The Beat Goes On

The Southern Pride Marching Band is celebrating 30 years of hitting the high notes at halftime

Every Saturday during football season, fans witness the dazzling Game Day pageantry of Allen E. Paulson Stadium with the excitement of Freedom soaring over the stadium and the Eagles running across the field. However, these aren’t the only traditions that bring spectators to their feet. Hitting the high notes at halftime with their golden horns, thundering drums, magnificent uniforms and precision-stepping musicians, the Southern Pride Marching Band knows what it takes to turn out a thrilling and energetic performance.

The 215 member-strong unit includes a 42-member trumpet section, two female drum majors, a color guard line and six majorettes, plus a feature twirler — a far cry from the inaugural group of 16 students that formed the first official band at South Georgia Teachers College in 1932. The formation of the first band was former President Guy Wells’ vision — he wanted strong academic programs, competitive athletic teams and a band to complement both. Wells appointed a talented student by the name of Shelby Monroe to lead the group.

“Since then, there hasn’t been a time when we didn’t have a band,” said Professor Emeritus Delma Presley, author of The Southern Century. “In 1934, new college president Marvin Pittman elevated the band by hiring its first full-time director, William Deal.”

As Presley explained, Pittman’s goal was to involve the entire student body in a well-rounded curriculum that included both musical and industrial arts. In 1936, as Deal was trying to recruit a group of 40 members, he admitted his most pressing need was for a drum major. The bandleader was quoted in The George-Anne as saying, “I will welcome anyone who can step high, wide and handsome for T.C. (Teachers College).”

Even when Georgia Southern’s student enrollment decreased significantly because of World War II and the football program ceased, the marching band transformed into a concert band to represent the college and recruit music students to the campus. The marching band gained new life in 1982 however, with the return of the football program. In the early 1990s, director Daniel Pittman, and his assistant, Matthew Fallin, a percussionist in the 1982 band, came up with the Southern Pride name. Fallin later succeeded Pittman as director in 1991, and chuckled as he described the revived band’s uniforms. “They were baby blue tailcoats like a tuxedo tailcoat,” he recalled. “We had a white shirt and this dickey that we had to button on the shirt with ruffles, which would always leave a sweaty rectangle right down the front of your body. And the pants were navy blue with a baby blue stripe down the side.”

Pittman, who is retiring in the spring, said what the band has accomplished is impressive. “Although the history of Southern Pride may be seen as brief when compared to that of many other college marching bands, its growth and development is quite remarkable, as is also the case with the concert ensembles of the band program. Today the Georgia Southern band program is regarded as one of high achievement, and in its brief history has produced many fine outstanding students-turned-directors who are now serving in teaching positions. That’s a legacy of which to be quite proud.”

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Southern Pride has been under the direction of Colin McKenzie for two years. He said it takes intense preparation to execute vibrant and exciting pregame and halftime routines. Every note, every toss of the baton, every wave of the flag and every precise routine takes weeks to develop, rehearse and perfect to create a spectacular game-day experience. For Southern Pride, that meant getting in shape both musically and physically at band camp almost two weeks before the academic year began at Georgia Southern. The musicians withstood hours under the blazing sun on the practice field at the Recreation Activity Center (RAC) to work on fundamentals, music and formations.

“Our schedule took us from eight in the morning until 11 o’clock at night and that is a hard schedule to keep,” he disclosed. “We had two outdoor rehearsals every day, two indoor rehearsals every day, plus some sectional time, which is time led by the student leadership focused on issues specific to each section,” McKenzie said. During fall semester, the band’s schedule continues with two-hour rehearsals, three days per week.

The musicians’ commitment and dedication are impressive, and interestingly enough, about 75 percent of the band’s members are non-music majors. “We have players from every college on campus. We have students who are majoring in early childhood education, writing and linguistics, engineering and the sciences,” McKenzie said.

This season, the marching band is performing six different halftime shows with the assistance of 35 student leaders. Some of the performances are comprised of tunes from Motown, Broadway, Latin music and a show called the ‘Kings’ featuring music from Michael Jackson (the King of Pop), James Brown (the King of Soul) and Elvis (The King). Also in store is a special halftime show recognizing the past work of Fallin and Pittman, when they will simultaneously conduct their last performance. “This is the last year two former directors and the current director will be on campus. What our students do now wouldn’t be possible if not for the hard work of those two guys,” said McKenzie.

McKenzie is also hard at work continuing a few new traditions that he began during his first year as director. Fans can expect to see the return of a crowd favorite, the Script Eagles routine. “Basically, the group does a great big ‘Follow the Leader’ drill where we spell ‘Eagle’ in cursive on the field and it looks like it is just being written the whole way through,” he explained. Another favorite is “Southern Pride to Go” a small group of musicians that raid restaurants and hangouts throughout Statesboro the night before a home game, playing the fight song and other popular tunes to get fans fired up.

Band Day is also slated to return, an event where high school band students from across the state are invited to play with Southern Pride during halftime. And, McKenzie is looking for ways to keep alumni members involved with Southern Pride by creating an association and inviting alumni to visit and perform with the band.

Apart from creating an entertaining and exciting product for fans to enjoy, the band director said setting a standard of excellence is his primary goal for Southern Pride. “The group needs to be excellent in every way. It needs to be musically excellent. It needs to be visually excellent,” McKenzie said. “More than that, it needs to be a place that grows and develops people of excellence.”

Sandra Bennett

Sounds of Victory

Southern Pride’s tradition of playing the hymn “It is Well with My Soul” after an Eagle victory started with former band director Matthew Fallin back in the ‘90s. He says his musicians first used the song as a warm-up chorale, but after several years, they switched to playing it every time the Eagles won a game.