FAMU Band Director: 'He looked like he had passed out'

ATLANTA, Georgia -- For the first time since the death of Florida A&M drum major Robert Champion, director Julian White is giving more details about what happened that day.

11Alive's Blayne Alexander is the only Atlanta reporter to speak with Dr. White. During the interview, he described the moments after Champion collapsed.

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When America Thinks of Marching Bands...

Black History Month: The Battle Continues... Rattlers and Wildcats!

A throwback page from FAMU Marching 100 history -- the Hundred' greatest hits!

Sixty-five years is a long time to be a dynasty in the music field, and without a doubt, Florida A&M University Marching 100 Band has been more than that and some more.

In the Spring of 1989, the Marching 100 was invited to represent the United States in the French Bicentennial Bastille Day Parade in Paris (Bicentennial of the French Revolution) by Artistic Director Jean Paul Goude.  The FAMU Marching 100 was the sole band from the U.S. invited.

Mr. Goude specifically requested that the Marching 100 play a medley of James Brown music, the Godfather of Soul.  Within this window before the world, Jean Paul Goude wanted the French people and the world to be exposed to Black Music, music based on African rhythms and riffs.  The band had made a lasting impression on Goude ten years earlier, while he lived in New York, and he had seen the Florida A&M band playing at the Super Bowl or some other game at the Orange Bowl. He thought the band was extraordinary and needless to say, it left a lifetime impression on him.

The legendary Dr. William P. Foster stated, "this was a tribute to black music."

The parade was basically about the rights of man, first--representing all countries with a touch of African music. There was an under theme--World Music and world music is based on African music and rhythms.  The Bastille Day Parade would be a global showcase of the impact of African music on the world.

James Brown "influenced pop music like no one had  before and he deserved recognition," said Goude. Folks had made careers off of one riff of James Brown music and he was the "Godfather of Soul" in American music.

Goude, in a documentary explaining why the FAMU Marching 100 was chosen, stated, "Afro-American music is the music that makes the planet dance."  "Florida A&M University Marching 100 does it better than anyone else in the World."












The brilliant music arranger and composer, Mr. Lindsey B. Sarjeant, Assistant Director of Bands, Arranger made the rare transition in 1972 from recent graduate from FAMU (1971) to assistant university music arranger and composer under Mr. Richard Powell, a white guy from Puget Sound, Washington.  Powell was a truly gifted arranger that was a somewhat music pioneer in arranging wonderful black pop music of the day (late 60's -70's era) for the Marching 100. He was also an excellent music composition instructor.

Mr. Sarjeant has been  responsible for the powerful and dynamic, artistic sounds of the internationally famous Florida A&M University Marching 100 for nearly 40 years.  He is an Associate professor at Florida A&M University and serves as Director of Jazz Studies, director of jazz ensembles and arranger for the famous Marching “100” Band, symphonic Band and jazz ensemble. He is a brilliant jazz pianist, composer, jazz lecturer, jazz historian, adjudicator and jazz keyboard clinician.

Video number 9 and 10 are very rare--back in the day with black and white television and video cameras. Studying the Marching 100 performances from 1946 to 2011 is a doctoral thesis in our social, political and economic evolution and black pop music culture.  Like the Godfather of Soul revolutionized pop/soul music to the masses, so did the Marching 100 on the American and World stage.

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Credits:
1. Videographer: BAGHDAD11B, "JAMES BROWN RIFFS" PART 1: FAMU HOMECOMING 08'
2. Videographer: BAGHDAD11B, "JAMES BROWN RIFFS" PART 2: FAMU HOMECOMING 08'
3. Videographer: TAPEMASTER28, FAMU 1989 Band "Spend The Night"
4. Videographer: FAMU 1996 "Knocks Me Off My Feet"
5. Videographer: hhorns2002, "FAMU 2008 Segment on "CBS Evening News"
6. Videographer: ImmaaBeGaga, "FAMU 2007 Super Bowl performance with PRINCE
7. Videographer: TAPEMASTER28,"Never Would Have Made It 2008 (ATL Classic)" with Minister Genleah "Star" Crawford, former FAMU Marching 100 Trombonist.
8. Videographer: bayshawn, "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral, 2007"
9. Videographer: hhorns2002, FAMU Marching 100, "Tribute to Paris" Halftime Show 1989 -- in Paris, France
10. Videographer: TAPEMASTER28, FAMU Marching 100 "Congratulations" - 1989

2010 Florida Classic: FAMU Marching 100 Puts on a Clinic for B-CU Wildcats

Videographer: delsalvio (BCU -Field Level View)

Videographer: andremc69 (FAMU - Field Level View)

Videographer: tooslytoo (FAMU's Entire Half-Time Show - From Upper Deck)

FAMU Marching 100 Requests Your Help!

In this season of giving, here is an opportunity for you to put your signature on assisting the Florida A&M University Marching 100 Band in participating in the Presidential Inauguration Parade of our 44th President, Barack Obama. The FAMU Marching 100 is the NUMBER ONE marching band in the United States and this event will afford the Washington, D.C. metro area citizens and the world community to see what Florida has enjoyed with the Incomparable Marching 100 for the past 55 years.

Here is how YOU can help and become an important and valued supporter of the FAMU Marching 100 Band program... and see the HUNDRED on Pennsylvania Avenue on January 20, 2009.

FAMU 2008 The Road To Washington and Beyond Campaign

CBS Evening News - 2008 FAMU Marching 100

FAMU 2008 "ESPN College Gameday" Performance



DONATE HERE: http://www.famu.edu/GiveToThe100

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FAMU band must raise $100K to pay for travel expenses

Florida A&M University's Julian White received a phone call Friday evening during band rehearsal that he'll never forget. A man told White, FAMU's director of bands and music chairman, that his 420-member Marching 100 was selected to participate in President-elect Barack Obama's Inaugural Parade on January 20. White asked the man a quick question. "Would you mind repeating that?"

