I'm with the Band: Oklahoma

Band: The Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band
University: The University of Oklahoma
Founded: 1878
Current Director: Prof. Brian Britt
Fight Song: "Boomer Sooner"

The Pride of Oklahoma is an interesting case in that the band predates the university, which was founded in 1890. For reasons I shall explain, I'm not even remotely an Oklahoma fan. But this is awesome:



Back when I was doing my 30 Songs in 30 Days, "Boomer Sooner" was a strong candidate for my least favorite song. In college football, I am a devoted Nebraska fan. To love the Huskers is to hate the Sooners. Once upon a time, Nebraska-Oklahoma was the greatest rivalry in the college game. The winner of their annual late season matchup went to the Orange Bowl as Big 8 champs nearly every year for decades. Those days are long past. When Texas joined the conference, the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry intensified at the expense of Nebraska-Oklahoma. And, in truth, it's been many years since the Sooners and Huskers were national contenders at the same time. Nebraska put the nail in the coffin when they bolted for the Big Ten. Still, Oklahoma will always be my choice for least favorite program. "Boomer Sooner" means Oklahoma touchdowns - never a pleasing development. The song itself is a plagiarized hybrid of Yale's "Boola Boola" and North Carolina's "I'm a Tar Heel Born."

Mock asked in regards to my Florida A&M post whether or not college band director is the sort of job I'd actually want. In music education, one learns pretty quickly that teaching choirs and teaching bands are two very different matters. Sure, it's all music and they're all musicians but, at least traditionally, band programs are more regimented, left-brain operations than are choral programs. As such, they tend to draw very different people to the profession. For a variety of reasons, I've become more involved in the instrumental program at our school this year and I find I rather enjoy the more task-oriented approach at this stage of my life. But I also like that someone else is ultimately the guy in charge. So, I think the answer to the question is no. I'd rather be doing what I do now: general music with a dash of chorus here, a pinch of band there, musical theater as garnish. Variety is good.


All This and Football, Too

My Picks for the Week: 15/20 (1st place out of 3 players)
My Picks for the Season: 77/120 (3rd out of 3)

It was a good week. I was alone in 1st for the week so I got to make up some ground against the other 2 guys. I'm still 6 behind the lead for the season with 8 weeks to go.