JMUTrippster

My older daughter was in the MRD's in 2008 and I remember watching to band heading to the stadium for the game. Everyone looked like they were ready to drop. Still did a fabulous job as usual!!

After the game my daughter said she was so tired she had trouble standing and marching on the field at halftime. Think she went back to her apt and slept for 15 hours!!!

Brian

(09-29-2017 08:56 AM)JMUrcc06 Wrote:  don't believe this has been mentioned but MRD's announced last week that they are going back to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2018. JMU is the only school in the last 40 years of the parade's history to appear 4 times. I know it helps us a little bit, at least in terms of availability, that we don't have a true rivalry game weekend over Thanksgiving like other renowned programs (ohio state, usc, etc). Still a great honor for the program and looking forward to seeing more purple and gold on national tv in 2018.

http://www.jmu.edu/news/mrd/2017/09-22-m...ment.shtml

Macy's Finest!

(09-29-2017 12:47 PM)ParentofJMUMRDs Wrote:  JMUTrippster

My older daughter was in the MRD's in 2008 and I remember watching to band heading to the stadium for the game. Everyone looked like they were ready to drop. Still did a fabulous job as usual!!

After the game my daughter said she was so tired she had trouble standing and marching on the field at halftime. Think she went back to her apt and slept for 15 hours!!!

Brian

Yea that was an exhausting but amazing trip. I think we left at something like 4 or 5 AM that morning to get back if not earlier.

(09-28-2017 12:52 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  There was a period of time after they won the Sudler Trophy that they were introduced as "Virginia's Finest & America's Favorite".

Yeah for some earlier today I was trying to remember if they only did that the year we won the trophy or for some time after. I marched from 94-96 and my freshman year we were presented the award, although I believe it was really more a reflection of the previous year’s band. It was certainly bizarro world for me, with USA Today and other media following us throughout the year and even going to band parties with us. Made us feel like semi-celebrities.

also - it is nuts to see how many on here are MRD alum. I get that it is the largest on-campus organization, but talk about being among the most engaged and dialed into athletics on the whole vs. one single sport.

MRDs are the sole reason I attended JMU, just lucked out that I also got a great environment and respected business school.

It's really hard to not be a fan of the team when you are so invested in the team. When you attend every single home game, not to mention the occasional away game I don't know how somebody could not be cheering for the team.
Although I will say that even if I wasn't an MRD or MRD alum I would still be a fan of JMU football, but probably not to the level that I am.

(09-29-2017 03:29 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  It's really hard to not be a fan of the team when you are so invested in the team. When you attend every single home game, not to mention the occasional away game I don't know how somebody could not be cheering for the team.
Although I will say that even if I wasn't an MRD or MRD alum I would still be a fan of JMU football, but probably not to the level that I am.

Let me tell you something....I was deep down to my roots a Penn State Fan (went there before my Coast Guard service) and always have been until Our daughter went to JMU she was a cheerleader who just graduated in may, we came to every game for 5 years and even traveled to the richmond/W&M/Delaware/Towson games to support her..We even flew to SMU and drove to UNC and last year went to Frisco. But now that she has left JMU and moving on in her life...BUT I AM A FAN and i ROOT.......its addicting the culture the fellowship the friendliness of all the fans and the MRDs, the facilityn staff even the security and of course, The winning culture that Coach Houston and staff have put together makes the JMU Experience something special....
with all this how can you not cheer!


GO DUKES!

(09-29-2017 05:17 PM)Flyrod Wrote:  

(09-29-2017 03:29 PM)JMad03 Wrote:  It's really hard to not be a fan of the team when you are so invested in the team. When you attend every single home game, not to mention the occasional away game I don't know how somebody could not be cheering for the team.
Although I will say that even if I wasn't an MRD or MRD alum I would still be a fan of JMU football, but probably not to the level that I am.

Let me tell you something....I was deep down to my roots a Penn State Fan (went there before my Coast Guard service) and always have been until Our daughter went to JMU she was a cheerleader who just graduated in may, we came to every game for 5 years and even traveled to the richmond/W&M/Delaware/Towson games to support her..We even flew to SMU and drove to UNC and last year went to Frisco. But now that she has left JMU and moving on in her life...BUT I AM A FAN and i ROOT.......its addicting the culture the fellowship the friendliness of all the fans and the MRDs, the facilityn staff even the security and of course, The winning culture that Coach Houston and staff have put together makes the JMU Experience something special....
with all this how can you not cheer!


GO DUKES!

+1

I think MRD alum that came through in 2008 will always root. I know I'm already figuring out finances for away games next year.


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A good number of the MRD's and pep band members are some of the most dedicated student fans on campus. There's been a small group of MRD's that attend some away games (incl Frisco) and a group of pep band'ers that weren't selected to play at the women's CAAT went as "fans".

In General; The band folks at JMU likes their sports and the JMU sports folks likes their band.

