MusTech.Net!

I’ve been using Flickr quite a bit lately.  I’ve decided to use it as the core online photo service for distributing our marching band photos to everyone who wants them.  Flickr allows you to upload 100 megabytes of photos per month and share them with the world for free.  In addition, you can do amazing things with Flickr like share your photos through email or an RSS feed.  It’s the ease of use of Flickr that was the deciding factor in choosing them.

Here is an example of an embeded Flickr Stream of our band show at Carnegie Mellon today:




There are a number of great Wordpress plugins for Flickr as well.  Check out this great article from Mashable about 50+ Media related Wordpress plugins. 

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I asked our current marching band president, Brad Volek, to write a little bit about his experience this year as the college band president.  One thing you will notice while reading this article is that Brad doesn’t let any “grass grow under his feet”…   -J. Pisano

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…It’s the middle of May at the end of my sophomore year at Grove City College. I walk into band rehearsal a little nervous this day because the band is electing officers for next year and I’m in the running for president. The election results are read at the end of rehearsal and I have been elected. I’m ecstatic at the thought of this opportunity. Then it hits me – I’m band president, I’m in charge of 200 people…..now what?

The first thing I had to do was to figure out what exactly the Grove City College Band President actually does. The band president is charged with coming up with the schedule for all four days of band camp which include a band-wide after rehearsal activity in the evening. Our activities this year ranged from playing basketball, to serving Chinese food, watching a movie and our ever popular GCC Band Talent Show. It was also my responsibility to welcome all of the freshmen to band camp as they arrived individually and then welcome them again as a group in a freshmen only meeting. A few other responsibilities are to decide on theme days, such as crazy hair or twin day for band camp, as well as organizing a campus wide church service that the band holds on the Sunday of band camp.

All of the planning and organizing had to be done in a day and a half of officer camp, and that seemed to be a pretty daunting task to take on myself. I took it upon myself to stay in contact with last year’s band president so I could work on things ahead of time over the summer. This paid off more than I ever thought it would. Because of my consistent work, I was able to stay two steps ahead of the game all the way through band camp.
It was a good thing that I was two steps ahead, because band camp certainly had a few ”bumps” in the road in store. The biggest of which came in the form of rain, lots and lots of rain. The rain became so bad that the mud in the middle of our practice field was ankle deep –no exaggeration. We spent all four days of band camp watching the radar online eager to steal 15 min of sunshine whenever we could. It made camp that much more tiring but the band didn’t miss a beat…..almost literally.

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Today’s opening convocation , at Grove City College, started off with a FANFARE…trumpet fanfare that is (did you notice the bold print…).   Every year we start the opening convocation with a 7 trumpet fanfare that announces the procession of the academics from across the quad. When the procession arrives at the chapel, the trumpets lead the procession down the center aisle and announce the beginning of the ceremony from the front of the chancel area.

As we were progressing today, I thought it might be fun to explore the meanings about academic regalia worn at all of these types of ceremonies in today’s post.  All official academic ceremonies such as graduations will have the teachers/professors all “fussied up” in some type of robe/garment.  The visitors love to see the regalia and those that have to be in the pagentry usually can be found prior muttering something about having to wear them…

In brief, those with master’s degree will have a hood of 3 and 1/2 feet in length and the inside lining of it will have the colors of the university that bestowed the degree and the trimming (binding) of the lining will usually depict the discipline (arts/science, etc.).  The master’s degree will also have long tams (fangs) that extend almost a foot from the bottom of the hand.

The doctoral robe will have piping (or belting) on the sides of the robe itself and the hood is full 4 foot in length and the robes do not have the arm tams.  The hooding remains similar to the masters and doctoral costumes that include mortar caps may have a gold tassel on top.  Doctoral robes also tend to be made of velvet or include velvet as a large part of the materials that make up the robe and cap

Although becoming rare in the U.S. anymore, some bachelor degree holders will have an academic robe with a 3 foot hood in the back. 

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Every year I have between five and eight trumpeters play for Baccalaureate and Commencement.  The trumpet fanfares add a regal mood and “air of importance” to the events that not only look and sound nice, but also is a visual boon for the music department. 

Many high schools and colleges have the traditional concert band or wind ensemble play for commencement.  Some areas may have an organ or even a CD (not anyone’s first choice) play.  Regardless of what you may do, it is a relatively easy thing to get a cohort of trumpet players together to do this and it adds a special flavor to the event(s).

My recipe for the trumpeters at our Commencement and Baccalaureate:

First, early on, I stress the importance to the undergraduates of performing for the seniors, creating a seriousness about the importance of the fanfare group.  I talk about how they will appreciate the fanfares when it’s their turn to “walk”.  I also have the advantage of talking about the time-honored tradition of this, as Dr. Edwin Arnold started this over thirty years ago at Grove City College!

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