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TBDBITL Report: Band Marches On Despite Tragedy
Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Alumni band weekend at Ohio State is normally a joyous event as hundreds of alumni of The Ohio State University Marching Band, ranging in age from early 20s to late 90s, journey back to Columbus for the chance to march down the ramp and perform in Ohio Stadium “one more time”. Why do all of these band members make this trip which often requires taking time off work and spending a decent amount of money to travel a long distance? There are numerous reasons and they are different for everyone who attends the reunion. Some just want to catch up with old friends, others can’t pass up the chance to relive the amazing experience of performing on the field in front of over 100,000 fans, and some want to be around other people who share the common bond of having been part of an incredible organization that had a major impact on their lives. Most people who have been in the band will talk about how it is a huge family and every year the reunion reinforces this feeling.
This past Saturday was the 47th TBDBITL Alumni reunion and while the weekend started out as joyous as ever on Friday night, the band and the alumni were quickly confronted with tragedy Saturday morning. The alumni band reported for practice Saturday morning and shortly after the start of practice, alumnus Bill Werner Sr. of Sandusky, Ohio collapsed on the field after suffering a heart attack. Several band alumni who are doctors and the OSUMB’s trainers immediately rushed to Mr. Werner’s aid and an ambulance was called but all of their efforts were in vain and Mr. Werner was pronounced dead a short time later at the Wexner Medical Center. Mr. Werner was 65 and had been an active alumni band member for years. His son Bill Warner Jr. has also been in band and was marching next to his dad, as was their tradition.
The alumni band was still unsure of Mr. Werner’s condition after he was wheeled off the field to the ambulance but despite their concerns, they had to focus on practice as the alumni band learns their entire show the morning of the game. The current band shortly joined the alumni on the practice field and the two groups got through practice as normal, the alumni portion of the show having been learned in about 2 hours. After practice, OSUMB Interim Director Dr. Chris Hoch called everyone to the center of the field where he announced that Mr. Werner had died. He also delivered another piece of tragic news as he announced that former TBDBITL director Dr. Jon Woods had also died that morning after a lengthy battle with dementia and Parkinson’s. Dr. Hoch went on to remind everyone how much Dr. Woods and Mr. Werner loved the band and that the best way to honor them would be to put on a great performance that day.
After a quick lunch, both bands headed to St. Johns Arena for Skull Session. Despite the earlier tragedies, there was still a great deal of happiness and excitement. The band did announce the deaths and when the football team made its traditional visit, Urban Meyer asked for a moment of silence to honor Dr. Woods and Mr. Werner.
Pregame started as normal for alumni weekend with the current band and then the alumni doing the ramp entrance. Both bands then marched up the field to “Beautiful Ohio” before playing “Carmen Ohio” in honor of those it had lost today. The alumni band then exited the field while the current band marked the 50th anniversary of “Hang On Sloopy”. To help celebrate this occasion, the band was joined by Rick Deringer of The McCoys which had made the song famous. The crowd really got into Rick Deringer and his group joining the OSUMB for Sloopy.
Halftime was dedicated to the theme of “Making Ohio Proud”. The current band took the field first, performing “Appalachian Spring” while honoring famous people from Ohio. The OSUMB formed a light bulb that twinkled for Thomas Edison, featured one of their famous animated figures to honor Jesse Owens, and the flew a plane across the field for the Wright brothers.
The alumni band then entered the field with their traditional entrance to “I Wanna Go Back”. The alumni continued the theme of honoring great people from Ohio, featuring the alumni drum majors’ twirling abilities as they saluted Ohio’s astronauts with “Fly Me To The Moon.” The alumni band and the current band then joined together, playing “Beautiful Ohio” and “Beautiful Ohio” waltz to honor the most recent group to make Ohio proud, the 2014 National Championship winning football team.
At pregame the band celebrated the 50th anniversary of “Hang On Sloopy” but this year also marks the anniversary of another important school song as it is the 100th anniversary of “Across The Field” which both bands celebrated at halftime before forming a giant American flag while playing the “Stars and Stripes Forever”. The flag may be the most people ever involved in a band formation at Ohio Stadium as it incorporated about 800 musicians, current OSUMB alternates and student staff on large banners, and members of the athletic band holding the 50 stars.
The highlight of the band alumni game is of course the quadruple Script Ohio and the band’s didn’t disappoint, thrilling the crowd with the greatest tradition in college sports. The quadruple Scripts are very challenging because of how spread out everyone is on the field which creates delays in the sound. Keeping almost 800 musicians together for this requires intense focus on the conductors and the ability of the marchers to ignore the delayed music from the other end of the field.
This year’s TBDBITL alumni reunion was a very bittersweet day but it also showed how the band and the alumni really are one giant family as they came together to support each other through tragedy. The events of Saturday morning were emotionally devastating to many of those on the field but they honored Dr. Woods and Mr. Werner by fighting through those emotions, focusing on the performance, and putting on a show that every band member, alumnus, and fan can be proud of.
The post TBDBITL Report: Band Marches On Despite Tragedy appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...
