Obviously not. But I know Kitty poo when I smell it..............

They should not have to ask for donations.  If they are such a great ambassador, which I agree they are, the  more of the current student fees should be allocated to them.  I heard a fellow running for office say something rather profound last September on his visit to Athens - "show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value."

 

 

The headlines on BA will read "110 kicked out of Peden for standing"

Came up 125k short? Ouch!!!

side note, I read somewhere recently that only about 20% of the band members are music majors. You would think that the more music majors the better, but that's not necessarily true. Ohio, unlike most schools, doesn't require music ed majors to participate in marching band which gives us a large advantage over schools that do. Music majors might be good musicians but when the marching band is a mandatory class you get a lot of members who only march the one year required and they might not put out maximum effort. Bands end up with lots of turnover, lack of senior leadership, lack of alumni support and overall lack of competitiveness.

Meanwhile the 110 had 53 people tryout last year and not make the cut. Of the 240 members that did only 160 get to march pregame and 192 march halftime. I'm guessing most MAC bands struggle with getting enough people to try out, turning people away probably doesn't happen much. And I bet you won't find one that has 50 members that don't even make the field every week.

I marched in the 110 for five years, and you make it sound like people are out there just honking and blowing as hard as they can just to make a sound. I understand you had a certain experience, but unless you have marched in the band, I wouldn't cast judgement on each member's playing ability, music major or not. Many of the top student leadership and music section leader positions are held by fantastic players who ARE NOT music majors. 

Don't forget the band is made up of saxes, clarinets, percussion and the rest is all brass.  There are not that many brass majors in the SOM at Ohio.  So unless a voice or piano or string player wants to pick up another instrument the band will not have many music majors.

I agree with permiter that other bands who require marching band participation likely suffer a lack of enthusiasm by a number of participants.  The 110 does not have many malcontents and that certainly gives them a chance of being "Better than the Best ever"

I love the 110 as much as the next guy.  Most of my good friends while I was at OU were in the band.  But if you would mind telling me how the band supports athletics more than any other group on campus, I'd love to hear it.

As a former cheerleader, I can tell you that we had the first thee weeks off during spring quarter and that was it.  The rest of the year, we were either supporting teams, or trying to fund raise for ourselves.   Even summer and winter breaks were spent coming up with routines, raising money, and teaching freshmen to fly.  We didn't stay in the dorms at all, the freshman and sophomores would stay in the cheerleaders apartments off campus.

It's tight for a lot of groups, not just the most visable.

Edit:  Typo