06-09-2026, 01:57 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-11-2026, 07:12 AM by StanUSwagU.)
"82lsju:
the LSJUMB has had the following problems for a number of years
1. declining membership, I'd guess the band is <50% of its peak and the smaller numbers are very noticeable, at least at football games, in terms of volume
2. declining musicianship, the quality of the musicians seems to my ear to have declined, the most striking example is the quality of the trumpet solos at football games
3. arrangements, do they have anyone doing new arrangements? while the arrangements from the 70s and 80s are fine with me there seems to be not a lot of new material added over the last 30+ years
I'm not sure changing the band to a more traditional band would solve items 1 and 2
**************************************************
(1) I agree with what Jacket3ree says below:
Not talking about the actual individuals, but I for one, never found the act of our band 'Running around rag-tag like a bunch of scurrying rats...doing snarky-sophomoric skits that were often disrespectful to another University' something that made me proud, or that reflected 'The Greatness of Stanford University'; C'mon we can do so much better than that !
(2) As far as the problems listed above, I do feel like transitioning to a 'traditional marching band' & 'traditional mascot' would immensely benefit Stanford University, its AD, and band interest & participation.
Remember, right now any High school student in USA or abroad who is a 4.3 GPA student who 'Loves traditional Marching Bands & all the practice that goes into that' (which is a significant number of High School Marching Band students) ... will NEVER consider applying and attending Stanford; They will opt to go to NotreDame, Michigan, USC, GaTech, OhioState, etc; That reduces the numbers/supply of any potential 'really passionate band members' that could be at Stanford; Remember, high school students who loved doing all the practice of high school marching bands & who want to continue that in their College Experience are not just 'musicians' ...they 'Love Band' & sacrificing limited free hours & even sleep, to practice & 'be in a Marching Band! '
[My sense is many of our 'band members' are people who think of band as an extra-curricular they want to minimize the weekly hours they spend time on; maybe many of them even like the 'zany social club' aspect of our band more than 'BigTime Football & Marching']
I had a friend of mine in HS who was just this, a 4.3 gpa student & in our MarchingBand (awesome trombone-player & killer smart in Biology) ..and just liked the 'NotreDame Atmosphere' more than the 'Stanford Atmosphere', after having visited both.
(3) I may be in the Minority, but I would be thrilled if the University said lets Fund, FinanciallySupport, & Prioritize Fielding & Recruiting a 'Traditional MarchingBand', making sure this 'Traditional Marching Band' had all the Resources, Time, & Support it needed to succeed;
I would be embarassed as University Leadership, if I knew "Smart 4.3 gpa high school marching band students", as a trend, were picking NotreDame, UC Berkeley, USC, or UCLA, mostly because they felt Stanford didnt have a respectable Marching Band, for them to join & participate in.
(4) As an olive-branch, Here is a Thought/Compromise:
Maybe 1 home-game a year, the band can "Run around rag-tag like a bunch of rats scurrying on a sinking ship when the lights come on...doing snarky-sophomoric skits" ...the other 11 games & other Stanford events, Practice & Be the best Traditional Marching Band in the Nation !
Again, no disrespect to any current or former LSJUMB members, but sometimes the juvenile nature of the act gets old, (its no longer funny or amusing) &'its time for a fundamental-change' .
******************************************************
[quote="jacket3ree" pid='450611' dateline='1780516236']
Speaking of aTm, which has a fabulous band in my opinion knowing many around here would disagree with that assessment, their university owns and funds the organization but daily execution is entirely student run. Their band is not an independent club like LSJUMB's social club, but belongs to a department of musical activities that is formally tied to A&M's Division of Student Affairs. The university employs professional, fulltime faculty to handle musical direction, charts, and administration and the A&M Corps of Cadets is overseen by a commandant, who is typically a retired military officer who has military advisors to oversee safety, discipline, and military parameters of the cadets. Oversee is the key word, student leaders run rehearsals, enforce discipline, maintain the good of the order etc. I'm sure that type of more organized structure has its issues too and I'm not remotely suggesting that Band ROTC is some sort of solution at Stanford. A&M is one of six senior military colleges in the U.S. and federal law dictates some of what they do. That's not the case at Stanford. Still, A&M is good. Really good.