One of my fond memories of rootin' was during the CAA MBB Tourney when it was at the Coliseum in Richmond (aka the Dump). The men's team had lost and it was time to drive back home. Well the day we got back, there was also a WBB game at home vs VCU. The game was during Spring Break so there were practically no students there and since the Pep Band was off for that game, a group of us decided to attend the game and cheer the ladies on from behind the basket.
The Convo was as empty as I had ever seen for a basketball game, but we made as much noise as we could. We were talking trash to the VCU team and having a good time joking with the refs. It was a great time and the best part was Coach Brooks and the ladies expressing their thanks for supporting them.

safe to assume "Virginia's Finest" is officially gone from the halftime introduction? It absolutely was not said on Saturday.

(10-16-2017 10:11 AM)JMUrcc06 Wrote:  safe to assume "Virginia's Finest" is officially gone from the halftime introduction? It absolutely was not said on Saturday.

They were introduced as "Virginia's Finest" for their pre-game routine.

can that electronic drum feature never be seen again? leave it for postgame if you must. 4 home games so far. All the same show music. I miss the days when the MRDs learned 2-3 full shows. Is "Virginia's Finest" the best label for JMU's band?

(10-16-2017 11:02 AM)Bill Wrote:  

(10-16-2017 10:11 AM)JMUrcc06 Wrote:  safe to assume "Virginia's Finest" is officially gone from the halftime introduction? It absolutely was not said on Saturday.

They were introduced as "Virginia's Finest" for their pre-game routine.

hmm thanks, I was in my seat for pre-game and didn't recall hearing it... maybe I'm so used to hearing it that it stands out only if NOT said??

(10-16-2017 11:22 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  can that electronic drum feature never be seen again? leave it for postgame if you must. 4 home games so far. All the same show music. I miss the days when the MRDs learned 2-3 full shows. Is "Virginia's Finest" the best label for JMU's band?

agreed, that was terrible. also a 6 person rifle feature just does not translate well to the field like it does for indoor guard.

definitely miss the days of 2-3 new shows per year. If you're only going to learn 1 show a year, it should be perfect... the opener only had 3 drill sets. I get that firedance is a tough piece to play, it should be saved for the concert set. The opener needs to have DRILL!

I've been thinking this for a couple years now and know it'll be controversial... however, with the announcement of Macys 2018 feel it should be delayed a year... but I'd like to see the MRDs get more selective in their audition process and cut the band size down to 250. Get some cream of the crop and people that really want to be there, get a drill app for phones, and learn a new show every week like ohio state, k-state, etc.

Also a soprano sax probably isn't the best feature instrument outside of the concert hall or jazz hall. Just saying.

Not gonna lie...sitting on the old side in the sun after being up early, I only had my eyes half open for most of the halftime show, and that was only out of respect for the MRD's. Kinda lackluster... Was also strange seeing like 80% of the band just go sit down for a piece.

I love the MRDs, but sometimes it seems like they focus on being great musicians, but not necessarily playing for the enjoyment of the crowd... I feel like there used to be a lot more pieces that were super entertaining, while also being great sounding. There needs to be a balance of keeping it interesting for the fans and being technically good. If they want to play concert pieces after the game, that's fine, but at halftime it needs to keep people at least partially amped up. Does that make sense? Not sure if it's just me...

I love their arrangement of Firedance, but I've seen enough of it for this season, especially with the trumpet soloists being weaker than in years past. Time to put it back on ice for another 5-7 years.

They don't have to do something new every week, but twice and then move it along would be great. I enjoyed the Bacchanale this week, and would have enjoyed an even longer arrangement of that in lieu of "Firedance Again" or the EDM percussion bit.

(10-16-2017 11:30 AM)JMUrcc06 Wrote:  

(10-16-2017 11:22 AM)Deez Nuts Wrote:  can that electronic drum feature never be seen again? leave it for postgame if you must. 4 home games so far. All the same show music. I miss the days when the MRDs learned 2-3 full shows. Is "Virginia's Finest" the best label for JMU's band?

agreed, that was terrible. also a 6 person rifle feature just does not translate well to the field like it does for indoor guard.

definitely miss the days of 2-3 new shows per year. If you're only going to learn 1 show a year, it should be perfect... the opener only had 3 drill sets. I get that firedance is a tough piece to play, it should be saved for the concert set. The opener needs to have DRILL!

I've been thinking this for a couple years now and know it'll be controversial... however, with the announcement of Macys 2018 feel it should be delayed a year... but I'd like to see the MRDs get more selective in their audition process and cut the band size down to 250. Get some cream of the crop and people that really want to be there, get a drill app for phones, and learn a new show every week like ohio state, k-state, etc.

I haven't been watching all of the halftime shows this year, but thanks for letting me know that I haven't missed anything...

Yeah, if they are only going to do one show a year, it had better be special and a show with mediocre drill and less than 20 sets (some of them simple scatter drills and everyone-move-back-and-then-forward) doesn't do it. Seriously, what do they do during the rehearsals? (They certainly don't need to work on the drill for the first two pieces - that should take no more than 45 minutes in August to perfect.)

And that drumline feature?