Cowboy Marching Band

I've read (and contributed to) a lot of posts on here in the last few years in regard to the Oklahoma State Cowboy Marching Band. One of the questions that always comes up is "Are band members on any kind of scholarship?" The answer is, only about 20% of the band receives any kind of scholarship to participate in the band. Most of the awards that are given aren't even enough to offset the cost of enrolling for the class (MUSI 2610). The students only receive one hour of class credit and are putting in about 20 hours on the average game week.

It's not cheap to run a university marching band. Just to replace instruments alone costs around $500,000 every ten years and to replace uniforms every eight to ten years is another $500,000.

The reality is that the annual budget for the Cowboy Marching Band is around $28,000 per year. This is by far the lowest in the Big 12 and I would imagine one of the lowest in the country among BCS schools.

Recently, the Cowboy Marching Band was invited to perform for the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland. We were also invited to perform for New Year's Parades in both London, England and Rome, Italy. Each of these trips would have cost in the neighborhood of $400,000. Needless to say, we had to decline these opportunities due to lack of financial support.

Can you imagine the impact these trips could have on not only the reputation of the Cowboy Marching Band, but Oklahoma State University in general? Further, don't you think that more students might be willing to sacrifice their time and energy to be in the Cowboy Marching Band if they knew that at some point during their time in the CMB that they were going to be able to make one of these trips?

Instead, they get to ride for 36 hours one-way on a bus while their friends enjoy time away during the holiday break.

So, for those of you that like to complain about the Cowboy Marching Band, I'm sure this post will do nothing to change your minds. For the rest of you, there are things that you can do:

1) Support the CMB financially by visiting the following link:

https://www.secureosugiving.com/osugiving.com/WebFormOSUF.aspx?Page=edited-giveonlinenow.html

Be sure that you select Cowboy Marching Band in the pulldown menu.

2) Let the band know that you appreciate them by showing your support at pre-game and half-time.

3) Contact me at Brad.Snow@okstate.edu and we can arrange to have a pep band play for your tailgate party or corporate event.

I promise all of you that you'd be hard-pressed to find a harder working group of students that bleed orange like my students in your OSU Cowboy Marching Band.

Sincerely,
Brad Snow
Director, OSU Cowboy Marching Band

I'm a supporter! Go Band!

Thanks for the link, Mr. Snow!

You might not remember me (my name is Brock Shahan), but I was on the drumline my freshman/sophomore years at Jenks while you were there...just wanted to say hey!

GO CMB!!! I know the five years I spent there were AWESOME!! Yes the 20 hour bus ride to Georgia, or the 2 day bus ride to San Diego might not have been fun but I got to see all the OSU football I could handle. Made great friendships that will last a lifetime!

Done. It isn't much but I hope it helps.

Thanks for coming on this board to share the facts, Dr. Snow. What so many people in the general public don't realize is that the OSU Music Department has garnered more bang for it's buck than probably any department on campus. For the last 20 years the department has been SIGNIFICANTLY underfunded. Yet, in that time, OSU has amassed countless honors and awards for it's instrumental and vocal ensembles. OSU Wind Ensemble and OSU Chorale and Chamber Choir tour around the country and around the world almost YEARLY to represent the University and 90% of the time it is on the students' dime. These tours have arose from the exemplary performances given throughout the years. As well, some of the biggest names in collegiate music have passed through OSU (though it's hard to keep them with salaries being what they are).

The OSU Marching Band is one of the least funded ensembles within a terribly funded department. Thankfully in the last few years, some large donors have come forward to help make bowl trips or new uniforms a reality. But just like football, in order to increase the operating budget, everyone has to help.

The less informed people on this board always want a "better" product on the field. In my observations "better" seems to equate to bigger and louder because, in all honesty, none of the bands that receive so much recognition on this board (A$M, Grambling, etc) actually play better than our band. They're just louder. That requires numbers. Numbers require interest. More interest comes from getting the band to more places and with more perks. More places, more perks, more scholarships, means WE have to get off our butts and make that a priority.

OSUGuy1
Bachelor of Music in Education, OSU, 2002
Masters of Pedagogy and Performance, Conducting, OSU, 2008

Thanks for everything you do for our University!

My son played trombone in the CMB for four years (88 to 92) and loved every minute of it. I'm proud of our band. Keep up the good work, Dr. Snow. You have many supporters.

I have only ever complained about one thing in regard to the band. Chicago tributes. So long as they never play Chicago tunes again, I'll be more than willing to help the band march around the world. In fact, no classic rock band tributes altogether. It does not do justice to either the bands that recorded the songs or the CMB playing them.

What would you like to hear?

As a 2008 OSU Alum and 5 year Band Member, I can't tell you enough how much these people do what they can with the little funding that is provided. We can only hope that one day a generous booster would contribute the funds to:

-Build a larger Seretean Center for the Performing Arts that provides adequate storage space, office space (not the movie), rehearsal space, and just a lounge big enough to relax/study in. Off topic: has anyone seen the new Minnesota Gopher Stadium? They have a HUGE space for the band built into the stadium! Check it out here: http://stadium.gophersports.com/
-Fund scholarships for the Band
-Provide Stipends for the Band
-Allow the Band to fly to long distance away games (San Diego for instance)
-Fund new instruments for the whole band (some are using instruments that are really old)
-Fund the building of a new practice field that doesn't have an uneven surface, gravel in it, and doesn't get muddy and smell like cow manure after it rains. Note: I understand it that where they practice now will be turned into the new Greek Life Statue and a reflecting pool and they will have to go back to practicing on an even smaller space right next to the SCPA and Old Central. Not sure if it's true or not.

This post isn't intended to bash the OSU Administration or Athletic Department in anyway, just provides a list of what OUR marching band program needs to be that much better. It's nice to dream isn't it? Please use the link above that Dr. Snow provided to donate to the CMB. Every little bit helps.

I have never been into bands particularly tho I do enjoy halftime shows.

One thing I do think tho is if you are going to have one, you need to try and have the best. That means adequate funding and support in every other way.

Thank you to all of the staff and members of CMB.

You make the gameday experience.

CMB rocks! Don't let the haters get you down!

The CMB is soooo good I want a bigger one..... but if they are having trouble with money now its probably not gonna happen

If modern music is going to be played, I think everyone will agree that 60's Motown and 70's funk are the only acceptable genres for a marching bands. Contemporary music is fine as well, but only if it is done with class and style.

Actual orchestral music is great, but boring, so that's out.

Sousa marches are definitely acceptable, so long as we don't try to copy aTm.

Thank you for these posts, especially yours, Dr. Snow. As a current member and music major, I can attest that we bust our asses to give the quality performances that you see on every game day and in every concert our concert bands put on. We have some of the best musical ensembles in the country on this campus and yet we still can't get a building that doesn't leak rain water onto our rehearsal space, or full time faculty in every instrumental department. This past year our wind ensemble was selected for one of three evening performance slots at the Collegiate Band Directors National Association from around 70 submissions from universities across the nation, essentially making us the #3 wind band in all the nation. When's the last time your football team gave you those kinds or results? Think about the way we could represent this university if we had a little bit of funding and more exposure in places other than the Dallas area and Oklahoma...and the kind of money that would bring into the university. Either way, just appreciate what we do. We are a quality program and we work very hard at what we do, so even if you don't care what we do, at least recognize that we work hard and we give you results. Thanks.

I find it funny that none of the typical "our band sucks" people have the stones to reply to this thread.

I was thinking the exact same thing as I read through this...