There seem to be myriad problems with LSJUMB, the foremost to me as a former musician who spent two quarters in a P4 marching band before giving it up to get blackout drunk with my friends at games, is the music. It isn't good right now and I think the low numbers Goose references are a major contributing factor. Figure out how to get the numbers (of good musicians along with the tennis racket players) up and that goes a long way to solving issues.
Fine by me if they invite local rock bands and jazz combos to gig at halftime otherwise. Whatever you think about the shackles of overlords, LSJUMB represents LSJU so to think there can be limited retroactive oversight is a mistake. The Band first lost me at the '85 Big Game with a show titled '101 Things to Do with a Dead Cal Bandsman.' I mean WTF is this? Someone finds this entertaining? Whatever. But at least the charts were good and they played good music. The Band lost me for good by playing "She's Not There" in front of the LA courthouse where jury selection was taking place as OJ Simpson was on trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. I get it, only a couple dozen rogue students skipped practice and were "disciplined" by the University, whatever that means. That's not "fuckassery;" that is being shitty humans. You still represent the band, which represents the University, you morons. I hope they at least lost the right to represent.
LSJUMB revels in being 'notorious' (mistaking that for entertaining) having dropped trou and peed on fields a number of times, made fun of Patty Hearst's kidnapping, made fun of a famine that killed more than a million people, routinely mock religions, generally shit on fans from other teams, form human genitalia (yeah a lot of you are sophomores but I thought Stanford students/alumns/randos off the street allowed to play are supposed to be smart), completely effed up the ending to Big Game in '82, and has been banned from the Happiest Place on Earth. Good job guys...Hijinx!! Frankly I'm amazed they haven't met the fate of Virginia's scatter band,* which was scattered to the wind after making fun of West Virginia one too many times. A lot of restraint by the University over the decades if you ask me.
I know no one asked me, and this is rehashed grievance. Still, LSJUMB could be good. If they really wanted to be good even under the umbrella of "wacky". I think their whole reason for being is to be not good and thus make fun of marching bands that are good. You don't have to take yourselves seriously, but please take entertaining people seriously. Otherwise, why are you there? Hmmm....could be a master plan by the AD to drive concession sales to the 585 people who are at football games. I knew it. The falsest of false flag operations.
the LSJUMB has had the following problems for a number of years
1. declining membership, I'd guess the band is <50% of its peak and the smaller numbers are very noticeable, at least at football games, in terms of volume
2. declining musicianship, the quality of the musicians seems to my ear to have declined, the most striking example is the quality of the trumpet solos at football games
3. arrangements, do they have anyone doing new arrangements? while the arrangements from the 70s and 80s are fine with me there seems to be not a lot of new material added over the last 30+ years
I'm not sure changing the band to a more traditional band would solve items 1 and 2
**************************************************
(1) I agree with what Jacket3ree says below:
Not talking about the actual individuals, but I for one, never found the act of our band 'Running around rag-tag like a bunch of scurrying rats...doing snarky-sophomoric skits that were often disrespectful to another University' something that made me proud, or that reflected 'The Greatness of Stanford University'; C'mon we can do so much better than that !
(2) As far as the problems listed above, I do feel like transitioning to a 'traditional marching band' & 'traditional mascot' would immensely benefit Stanford University, its AD, and band interest & participation.
Remember, right now any High school student in USA or abroad who is a 4.3 GPA student who 'Loves traditional Marching Bands & all the practice that goes into that' (which is a significant number of High School Marching Band students) ... will NEVER consider applying and attending Stanford; They will opt to go to NotreDame, Michigan, USC, GaTech, OhioState, etc; That reduces the numbers/supply of any potential 'really passionate band members' that could be at Stanford; Remember, high school students who loved doing all the practice of high school marching bands & who want to continue that in their College Experience are not just 'musicians' ...they 'Love Band' & sacrificing limited free hours & even sleep, to practice & 'be in a Marching Band! '
[My sense is many of our 'band members' are people who think of band as an extra-curricular they want to minimize the weekly hours they spend time on; maybe many of them even like the 'zany social club' aspect of our band more than 'BigTime Football & Marching']
I had a friend of mine in HS who was just this, a 4.3 gpa student & in our MarchingBand (awesome trombone-player & killer smart in Biology) ..and just liked the 'NotreDame Atmosphere' more than the 'Stanford Atmosphere', after having visited both.
