Mountain Lion Marching Band Gears up for the Upcoming Season

Many people look forward to the upcoming fall football season, but people can also look forward to hearing and seeing the Mountain Lion Marching Band performances.

    The band has 23 members this year, and while it is a small group they can really rock the field. The Mountain Lion Marching Band will be performing two different field shows this season. One show will consist of music from 1966, including the songs “Devil with the Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly”, “Painted Black”, and “Good Vibrations”. This year is the 50th anniversary of those songs. The other show will be John Williams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”.  

    David Ball, Assistant Professor of Music, is the director of the marching band. “I always try do shows that have some kind of anniversary, like the 10th, 25th, or 50th anniversary, and the older the music, generally speaking, the more tuneful it is, and there is just more to the music than tunes that we have today,” says Ball.

    Last year the band traveled to Charleston for an away game, but this year the Mountain Lion Marching Band has no plans for attending any away games and will only be performing at home games. They will also be marching in Concord University’s Homecoming Parade, and the Princeton Christmas Parade later in the semester.

    The band has always been an entertaining part of the football games because of the extra support they give the team. They are great at motivating the fans to increase their enthusiasm and at providing the excitement that many people love, and fondly recall, about the football season. For students, faculty, and community members, the music has always been a great way to get excited and to remember good times during the fall semester. “College marching band is really about entertainment for the crowd and being that extra man on the sideline supporting the team. The band, the cheerleaders, and the fans have a huge impact on how the game can go because we can create noise and sound barriers when the team is on defense, and then we can really try to get the crowd into the game when the team is on offense,” says Ball. 

    The band students are looking forward to the marching season as well. Matthew LaMothe, an Environmental Geo-Science major and a trumpet player for the band in both the marching and concert seasons, has been playing for the band since his freshman year, but has played music since he was in 5th grade. “We have a really good selection of songs this year, the audience should be really excited,” says LaMothe. 

    The marching band is a group that always provides students with fun during the fall semester, and is special to many students. “The fact is that we play a lot of fun music and it is a good enjoyable group. We can just laugh and have a lot of fun with it,” says LaMothe. Band students, and anyone who has played music before, knows that music has several benefits to it. A football game without pep music is like a movie without a score, and it would be hard to think of some iconic movies that we know and love today, such as “Star Wars” without thinking of the music. “Music has allowed me to have a different perspective on things and to get to see the world in a different view,” says LaMothe.

    Later this semester the band will be changing to a concert setting and will be playing the Spooktacular Halloween concert in October. For any additional information regarding the band, please look at the fall football schedule to see when the band will be performing.