NUMB Home Opener Recap
By Lake The Posts on
School is now in session, the band has a game under its belt and now its time to keep the drumbeat going. Brittany P. takes a look back at some home opener highlights.
NUMB’s home opener
What an opener! I sat with some fellow young NUMBALUMS in section 131, and we noticed immediately that NUMB has hopped north a segment, so now it sits nestled into the student section. I concede that it makes more sense in the grand scheme to engulf the band in students, but it also means that the band is one section further north from the rest of the stadium. And while this may be the biggest band in a decade, it was still all but impossible to hear any melodic lines from our seats to the right and back about 40 rows. The band was mic’ed up pretty well for radio and TV purposes, but nothing was projected to the stadium.
All that said, the band sounded and looked fantastic for their first Ryan Field appearance of 2011. The first show after band camp is always a big deal for NUMB newcomers, so I’m sure they’re somewhat relieved to have that out of the way. They’ll focus the rest of the season on polishing drill and sound, learning new tunes and drill, and bleeding purple. Check out the new intro video, edited together by NUMB photographer Tom McGrath:
And here’s a video of the new pregame sequence, courtesy of recent graduate and former drum major
Will Borges:
Speaking of drum majors, I didn’t realize until Saturday that NUMB has just one solitary drum major this year. That hasn’t happened since the 1980’s – NUMB almost always has two or three drum majors at once. You can spot WCAS senior Michael San Gabino in his first triumphant backbend of the season at 1:25 in the video. This is his second year as a NUMB drum major.
You’ll notice that unlike previous years, the band now enters from the north end zone, right in front of the student section. I love how the drums came streaming out of the tunnel, though it may have been a bit more surprising if we hadn’t seen them “sneak” in moments before. I guess if the alternative is to send the 23-member drumline through the football locker room…well, we’ll take what we can get. My only complaint about the new entrance is that it renders the entrance cadence unnecessary. I love the cadence – it’s the drums-only beat that the band marches and dances to, and the insertion of a slick shako brim slide and a cry of “P and G, oom cha” is still my proudest accomplishment as a NUMBer. I guess I’ll have to wait for the Homecoming parade.
The first real pangs of “I must be getting old” hit me when NUMB played a new arrangement of the opening Fanfare. It’s still based on the Alma Mater, and it sounds perfectly fine, but this is only my third season out of band and already so much has changed. I can already hear the choruses of “back in my day…”
The new pregame also features new drill sets, including a vaguely Nebraska-looking “N” at the end of “Push On!” and an oval-encircled “N” at the end of “Go U.” The more N’s the better, I always say.
Also WTH with no beer in Wildcat Alley? We lost some major cool points there.
Official videos of both pregame and halftime are forthcoming. Until then, go ‘Cats, beat the Black Knights!
And here’s the official video of NUMB’s pregame, courtesy of Tom McGrath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q3xPBD1tOI
Speaking as someone who has seats in Section 131 just so I can be close to the band, it was very disappointing to find them moved further away and completely muffled by a large section of students who stood the whole game. It’s AWESOME that the students stand the whole time, but it REALLY makes it hard to hear the band, even from two sections away.
I see I was not the only one who noticed the Nebraska-Block-N. Please tell the powers that be that some folks look upon it with askance. Yes, askance. We’re NU graduates, our disapproval is more sophisticated.
I prefer to think of it as referencing the Northwestern logos of old, pre-1981.
http://hailtopurple.com/features/hlmt78.JPG
http://exhibits.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/football/24prog.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cAQAN5UWXk at 0:30
Think of it as… honoring Northwestern’s history. Little bit of a stretch, sure, but it’s only Nebraska’s N if you let it be.
Also, it’s probably what they had to do to make the numbers work in the drill.
One minor correction- Michael’s a Bienen junior, not WCAS senior. Excellent commentary, Juneau!
@LTP, @ravenswood cat:
Regarding the band’s shift up a section: though it embarrasses me to say so, that placement was not intentional. The band sets up its equipment in the stadium well before anyone else shows up — five or six hours before — and last Saturday, our equipment was placed in front of the wrong section, an easy mistake to make when the stadium is empty, all the sections look the same, and one can’t see the numbers clearly from the track. By the time anyone caught the error, it was too late.
Of course, the powers that be might determine that the unintentional placement is superior and make the change permanent, but as far as I know, the band will be back to its old stomping grounds for Michigan.
@Marc:
Unfortunately, the additions to the four corners of the traditional N (I believe they’re called serifs in typography, but have no idea if that applies to this situation!) are necessary in order to make the numbers work out. That’s what happens when NUMB jumps up by forty people in one season! The main difference is that, as is visible on the helmet that Dozer linked, the ‘classic’ serifed Northwestern N has the serifs on the outside only, while the Nebraska N has serifs on the inside as well.
http://hailtopurple.com/features/hlmt78.JPG
http://huskersgameday.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Nebraska-N.png
I like it! It actually reminds me of what we did back when I was in NUMB back in the 80s. I especially like going back to entering the field from the North. All in all, NUMB did a great job — particularly for the first performance of the season. Go ‘Cats!
@LTP, @ravenswood cat, @nyxem – I too sit in 131 to get a better gameday experience with the band and people who will stand on 3rd down (sorry everyone else, but a lot of the stadium still has a subdued mentality) and was amazed at how the move of the band changed what we could hear. It really is no wonder that the stadium doesn’t really sing the fight song on TDs – there’s no band to lead them. I’d love to see the band in an endzone to help the sound carry (e.g. we heard EIUs tiny band no problem in the NE corner), but at a minimum they need to pump the sound through the PA system. When I was at Boston College, they did this and it helped the atmosphere a lot. It’s a shame to have the band (which is growing!) playing for the students, the people seated in the NE side and no one else all game.
I had the opposite experience.
There was a speaker about 20′ from my seats in 131 that was booming music from the band (almost too loud). I believe I saw a speaker every 2 sections (on the west side) It was much louder than I’ve heard in years past.
@NUAdam: I agree on running the band through the PA system. At first, I didn’t like the idea, but I too was at the BC game and that experience changed my mind. Hearing the band through the PA system definitely helped — and it would help at NU too. I imagine it would not be difficult to pull off. @LTP: Any way we can pass the word to Jim Philipps?
@nyxem:
Fantastic news! I figured it was a one-time deal or a mix-up of some kind. There’s just no way TPTB would want those unruly students sitting adjacent to the productive members of society and model citizens of Section 131 on a long-term basis. Also, if I can’t see the SpiriTeam, how will I know when to eat my apple?
From another Sec 131 season ticket holder, I am glad that the band will take its rightful place in Sec 132. Couldn’t hear the band playing the fight song from Row 13…
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