Marcus Cavanaugh

Kickoff: Music and Politics

This entry is the first in a series of entries written for my “Music and Politics” class. We must compose semi-regular entries about how music relates to society, politics, and our culture.

As the Drake football team edged past the Upper Iowa Peacocks, the band sat in the back of the stadium, entrenched in an epic battle of our own.¹

Almost every time we needed to play during a break in the game, Drake would turn on the loudspeaker with prerecorded music. Eventually, we just played during the breaks even when it meant playing against the loudspeaker music. But a few things struck me about the music they played over the speakers:

1. They spliced the “de-FENSE” drum beat incorrectly. I don’t know how they managed to mix that one up, but the “de-FENSE” theme lurched forward in 9/8 time. Good thing our actual defense didn’t follow suit.

2. Every song awkwardly faded out in the middle of a phrase. Someone decided that it’d be easiest to shove a ten-second fade on the end of each ditty rather than finding a suitable place to crop them. The interludes left you feeling as though something was missing.

3. The Drake Marching Band’s purpose during that game was to wrestle with the loudspeakers. We may as well have not attended; the small crowd didn’t seem to mind.

Thanks to the accessibility of prerecorded music and effective speakers, the audience no longer needs a marching band to receive musical support. The band’s role largely remains as a historical novelty; our physical presence is our only advantage over the prerecorded music.

You’d think that universities would go with one or the other — either have a band that actually manages the music, or have a loudspeaker instead of a pep band.

Instead, we face an unenjoyable battle between the new and the old, between technology and people. Even those controlling the loudspeaker can’t decide when they want the band to play rather than turning on the loudspeaker. If they’re going to run the loudspeaker all of the time, as they did in last night’s football game, they may as well just drop the pep band altogether.

Technology has given everyone the power to place music into any aspect of their lives. Physical bands and orchestras are more cumbersome to manage, move, and maintain than prerecorded music, and in many cases the prerecorded music sounds better than a live performance. There are few practical reasons to actually maintain a live pep band or marching band other than for its historical or aesthetic value.

Will the marching band become a relic of the past? Probably not in the foreseeable future. But it may see a slow demise as the band’s heydays slide deeper into history. Our grandchildren may one day view the marching band as some of our generation² view the orchestra: a historical artifact with little relevance to society.

Comments Posted 30 August 2008 in Music & Politics