HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — There's nothing like band culture! At the campus of Alabama A&M University, without question, band culture is part of the HBCU experience.
The Marching Maroon & White is made up of some two hundred plus members, and they’re getting ready for a big performance. It’s Honda's Battle of the Bands in L.A on February 1st at SoFi Stadium.
FOX54’s Keneisha Deas caught up with two of them and shares their excitement and a peek at their preparation!
The Marching Maroon and White’s reach goes far beyond the home of the Alabama A&M Bulldogs.
You can catch them on the field, or in the band room.
Their sound carries, and it has for nearly 135 years!
Pretty soon the oldest HBCU marching band in the country will take their talents to the West Coast!
“In February, we will be going to California. Yes, yes, yes, for the Honda Battle of the Bands,” said Junior Saxophone Player, Taelor Hameen.
Next year’s battle will be at SoFi Stadium. It’ll be hosted by celebrity Nick Cannon, who also starred in the marching band classic ‘Drumline’.
“You can't be in the band and haven't seen ‘Drumline’,” said Hameen.
Hameen is eager to take on the challenge. “It’s going to come before we know it for sure. But we are very excited. we're all very excited. We're preparing hard, long, hard hours. It is very tense. It's very hard, it’s very grueling sometimes. But the battles and stuff are always fun and the games and stuff are always fun. So yeah, learning new music is really fun.”
We meet another marching band member, Junior, Nathanael Glenn. “I play the mellophone. It's like in between a baritone and a trumpet. So it's like the big blow to the saxophone. So I think that the bass version of the saxophone was with another phone.”
Glenn has been playing musical instruments almost all his life. “Since sixth grade, so I was like, age eleven!”
Glenn has been with the Marching Maroon & White since freshman year and he keeps coming back.
"My freshman class that I came in with, and even the people I meet now, the band directors, they really have the best interest at heart for you."
Glenn says he learns camaraderie and life lessons too. "Band teaches you more than just how to play music. It teaches you how to be on time, teaches you how to pack, teaches you how to have expectations."
As for the upcoming battle at SoFi Stadium? “We’re ready to come with it,” said Glenn. “We're going to come, we’re going to come hard, come straight. The Marching Maroon & White Show Band is not to be played with. Don't underestimate us because we're going to come and show you something brand new, I’m very excited!”