{"id":6476,"date":"2022-05-16T20:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T01:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=6476"},"modified":"2022-05-16T20:00:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T01:00:46","slug":"hbcu-marching-band-quo-vadis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2022\/05\/16\/hbcu-marching-band-quo-vadis\/","title":{"rendered":"HBCU Marching Band- Quo Vadis?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">As an extension to our semester group project on Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Marching Band, I\u2019m going to explore and reflect on the topic of gender roles and implications in HBCU marching band traditions and visions going forth. <br \/><br \/>First emerging as a military tradition, the marching band experience can be closely associated with not just musical talents but also discipline, hard work, as well as conservative values such as traditional gender expectations and roles. And indeed when we think about a marching band performance on a football stadium, it\u2019s not hard to picture groups of girls doing their dancing routines while their male counterparts doing heavy percussion and marching routines. <br \/><br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vIX3AuqPKLs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>A YouTube video documenting the 2019 North Carolina A&amp;T State University Marching Band routine.<br \/><br \/>As our society is gradually progressing from our learned gender dichotomy towards an intersectional lens to understand, respect and welcome non-binary and LGBTQ community into the different facets of social structures and system, more research and studies are starting to take an interest on the gendered structure of a marching band. However, even though interests have been taken into this matter, literature concerning such are focused on Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) and not so much for student experiences in HBCU. <br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cWhile professional educational literature concerning racial identity, sexual identity and sexual orientation of students have been emerging, the literature is widely from White, Euro-American perspectives and excludes the Black gay male experience.\u201d (Carter, 27)<br \/><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>In a research done by Bruce Allen Carter, he revealed that all the four participants who all identified as black gay male shared the sentiment that there\u2019s a constant state of anxiety surrounding their participation in HBCU marching band and that \u201cthere\u2019s nothing better or nothing worse than being Black, gay and in the Marching band\u201d (Carter, 37)<br \/><br \/>In a essay Reclaiming the Beat: The Sweet Subversive Sounds of HBCU Marching Bands written by Antron D. Mahoney, he also shed light on the experiences of non-binary communities in the marching band and pointed out an underground performance practice \u201cJ-setting\u201d or \u201cbucking\u201d that is an outlet for self-expression and community building for many non-binary or LGBTQ black males. These underground practices, similar to what females partake on a regular basis in marching bands, are being criticized and ostracized as a transgressive art form. This documentary When the Beat Drops as referenced in Mahoney\u2019s essay further elaborates on the experiences of non-cis black men as well as origins, significance and development of \u201cJ-setting\u201d and \u201cbucking\u201d as a new fledging art form.  <br \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WxLY1Aydebo?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\"><br \/><br \/>According to HBCU marching band scholar, Yulanda Essoka, she attributed the success and competitiveness of HBCU bands to their distinct style that integrates and meshes up different genres and styles of music and routines than their PWI counterparts.(Mahoney, 83) This is often celebrated as the pride of HBCU bands, an ode to musical experiences of blackness and diversity. Will we take the next step to embrace also queerness, gayness, intersectionality and celebrate their embodied pride and experiences through marching band? <br \/><br \/>As I continue to contemplate on this topic, I envision a more in-depth extension to our HBCU marching band mapping project to be focusing on mapping data of existing scholars\u2019 findings and statistics of intersectional, LGBTQ participation and experiences at HBCUs as well as collaborating with HBCUs in further research, data collection, support and even reformation in the band culture for a more inclusive experience for the non-binary and LGBTQ community. <br \/><br \/>Sources:<br \/><br \/>  Carter, Bruce Allen. \u201c\u2018Nothing Better or Worse Than Being Black, Gay, and in the Band.\u2019\u201d Journal of Research in Music Education. 61, no. 1 (2013): 26\u201343. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/0022429412474470.<br \/><br \/><br \/>   2019 HBCU HOMECOMING &amp; BAND SHOWCASE | NC A&amp;T State Takes Field Highlights. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vIX3AuqPKLs<br \/><br \/>  Mahoney, Antron D. \u201cReclaiming the Beat: The Sweet Subversive Sounds of HBCU Marching Bands.\u201d Southern Cultures 27, no. 4 (2021): 78\u201397. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1353\/scu.2021.0059.<br \/><br \/>   When the Beat Drops. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WxLY1Aydebo<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an extension to our semester group project on Historically Black College and University (HBCU) Marching Band, I\u2019m going to explore and reflect on the topic of gender roles and implications in HBCU marching band traditions and visions going forth. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2022\/05\/16\/hbcu-marching-band-quo-vadis\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3394,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jEhR-1Gs","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3394"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6476"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6482,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6476\/revisions\/6482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}