Charles via our good friends at Buckeye Battle Cry
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Alumni band weekend at Ohio State is normally a joyous event as hundreds of alumni of The Ohio State University Marching Band, ranging in age from early 20s to late 90s, journey back to Columbus for the chance to march down the ramp and perform in Ohio Stadium “one more time”. Why do all of these band members make this trip which often requires taking time off work and spending a decent amount of money to travel a long distance? There are numerous reasons and they are different for everyone who attends the reunion. Some just want to catch up with old friends, others can’t pass up the chance to relive the amazing experience of performing on the field in front of over 100,000 fans, and some want to be around other people who share the common bond of having been part of an incredible organization that had a major impact on their lives. Most people who have been in the band will talk about how it is a huge family and every year the reunion reinforces this feeling.This past Saturday was the 47th TBDBITL Alumni reunion and while the weekend started out as joyous as ever on Friday night, the band and the alumni were quickly confronted with tragedy Saturday morning. The alumni band reported for practice Saturday morning and shortly after the start of practice, alumnus Bill Werner Sr. of Sandusky, Ohio collapsed on the field after suffering a heart attack. Several band alumni who are doctors and the OSUMB’s trainers immediately rushed to Mr. Werner’s aid and an ambulance was called but all of their efforts were in vain and Mr. Werner was pronounced dead a short time later at the Wexner Medical Center. Mr. Werner was 65 and had been an active alumni band member for years. His son Bill Warner Jr. has also been in band and was marching next to his dad, as was their tradition.
The alumni band was still unsure of Mr. Werner’s condition after he was wheeled off the field to the ambulance but despite their concerns, they had to focus on practice as the alumni band learns their entire show the morning of the game. The current band shortly joined the alumni on the practice field and the two groups got through practice as normal, the alumni portion of the show having been learned in about 2 hours. After practice, OSUMB Interim Director Dr. Chris Hoch called everyone to the center of the field where he announced that Mr. Werner had died. He also delivered another piece of tragic news as he announced that former TBDBITL director Dr. Jon Woods had also died that morning after a lengthy battle with dementia and Parkinson’s. Dr. Hoch went on to remind everyone how much Dr. Woods and Mr. Werner loved the band and that the best way to honor them would be to put on a great performance that day.After a quick lunch, both bands headed to St. Johns Arena for Skull Session. Despite the earlier tragedies, there was still a great deal of happiness and excitement. The band did announce the deaths and when the football team made its traditional visit, Urban Meyer asked for a moment of silence to honor Dr. Woods and Mr. Werner.
Pregame started as normal for alumni weekend with the current band and then the alumni doing the ramp entrance. Both bands then marched up the field to “Beautiful Ohio” before playing “Carmen Ohio” in honor of those it had lost today. The alumni band then exited the field while the current band marked the 50th anniversary of “Hang On Sloopy”. To help celebrate this occasion, the band was joined by Rick Deringer of The McCoys which had made the song famous. The crowd really got into Rick Deringer and his group joining the OSUMB for Sloopy.
Halftime was dedicated to the theme of “Making Ohio Proud”. The current band took the field first, performing “Appalachian Spring” while honoring famous people from Ohio. The OSUMB formed a light bulb that twinkled for Thomas Edison, featured one of their famous animated figures to honor Jesse Owens, and the flew a plane across the field for the Wright brothers.
The alumni band then entered the field with their traditional entrance to “I Wanna Go Back”. The alumni continued the theme of honoring great people from Ohio, featuring the alumni drum majors’ twirling abilities as they saluted Ohio’s astronauts with “Fly Me To The Moon.” The alumni band and the current band then joined together, playing “Beautiful Ohio” and “Beautiful Ohio” waltz to honor the most recent group to make Ohio proud, the 2014 National Championship winning football team.At pregame the band celebrated the 50th anniversary of “Hang On Sloopy” but this year also marks the anniversary of another important school song as it is the 100th anniversary of “Across The Field” which both bands celebrated at halftime before forming a giant American flag while playing the “Stars and Stripes Forever”. The flag may be the most people ever involved in a band formation at Ohio Stadium as it incorporated about 800 musicians, current OSUMB alternates and student staff on large banners, and members of the athletic band holding the 50 stars.
The highlight of the band alumni game is of course the quadruple Script Ohio and the band’s didn’t disappoint, thrilling the crowd with the greatest tradition in college sports. The quadruple Scripts are very challenging because of how spread out everyone is on the field which creates delays in the sound. Keeping almost 800 musicians together for this requires intense focus on the conductors and the ability of the marchers to ignore the delayed music from the other end of the field.
This year’s TBDBITL alumni reunion was a very bittersweet day but it also showed how the band and the alumni really are one giant family as they came together to support each other through tragedy. The events of Saturday morning were emotionally devastating to many of those on the field but they honored Dr. Woods and Mr. Werner by fighting through those emotions, focusing on the performance, and putting on a show that every band member, alumnus, and fan can be proud of.
The post TBDBITL Report: Band Marches On Despite Tragedy appeared first on The Buckeye Battle Cry: Ohio State News and Commentary.
Continue reading...