Marching Band Game coming to Wii
January 31, 2008
Majesco Entertainment has today announced Major Minor’s Majestic March for the Wii. The intriguing marching band game is developed by NanaOn-Sha and marks the return of the creative team behind the PaRappa the Rapper franchise: game designer and multimedia musician Masaya Matsuura and New York artist Rodney Alan Greenblat.
“There’s something magical about marching bands that truly captures the imagination. The concept of leading a virtual band that’s reliant on your musicianship is a perfect fit for the interactive capabilities of Wii,” said John Merchant, Marketing Manager, Majesco Europe.
In Major Minor’s Majestic March players use the Wii Remote as a special baton that the band leader uses to keep tempo, recruit new band members and pick up items. The game will feature eight locations, over 30 popular marching band songs and 15 different instruments, including brass, woodwinds and percussion.
Scoring is based on how well the player is able to maintain the band’s rhythm and manages the obstacles that threat to throw the procession into disorder.
At this time no release date has been announced
Source: Videogamer.com
Video: Jackson State (1978) - Gotta Getcha Into My Life
January 30, 2008
Lamar University considers reinstating marching band.
January 30, 2008
By: PERRYN KEYS, The Enterprise
01/27/2008
Updated 01/27/2008 12:09:40 AM CST
Lamar President Jimmy Simmons joined the university in 1970, when he started as a music instructor and director of the marching band.
“If people are saying it’s still near and dear to my heart,” Simmons said, “well, more power to them.”
Simmons said if students pass this week’s referendum on adding an athletics fee to tuition, the university wouldn’t just look at reinstating football. It would also begin plans to reinstate a size-XL marching band. Read more
Human Jukebox to perform at Major League Baseball Invitational
January 30, 2008
MLB sets first Urban Invitational
01/30/2008 6:00 PM ET
By Jim Molony / MLB.com
Major League Baseball’s Urban Youth Academy will host the first Urban Invitational baseball tournament, Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday. The inaugural event will feature Southern University, Bethune-Cookman, UCLA and USC in a six-game tournament to be played at the MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., USC’s Dedeaux Field and UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium beginning Friday, Feb. 29, and continuing through Sunday, March 2. Both games on Saturday, March 1, will be played at the MLB Urban Youth Academy and broadcast live on ESPN2.
The participation of historically black universities Bethune-Cookman of Daytona Beach, Fla., and Southern (Baton Rouge, La.) in the tournament is part of MLB’s ongoing diversity and youth initiatives. Read more
Marching bands bring their best moves to Ga. Dome battle
January 28, 2008
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The marching bands with the know-how and the ones with the show-how took the field of the Georgia Dome on Saturday for the sixth annual Honda Battle of the Bands.
Ten bands from historically black colleges and universities in the Southeast, left from an original field of 42 competitors, readied their best performances of the year for a roaring audience in the nearly full dome.
NCCU band to perform despite thefts
January 24, 2008
NCCU band to compete despite thefts
, Staff Writer
DURHAM - The band will play on.N.C. Central University’s marching band and more than a dozen borrowed instruments will head out early Friday morning to Atlanta for the prestigious Battle of the Bands, an invitational showcase for marching bands from historically black colleges and universities.
The band’s ability to perform came into question last week with the discovery that more than a dozen instruments — including 14 massive sousaphones — had been pilfered from the band room in two break-ins in November and December. Since then, band officials worked to patch together a band with instruments borrowed from various sources.
“The band is definitely going,” said Miji Bell, a spokeswoman for the university. “They were able to borrow all the instruments they need and don’t have to rent any.”
Texas College Band Thinking Big
January 21, 2008
By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer
Tylerpaper.com
Jeffery C. Herbert has a vision of the Texas College band becoming a show-band style group with 200-plus members who not only perform at TC games but someday also perform in major venues.
The band director dreams of the TC band performing in the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade in New York, half-time shows at Dallas Cowboys or New Orleans Saints games and even a presidential inauguration parade.
“My vision is seeing the TC marching band being a part of something big,” Herbert said, but acknowledged, “you just can’t get in overnight; you have to have a good package.” He wants the band to eventually be known nationally and internationally.
AAMU Trained Community Drum Line Performs for Kids
January 18, 2008
Church youth group learns discipline, outreach with music
Friday, January 18, 2008By KAY CAMPBELL
Times Faith & Values Editor kay.campbell@htimes.com
Source: The Huntsville Times
The beat strikes listeners squarely in the chest as teenagers in the New Life Drum Corps rattle out a cadence during a recent drum line demonstration for children at Showers Recreation Center.
Elementary-aged kids sit on the bleachers in the gymnasium, transfixed as the teenagers twirl their sticks and flutter cymbals, all without interrupting the breathtaking rhythm of their drums.
They use no words, but the youth in the New Life Seventh-day Adventist Pathfinder Club’s Drum Corps have plenty to say: that discipline can be fun, and that you can make the best music by working together. Read more
From the 50 Yard Line
January 17, 2008
Band documentary is fundraiser
The Journal Gazette
The marching band documentary “From the 50 Yard Line” will be shown at 2 p.m. Jan. 27 at the DeKalb High School auditorium in Waterloo.
The school’s Winter Percussion Drumline is sponsoring the event at 3424 County Road 427, and proceeds will benefit the drumline.
Doors open at 1:30 p.m., with concessions available and performances by DeKalb High School musical groups.
A producer will introduce the film, and there will be a discussion afterward. Movie-related prizes will be available.
Tickets are $5 per person, and are available at the door. Groups of 10 or more can reserve guaranteed seats by contacting lou37@hotmail.com.
LSU Band to march in Rex Parade
January 16, 2008
by The Times-Picayune
Wednesday January 16, 2008, 11:11 AM
Orpheus isn’t the only krewe announcing celebrity participants this week.
The Rex organization said it will showcase a group famous in its own rite: the LSU Tiger Marching Band.
The band, which krewe officials said will occupy four city blocks, may lead the Fat Tuesday parade, although their placement has not been finalized. Rex officials said late Tuesday they are still working on the details of a contract.
It will be the first appearance by the band in New Orleans since the Bowl Championship Series title game, in which LSU won a lopsided victory over Ohio State, 38-24.
