Marching Southerners
The Marching Southerners is the marching band of Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Composed of students from all over the country, the Southerners and Marching Ballerinas perform for thousands each season.
History
The first band at Jacksonville State Normal School was formed in 1923-24. At that time, students only attended the school for two years and there was no full-time director, which hindered growth of the band in the early years. In 1930, the college was renamed Jacksonville State Teachers College, reflecting an increased role in higher education for the institution. The Great Depression and World War II put development of the band on hold.After the war, Walter A. Mason became head of the music department at the college. A veteran, he turned to fellow Army musician J. Eugene Duncan who he asked to become the band's first full-time director in 1948.
Musical and Marching Style
John T. Finley took over the director position in 1951 and immediately made changes to the band's musical and visual style. Finley removed the sousaphones, cornets and small-bore trombones, and replaced them with trumpets and bass trombones: instruments more usually associated with orchestras. The most radical instrumental change was the adoption of the Conn 20-J upright recording bass as the band's lead tuba, and Jacksonville State remains the only university marching band to use this heavy concert tuba on the field. Other musical changes included a departure from military-style marches in favor of slower, more dynamic, orchestral and symphonic, Broadway and Latin jazz pieces.Visually, the band abandoned military-style block drill in favor of precision marching and wide-open company front formations: designed to achieve uniformity in step height and body carriage, whilst the company front formation helped to project the sound of the band. Finley also adopted a dance line as a visual focus instead of the majorette lines seen in more traditional marching bands, christened them the Marching Ballerinas.
The Name "Southerners"
In 1956, the Marching Ballerinas were organized and the band began attracting more attention. The band received its name, the Southerners, in 1958.Incidentally, Norman L. Padgett is credited with naming the band. The band's charter president, Harold Summerville, class of '60, of Bowden, Ga., recalls, "On April 21, 1958, I presented a letter of appreciation to Norman L. Padgett. It was signed by Dr. Finley and at the beginning of band rehearsal that day thanking for his submission of the name The Southerners."
Despite the commonly used name, according to the JSU Manual of Style and Usage, Point 7, the official name of the band at Jacksonville State is simply "The Southerners": the "Marching" title only being applied to the Marching Ballerinas.
Directors
- 1948 J. Eugene Duncan
- 1951 John T. Finley
- 1959 John Knox
- 1961 David L. Walters
- 1991 M. Scott McBride
- 1994 Kenneth G. Bodiford
Notable performances
1976 – National Bicentennial Celebration Parade in Philadelphia, PA
1996 – 70th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. A segment of the Southerners' performance can be seen in the opening scene of Episode 9.08 of Friends, which originally aired on Nov. 21, 2002.
1998 – First performance at the Atlanta Bands of America Regional at the Georgia Dome
1999 – B.O.A. Grand Nationals at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis
2002 – B.O.A. Grand Nationals at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis
2006 – The Marching Southerners celebrated their 50th anniversary with a performance that included 1,500 former Southerners, during halftime of Jacksonville State University's college football game against Samford University.
2012 – The Southerners led the New Year's Day Parade in London, England, which also kicked off the 2012 Summer Olympics celebrations and Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.
2016 - The Southerners played on the U.S.S Missouri in honor of the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
Additionally, the Southerners perform regularly at the Bands of America contest in Atlanta, and they host a Bands of America contest in Jacksonville, Alabama.
Show Summary (1956-2017)
Source:| Year | Show Title | Repertoire |
| 1995 | ||
| 1996 | ||
| 1997 | ||
| 1998 | ||
| 1999 | Dance Movements | |
| 2000 | A Night in Birdland | |
| 2001 | A Southerner's Odyssey: Space, Sea, and Sand | |
| 2002 | Pictures of Spain | |
| 2003 | A Night at the Opera | |
| 2004 | Remembrance | Southerner's Hits arranged by Mark Fifer / Time to Say Goodbye by Francesco Sartori and Lucio Quarantotto / Remembrance arranged by Mark Fifer |
| 2005 | Muy Caliente | |
| 2006 | Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow | |
| 2007 | Higher, Faster, Louder | |
| 2008 | From Russia with Love | |
| 2009 | Of Thee I Sing | |
| 2010 | From Sea to Shining Sea | |
| 2011 | Fire and Ice | |
| 2012 | I'll Fly Away | Selections from Star Trek by Michael Giacchino / Enter The Galaxies by Paul Lovatt-Cooper / Moondance by Van Morrison / Fly Me To The Moon by Bart Howard / I’ll Fly Away by Albert E. Brumley / Over The Rainbow by Harold Arlen / Defying Gravity by Stephen Schwartz |
| 2013 | One More Time | One More Time, Chuck Corea by Gene Puerling / A Mis Abuelos by Arturo Sandoval / Habenera by Georges Bizet / Spirit of the Bull / Malaga by Bill Holman / Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona |
| 2014 | Salvation is Created: A Journey from Darkness into Light | O Fortuna by Carl Orff / Dies Irae by Verdi / I'm Gonna Live Till I Die by Hoffman, Kent, and Kurtz / Death and Transfiguration by Strauss / Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral by Wagner / Gloria by Rutter / Choral Finale by Beethoven / Salvation is Created by Tschesnokoff |
| 2015 | Celebration | Festive Overture by Shostakovich / Overture by Justin Williams / The Best is Yet to Come by Frank Sinatra / Tribute by Justin Williams / New World Symphony by Dvorak / 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky |
| 2016 | Heroes: Lost and Fallen | Selections from Independence Day by David Arnold / Swing, Swing, Swing by John Williams / Honor by Hans Zimmer / Heroes Finale by Justin Williams / Battle Hymn of the Republic |
| 2017 | Angels Among Us | Fly to Paradise by Eric Whitacre / Resplendent Glory by Rossano Gallante / Are You Ready for A Miracle by Art Reynolds and Benny Hull / Angel by Sarah McLachlan / JoyRIDE by Michael Markowski / 160bpm by Hans Zimmer / Hyfrydol Hymn by Rowland H. Prichard |
| 2018 | When I Think of Home | From Now On by Benji Pasek and Justin Paul / And All That Jazz by Fred Ebb and John Kander / Largo '' by Antonín Dvořák / Malagueña by Ernesto Lecuona |
| 2019 | Earth, Wind, & Fire | Let There Be Peace on Earth by Jill Jackson and Sy Miller / Earth for Flute and Piano by Takatsugu Muramatsu / Windsprints by Richard Saucedo / In the Stone by Earth, Wind, and Fire / September by Earth, Wind, and Fire / Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel / Day of Wrath by Justin Williams / Metropolis 1927 by Peter Graham |
Related competitive units
There are no organized competitions for college marching bands in the Southeast, so the Marching Southerners do not engage in direct competition with other college bands. However, Jacksonville State University sponsors several competitive marching and pageantry units that draw their membership in whole, or in part, from the marching band:- JSU Center Stage winter guard, a member of Winter Guard International and the Southeastern Color Guard Circuit competing in the Independent Open class.
- JSU Diamond Girls, a dance team that competes throughout the Southeast.
- An indoor drumline that regularly competes in the marching percussion competition at Percussive Arts Society's annual convention, which they won in 1999.