(3) I may be in the Minority, but I would be thrilled if the University said lets Fund, FinanciallySupport, & Prioritize Fielding & Recruiting a 'Traditional MarchingBand', making sure this 'Traditional Marching Band' had all the Resources, Time, & Support it needed to succeed;
I would be embarassed as University Leadership, if I knew "Smart 4.3 gpa high school marching band students", as a trend, were picking NotreDame, UC Berkeley, USC, or UCLA, mostly because they felt Stanford didnt have a respectable Marching Band, for them to join & participate in.
(4) As an olive-branch, Here is a Thought/Compromise:
Maybe 1 home-game a year, the band can "Run around rag-tag like a bunch of rats scurrying on a sinking ship when the lights come on...doing snarky-sophomoric skits" ...the other 11 games & other Stanford events, Practice & Be the best Traditional Marching Band in the Nation !
Again, no disrespect to any current or former LSJUMB members, but sometimes the juvenile nature of the act gets old, (its no longer funny or amusing) &'its time for a fundamental-change' .
******************************************************
[quote="jacket3ree" pid='450611' dateline='1780516236']
Speaking of aTm, which has a fabulous band in my opinion knowing many around here would disagree with that assessment, their university owns and funds the organization but daily execution is entirely student run. Their band is not an independent club like LSJUMB's social club, but belongs to a department of musical activities that is formally tied to A&M's Division of Student Affairs. The university employs professional, fulltime faculty to handle musical direction, charts, and administration and the A&M Corps of Cadets is overseen by a commandant, who is typically a retired military officer who has military advisors to oversee safety, discipline, and military parameters of the cadets. Oversee is the key word, student leaders run rehearsals, enforce discipline, maintain the good of the order etc. I'm sure that type of more organized structure has its issues too and I'm not remotely suggesting that Band ROTC is some sort of solution at Stanford. A&M is one of six senior military colleges in the U.S. and federal law dictates some of what they do. That's not the case at Stanford. Still, A&M is good. Really good.
There seem to be myriad problems with LSJUMB, the foremost to me as a former musician who spent two quarters in a P4 marching band before giving it up to get blackout drunk with my friends at games, is the music. It isn't good right now and I think the low numbers Goose references are a major contributing factor. Figure out how to get the numbers (of good musicians along with the tennis racket players) up and that goes a long way to solving issues.
Fine by me if they invite local rock bands and jazz combos to gig at halftime otherwise. Whatever you think about the shackles of overlords, LSJUMB represents LSJU so to think there can be limited retroactive oversight is a mistake. The Band first lost me at the '85 Big Game with a show titled '101 Things to Do with a Dead Cal Bandsman.' I mean WTF is this? Someone finds this entertaining? Whatever. But at least the charts were good and they played good music. The Band lost me for good by playing "She's Not There" in front of the LA courthouse where jury selection was taking place as OJ Simpson was on trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. I get it, only a couple dozen rogue students skipped practice and were "disciplined" by the University, whatever that means. That's not "fuckassery;" that is being shitty humans. You still represent the band, which represents the University, you morons. I hope they at least lost the right to represent.
LSJUMB revels in being 'notorious' (mistaking that for entertaining) having dropped trou and peed on fields a number of times, made fun of Patty Hearst's kidnapping, made fun of a famine that killed more than a million people, routinely mock religions, generally shit on fans from other teams, form human genitalia (yeah a lot of you are sophomores but I thought Stanford students/alumns/randos off the street allowed to play are supposed to be smart), completely effed up the ending to Big Game in '82, and has been banned from the Happiest Place on Earth. Good job guys...Hijinx!! Frankly I'm amazed they haven't met the fate of Virginia's scatter band,* which was scattered to the wind after making fun of West Virginia one too many times. A lot of restraint by the University over the decades if you ask me.
I know no one asked me, and this is rehashed grievance. Still, LSJUMB could be good. If they really wanted to be good even under the umbrella of "wacky". I think their whole reason for being is to be not good and thus make fun of marching bands that are good. You don't have to take yourselves seriously, but please take entertaining people seriously. Otherwise, why are you there? Hmmm....could be a master plan by the AD to drive concession sales to the 585 people who are at football games. I knew it. The falsest of false flag operations.