Nederland has marched this way for about 70 years (or more). They are known for their beautiful concert sound - as my directors used to tell our band in HS back in the 1970s... 'a great marching band should sound as if a concert band on stage was just marching outside. I tell my HS bands the same even now. I suppose Nederland COULD open up - use more exciting fanfares and do more drill facing the audience. Their directors over time have always felt that what they do in the Fall on the marching field greatly affects the success of the sound of the band in the Spring on the concert stage... compared to some other military bands (as you mentioned), they may not 'take risks' for excitement. This works for them. If you watch 2014 & 2015 videos from UIL, you'll hear some new twists that Mr. Rose has chosen - fanfares... and I think - a bit more aggressive playing
@David Cutting Those are all good points and make sense. I reread my previous post and it was probably more harsh sounding than I meant, but honestly a band that size with that much talent could be really, really good and really, really fun to watch. Vidor, in my opinion, provided a blueprint for how to do that during the Charles Smith era. I could watch those videos all day -- even the ones where they likely made a 2 at UIL -- because the music and drill are so incredibly entertaining. Playing perfect and getting good ratings is very important but at the end of the day it seems like being entertaining should be the #1 goal but try as I might I find it almost impossible to sit through an entire Nederland performance without either falling asleep or having my brain drift off to another topic.
Scott Richards if a drill is clean and nice with a few interesting formations and sounds really good than it WILL entertain. A director at a high school level in Texas, only cares about the education of there students and doing what needs to get done so those students can go on after high school to continue to love music
Why do they need 3 drum majors if they don't do much more than march in a single block? Makes no sense. This band seems like such a waste of talent because they play great, march great, and are huge but year after year their drills are some of the most boring ever. Vidor and Kingswood (and Texas A&M) know how to make military marching bands really exciting, but Nederland never plays above mezzo forte and does nothing complex with their drills. How about a loud fanfare or exciting closing number at least? PS: Military drum majors shouldn't mark time.
Still wish you guys would participate at area marching contest. You would surprise a lot of bands there.
Great March...........!!!!!!
Look like Woodville High School marching Band back in the Glory years!!!!!
Still the "golden pride of the golden triangle."
Nederland has marched this way for about 70 years (or more). They are known for their beautiful concert sound - as my directors used to tell our band in HS back in the 1970s... 'a great marching band should sound as if a concert band on stage was just marching outside. I tell my HS bands the same even now. I suppose Nederland COULD open up - use more exciting fanfares and do more drill facing the audience. Their directors over time have always felt that what they do in the Fall on the marching field greatly affects the success of the sound of the band in the Spring on the concert stage... compared to some other military bands (as you mentioned), they may not 'take risks' for excitement. This works for them. If you watch 2014 & 2015 videos from UIL, you'll hear some new twists that Mr. Rose has chosen - fanfares... and I think - a bit more aggressive playing
@David Cutting Those are all good points and make sense. I reread my previous post and it was probably more harsh sounding than I meant, but honestly a band that size with that much talent could be really, really good and really, really fun to watch. Vidor, in my opinion, provided a blueprint for how to do that during the Charles Smith era. I could watch those videos all day -- even the ones where they likely made a 2 at UIL -- because the music and drill are so incredibly entertaining. Playing perfect and getting good ratings is very important but at the end of the day it seems like being entertaining should be the #1 goal but try as I might I find it almost impossible to sit through an entire Nederland performance without either falling asleep or having my brain drift off to another topic.
Scott Richards if a drill is clean and nice with a few interesting formations and sounds really good than it WILL entertain. A director at a high school level in Texas, only cares about the education of there students and doing what needs to get done so those students can go on after high school to continue to love music
26 years of straight ones at marching
Marching contest*
is this school 4a?
They were at the time of this performance, but since UIL added a 6A, they have since moved up to 5A.
Why do they need 3 drum majors if they don't do much more than march in a single block? Makes no sense. This band seems like such a waste of talent because they play great, march great, and are huge but year after year their drills are some of the most boring ever. Vidor and Kingswood (and Texas A&M) know how to make military marching bands really exciting, but Nederland never plays above mezzo forte and does nothing complex with their drills. How about a loud fanfare or exciting closing number at least? PS: Military drum majors shouldn't mark time.
not a good performance