White turned on the cell phone's speaker and put the phone close to a neighboring microphone. Then, the news was repeated to hundreds of band students. "Pandemonium just broke out," White said. Students began pulling out their own cell phones to tell friends and family, White said. "Within 10 to 15 minutes, it was all over the United States," White said. White couldn't help getting euphoric from the news. He went to his office to place a call to FAMU President James Ammons. Ammons said, "This is definitely where we wanted to be. Of all the bands in this country to be selected . . . I think this reinforces that the 'Hundred' is truly America's band."

FAMU Marching 100 - 2008 Florida Classic Pre-Game Show



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FAMU - BCU Bands battle in show like no other

ORLANDO, FL -- Legend says the ancient Scots marched into battle to the sound of Highland bagpipes within their ranks. The eerie, menacing sound of the pipes would pummel the enemy from as much as 10 miles away, instilling dread in foes long before the first clash of swords. But those Scotsmen might be quaking in their boots and kilts if they were here Saturday afternoon on the turf of the Citrus Bowl. It's halftime at the annual Florida Classic football game, and the Bethune-Cookman University Marching Wildcats are taking the field.

Sure, the Marching Wildcats will play a hip-hop hit -- Plies' "Who Hotter Than Me." But the song by the Tampa rapper boasts a defiant, martial beat, propelled by the brontosaurus stomp of the 'Cats tuba section and the Roman centurion blasts of the trumpets in the 275-member band. Forget the Scots. This is battle music that Orcs -- those monster dudes in "Lord of the Rings" -- would love.

Indeed, the Wildcat band is marching into battle. The foe: the Florida A&M University Marching 100. At the Florida Classic, the competition isn't just between the football teams of Bethune-Cookman and FAMU. "Come halftime, it's on," Marching Wildcat trumpeter Fletcher Harley said in rehearsals days earlier, a slight grin creeping into his game face. "You either put out or get put off the field."

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FAMU Marching 100 - BOTB, Florida Classic 2008

Please Dont Stop the Music

If I Ever Fall in Love Again

FAMU Dance Routine

Mrs. Officer

Who Can I Run To

FAMU Percussion feature TUVOK

Florida Classic 2008 5th Quater

Bethune Cookman University Marching Wildcats - I love the Lord

Bethune Cookman Sudden Impact Percussion Feature

Bethune Cookman - Show Me What Ya Got

FAMU Marching 100 - Homecoming 2008 Show

FAMU Camp Leads a Drumbeat for a Marching Band’s Style

Excerpt:

In the nation’s historically black colleges, marching bands have long provided far more than “The Star-Spangled Banner” for football crowds, and none, arguably, has grown more famous than Florida A&M’s.

The group’s traditional and official name, the Marching 100, is a rare bit of false modesty: the group now numbers upward of 350 musicians, drum majors and flag-carriers. The unit has built a national, even global, following with appearances at the Super Bowl, both of President Bill Clinton’s inaugural parades, the Grammy Awards and the bicentennial of the French Republic.

The Marching 100 has created a revolution in band style, radically infusing the traditional catalog of songs and formations with the sounds and dances of black popular culture. “It slides, slithers, swivels, rotates, shakes, rocks and rolls,” the band’s founding director, Prof. William P. Foster, wrote in his memoirs. “It leaps to the sky, does triple twists, and drops to earth without a flaw, without missing either a beat or a step.”

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FAMU Marching 100 director, Julian White, honored at roast

Photo: Dr. Julian E. White, Director of Bands and Chairman, Music Department, Florida A&M University.

A video shown Friday in honor of the director of Florida A&M University's Marching 100 showed many of the band's highlights: marching down the Champs-Elysees for the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989; performing at Bill Clinton's 1993 and 1997 inaugural parades; playing at the 2007 Super Bowl halftime show with singer Prince.

But it was footage of Julian White huddling with dejected band try-outs who didn't make the cut that caught the attention of many in the audience. "The measure of the man came through (when he told them) you're not going to always be successful, but you're not a failure," Rep. Curtis Richardson said. "The measure of this man is the lessons that he has taught hundreds of young band members."

About 300 people attended the roast and toast for White at the Civic Center, which also featured musical selections performed by about 60 band members. The event was put on by the Leon County Chapter of the FAMU National Alumni Association to raise money for scholarships for Leon County students to attend FAMU or the Marching 100 summer band camp.

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FAMU 2008 Wind Ensemble "To Tame the Perilous Skies"


FAMU 2008 Wind Ensemble "Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna"

PBS Florida Crossroads: The Making of the Band, The FAMU Marching 100

The Florida A&M University "Marching 100” was featured on PBS’s Florida Crossroads television show on October 30, November 1, and November 4, 2007, which aired on PBS and other public, educational and government channels throughout the State of Florida. The 30-minute documentary, "The Making of the Band: The FAMU "Marching 100," focused on the members of the Marching 100, who spoke candidly about what it takes to be a part of the world renowned tradition.

For your pleasure and enjoyment, the entire program is provided below in a sequence of three parts of the program. Dr. Julian E. White, director of bands and chairman of the Florida A&M University Department of Music, shares impartial insight to the internal workings of this 61 year old institution, which was created by Dr. William P. Foster. You don't want to miss watching this straightforward documentary of the Florida A&M University Marching 100. Enjoy!

Part I: PBS Documentary, "The Making of the Band: The FAMU Marching 100"


Part II: PBS Documentary, "The Making of the Band: The FAMU Marching 100"


Part III: PBS Documentary, "The Making of the Band: The FAMU Marching 100"