HBCU bands are as--or more--popular than their football teams. Here's why

No football team, but this NAIA Gulf Coast Athletic Conference school has a powerhouse of a marching band program in the making... Talladega College Marching Band has only been in existence for 3.5 years but is growing the 'DEGA Sound'. 

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- What makes historically black college and university bands as much—or more!—of a highlight as the football game itself? Alabama State and Alabama A&M band directors weigh in, in advance of Saturday's Magic City Classic. Although the Alabama State Hornets (3-4) and the Alabama A&M Bulldogs (2-4) football teams will spend 60 minutes on the field, many fans are as excited by the 8-minute half time shows.

Alabama State Band Director James Oliver agrees.

"They don't go to the concession stands for halftime. They may go in the middle of the second quarter, third quarter," he says. "But at halftime everybody's going to be in their seats waiting for the bands. That tell you right there, that's 60,000 or 70,000 people that are interested in what we are doing."

The History

Marching bands can trace roots back to the military, where they were used to keep time and boost morale. And there's a clear evolution from the military bands of early American history to today's HBCU bands, William Dukes Lewis writes in "Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum: Performance Traditions of Historically Black College and University Marching Bands." Through the years, African-American military bands continued to provide entertainment—easy to do since brass instruments were inexpensive and abundant after the Civil War.


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