really?

quote:

---

the School of Music basically gets a check from Athletics and the Dean decides how to spend it.

---

So hypothetically, the athletics department could be footing the bill for a scholarship awarded to a piano major with no ties to TGBFTL?

Wow.

Where's Nakamoto?

"So hypothetically, the athletics department could be footing the bill for a scholarship awarded to a piano major with no ties to TGBFTL? "
That is exactly what is going on.

quote:

---

"So hypothetically, the athletics department could be footing the bill for a scholarship awarded to a piano major with no ties to TGBFTL? "
That is exactly what is going on.

---

Why is the Athletic Department allowing this?

People are mixing apples and oranges in talking about Tiger Band Scholarships and Roy's dismissal.

There are two scholarship/stipend programs that are funded by the Athletic Department to the School of Music. These funds pre-date Frank Wickes' arrival in 1980.

The first is a general stipend program that applies to all the band members and auxiliaries, including the Golden Girls. The second is specifically designed to provide scholarships to outstanding instrumentalists in an effort to help recruiting to the School of Music (SoM). Those instrumentalists have to be in Tiger Band at least once while they are at LSU.

When Frank Wickes was here, he held the title of Director of Bands. This meant that he controlled all of the funds for the wind bands the school has: LSU Wind Ensemble, LSU Symphonic Band, LSU Symphonic Winds, and Tiger Band. This gave him complete control of both of those scholarship programs. Mr. Wickes used that scholarship money to draw top musicians to LSU, which made the LSU Wind Ensemble one of the best in the country, as recognized by many of their peers.

When Wickes retired, the LSU SoM decided that the Director of Tiger Band would be separated from the Director of Bands position. This is essentially why Linda Moorhouse left: she was not going to have the span of control or positional rank within the school that Wickes had. Lots of reasons for why that happened that I don't need to go into here, but this follows the trend of pretty much everywhere else. For example, Linda told us that while she was getting her Doctorate at Washington, their marching band was totally under the control of the athletic department.

When Roy was hired, he continued to control both scholarship programs. The university audit found that $14,000 from the "instrumentalists only" scholarship to members of the Golden Girls and Color Guard. This was a clear violation of the intent and wording of that scholarship money. So, while so many want to claim "the SOM took money away from the Golden Girls" in their effort to denigrate SoM leadership, what was really happening is that money was being taken away from the instrumentalist students it was supposed to be going to.

Additionally, since Roy was not Director of Bands but still had control of the money, at times he directed students receiving the "instrumentalists only" scholarship to enroll in the lower prestige Symphonic Band class. This made it difficult for many and impossible for others to register for the highest prestige Wind Ensemble. This directly hurt the talent level and thus the performance level of the Wind Ensemble. (I personally know someone who was given this ultimatum.)

These findings are what Roy was eventually dismissed for.

Lastly, I do remember something about a endowment for the Golden Girls that the SoM prohibited Roy from going for on the trip to Syracuse, but I thought that was for $50,000. Due to the way the whole thing went down, I don't think the donation ever happened.

LSU audit of Band Scholarships under Roy King.

See finding 3 on page 5.

GEAUX TIGERS

The ugliest one is probably hotter than any Saintsation

quote:

---

Can you expound on why our numbers are down?

---

Fewer students trying out for Tiger Band. I can only assume that it has to do with how things are being done now compared to how they were done under previous band administration.

quote:

---

Are schools like Auburn and Tennessee having numbers problems?

---

It doesn't appear so, but then again those schools have always had larger bands than LSU.

quote:

---

Can you expound on why our numbers are down? Are schools like Auburn and Tennessee having numbers problems?

---

Not really. I don't know the new directors, so I don't know what they emphasize. I would say that the level of interest in tryouts is related to the general perception of the directors, and the hit Tiger Band took in general perception when Roy was fired has not been overcome yet. But, it also depends a lot on how good the director is at recruiting. Frank Wickes was a great recruiter. He got a lot of great players out of Florida and the D.C. area that would have never come to LSU.

I have noticed a general trend in high school bands, at least around here: a lot of very large high schools have much smaller bands than they used to, but the talent and training of the students in many bands at smaller schools is better than before. So, a lot depends on how well the high school band programs are performing.

While my son is in Auburn's band this year (hey, I can't be bought, but I can be rented), I do not know anything about their trend lines in terms of tryouts.

Hope that helps.

GEAUX TIGERS