Music, and moving in the NGU marching band
Whitley Bras, Staff Writer
Photo Courtesy of NGU Marching Band
Halftime at a North Greenville University (NGU) football game involves most people getting up to buy nachos or meeting with friends but some sit and watch the marching band perform their show. Although the band is small, with about fifty members they make the most of their sound and movement on the field. They perform a halftime show as well as stand tunes during the football game and also play “The Star-Spangled Banner” to begin the event.
The NGU marching band’s show this year is a collection of songs from the popular rock band “Earth, Wind and Fire.” The marching band director at North Greenville is Phil McIntyre who states that “this is the first time we have performed a pop show during my time as a director at NGU.”
The show gives a flair of entertainment for the football fans and showcases the musical ability of the students that are involved with the band. During the show, they perform three songs which include, “In the Stone”, “September” and “After the Love has Gone/Fantasy”, which is a medley of the two pieces. The selections that were chosen give the audience a mixture of different styles of music from fast and upbeat to slow and flowing music, so the show has something for everyone who listens.
Being of small size and an extracurricular class activity the band has some strengths and weaknesses like every sports team or musical group. McIntyre says that “the strength of the band is the students work ethic and musical talent and a weakness is that we really don’t have a lot of rehearsal time. When I was a high school director we had 10 hours of rehearsal every week and two weeks of band camp, now we have three hours a week and three days of band camp at NGU.”
People that are involved with the marching band or those that have experienced a performance know first-hand the effort that it takes but also the joy that it brings. McIntyre describes what he loves about the marching band. He says, “I fell in love with marching band when I was 14 years old and this is my fortieth year as a director of a marching band. I have always enjoyed the excitement of the Football games and halftime performances. I loved the competition of the activity and the excitement on the faces of the students when they are performing. I have always felt that God lead me to teach and I’ve always tried to do my best”. Marching band is a special kind of activity because it requires both athletic stamina and movement as well as the ability to play music, so it’s a great activity to get involved in.
The marching band at North Greenville also holds to the University’s motto “Christ makes the difference.” When asked how we incorporate the school’s motto into the band McIntyre replied “God wants us to do our best in everything we do and to let that work be to glorify the Lord. We owe God our best. I believe that we in the band live up to our motto when we do our best. The friendships we develop in the marching band will last the rest of our lives. The friends I made in my college band are some of my closest friends to this day.”
Overall, the marching band is an exciting activity that has something for everyone. It incorporates music and moving to come together and create an entertaining show for all ages. Make sure to come out and support not only the football team but also the marching band at NGU. They will be performing their show with selections from “Earth, Wind and Fire” at homecoming.
