Every weekday the band practices, getting ready for the upcoming season. While the sun goes down, the band lines up from the President’s house to the library, preparing to march to the stadium with its reverberating drums and resounding horns.
This year the freshman class added 102 new students to the Langston Marching Pride Band. The new freshmen joining the returning 146 students gives the band a total of 248 members this year.
Last year, the band only had 191 members by the end of the spring and only took 146 students to Mardi Gras to perform. The band is only growing bigger to show off their talents led by Mark Gordon.
The Langston Marching Pride Band has the second highest retention of any group on the Langston campus with 76 percent of students returning. “Our goal is to get our retention percentage at 80 percent,” stated Gordon. In addition, to having a high retention rate, 81 percent of the band has a 2.5 G.P.A. or better.
Gordon listed a few upcoming performances, “Go vote for the Langston band at the Honda Battle of the Bands in February in Alabama.” The Honda Battle of the Bands competition will feature the top six HBCU bands voted to get picked to perform at Alabama State.
Last year the band performed in the National Battle of the Bands against the top eight HBCU bands in Houston at the NRG Stadium.
This year’s LUMP band also has seven drum majors, the most in university history; JaRon Cook, Curtis Ross, Deon Cole, Nate Chambers, D’Mandre McCall, Robert Gray and Jireh Brown.
Brown is the first ever Bahamian drum major in university history. “The first Bahamian drum major representing the Bahamas 242! As far as Langston University, we just put in hard work and dedication, and hard work beat talent every day,” said Brown.
Being led by Professor Mark Gordon and Professor Jonathon Allen, the Langston band announced a new assistant band director, William Young, who has over 22 years of experience.
“I’m excited to be here at Langston with my experience and want to shout out all the schools I’m coming from,” said Young. Young is a graduate of Southern University, the former fine arts director of Duncanville ISD, the former band director at Cedar Hill High School, Skyline High School, Northwest High School, and the former assistant band director at Carter High School.
Sept. 3, provided students with their first official look at the Langston Marching Pride Band this year. Students were able to see what they had to offer at halftime during the band’s field show and 5th quarter performance.
Students may vote for Langston to compete in the Honda Battle of the Bands by going to https://www.hondabattleofthebands.com/.
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The Gazette serves as the student voice of Langston University. It is produced within the Department of Communication as a teaching tool and local news source for the campus community. The views and opinions expressed within are those of the writers whose names appear with the articles and do not necessarily represent the views of Langston University.
