FAMU Marching 100 first performance to be announced

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- The Florida A&M University Marching 100 could be back on the field as soon as the university's first football game in September.

Band Director Sylvester Young is expected to make an announcement Aug. 15 on the band's first performance, which could come at when the Rattlers face the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils at the MEAC/SWAC Challenge Sept. 1.

In the meantime, band staff and students are not waiting in preparing.

Saturday, new and old members of the Florida A&M University Marching 100 gathered for the first day of auditions for the upcoming fall semester.

It was the first time in over a year that music thundered from the Foster-Tanner music building and the revelry of musical steps of the past shone through. The university announced the lifting of the band’s suspension in June.

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FAMU marching band returns after 19-month suspension

TALLAHASSEE -- The band room on Florida A&M University’s campus is alive again.

Eager freshman in suits and ties lined up to audition for a spot in the acclaimed, but embattled Marching 100 band over the weekend. Then they practiced with the upperclassmen late into the evening, learning the sharp movements and musicianship that earned the band worldwide fame.

No one has forgotten why the band room went dark: the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion in November 2011. Not the students who say they understand how important it is that the 100 return as sharp as ever, but without the culture of hazing that has dogged the campus for decades, nor the administrators who know the band’s problems contributed to the school’s accreditation issues and tarnished its reputation.

“The world is watching you,” Department of Music chairman Kawachi Clemons told the students during orientation Saturday. “Everyone’s eyes are on us right now.”

No more than 256 students will participate in the Marching 100 this year, compared to the more than 400 that were on the roll before the 19-month suspension.
 New rules also are in place. Members must be full-time students and maintain a 2.0 GPA. No student will be allowed in the band for more than four football seasons.

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