The Marching Southerners is the

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

Jacksonville State University Jacksonville State University (JSU or Jax State) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's degree, bachelor's, mas ...

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 The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. The Marching Southerners were the 2021 recipients of the

Sudler Trophy The John Philip Sousa Foundation is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the promotion of band music internationally. The foundation administers a number of projects and awards supporting high quality band performance, conducting, and composit ...

, the highest award for collegiate marching band.

Music 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

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...

cornet The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. There is also a soprano cor ...

s and small-bore

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

s, and replaced them with trumpets and

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

s: instruments more usually associated with orchestras. The most radical instrumental change was the adoption of the

C.G. Conn C. G. Conn Ltd., Conn Instruments or commonly just Conn, is a former American manufacturer of musical instruments incorporated in 1915. It bought the production facilities owned by Charles Gerard Conn, a major figure in early manufacture of ...

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 Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...

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 A majorette is a female performer who combines baton twirling with dance movements, primarily associated with marching bands during parades. Majorettes may alternatively spin flags, fire batons, maces, or rifles. Some performers incorporate c ...

lines seen in more traditional marching bands, christening them the Marching Ballerinas in 1956. Primary music arrangers for the Southerners include David L. Walters (1960s-early 1990s), Mark Fifer (1995–2004), and Justin Williams (2005–present), as well as percussion program head Clint Gillespie (1998–present).

The name "Southerners"

In 1956 the band began attracting more attention and 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 eat the beginning of band rehearsal that day thanking r. Padgettfor his submission of the name The Southerners." Despite the commonly used name ("The Marching Southerners"), 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 (interim director) * 1961 David L. Walters * 1991 M. Scott McBride *1994 Kenneth G. Bodiford

Notable performances

1965 –

Inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...

for U.S. President

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

1976 – National Bicentennial Celebration Parade in Philadelphia, PA 1996 – 70th Annual

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the American-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States ...

in New York City. A segment of the Southerners' performance can be seen in the opening scene of Episode 9.08 of

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

(" The One with Rachel's Other Sister"), which originally aired on Nov. 21, 2002. 1998 – First performance at the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Bands of America Bands of America (BOA) is a music education advocacy organization and promoter of high school marching band competitions in the United States. Established in 1975 as Marching Bands of America (MBA), founder Larry McCormick's goal was to provide e ...

Regional at the

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a Stadium#Types, domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown Atlanta, downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of th ...

1999 – B.O.A. Grand Nationals at the

RCA Dome The RCA Dome (originally Hoosier Dome) was a domed stadium in Indianapolis. It was the home of the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise for 24 seasons (1984–2007). It was completed at a cost of $77.5 million, as part of the Indiana Convention ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

2002 – B.O.A. Grand Nationals at the

2006 – The Marching Southerners celebrated their 50th anniversary with a performance that included 1,500 former Southerners

alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

, during halftime of

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

game against

Samford University Samford University is a Private university, private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama, United States. It was founded by Baptist Church, Baptists in 1841 as Howard College and located until 1887 in Marion, Alabama. It is governed by an in ...

. 2012 – The Southerners led the New Year's Day Parade in London, England, which also kicked off the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

celebrations and

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

Diamond Jubilee A diamond jubilee celebrates the 60th anniversary of a significant event related to a person (e.g. accession to the throne or wedding, among others) or the 60th anniversary of an institution's founding. The term is also used for 75th annivers ...

. 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

contest in

, and they host a

contest in

Jacksonville, Alabama Jacksonville is a city in Calhoun County, Alabama, Calhoun County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2020 census the population was 14,385, which is a 14.6% increase since 2010 and a 71.2% increase since 2000. It is included in the Anniston-Oxfo ...

Related competitive units

There are no organized competitions for college marching bands in the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

, 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 Winter guard (sometimes spelled "winterguard") is an indoor Color guard (flag spinning), color guard sport and performance art derived from military ceremonies. Modern winter guard is a competitive, performance-based activity which incorporates c ...

, a member of

Winter Guard International Winter Guard International (WGI) is an American governing body that sanctions championship events for three competitive performing arts activities: winter guard, percussion ensembles, and indoor wind ensembles. WGI was founded in 1977 in respon ...

and the Southeastern Color Guard Circuit competing in the Independent Open class. * JSU Diamond Girls, a dance team that competes throughout the

. *An indoor drumline that regularly competes in the

marching percussion Marching percussion instruments are percussion instruments (usually drums, such as snare, bass, and tenor drums) specially designed to be played while moving. This is achieved by attaching the drum(s) to a special harness (also called a carrier ...

competition at Percussive Arts Society's annual convention
PASIC
, which they won in 1999.

References

External links

The Marching Southerners
{{Sudler Trophy College marching bands in the United States Conference USA marching bands Jacksonville State University Musical groups established in 1948 Musical groups from Alabama 1956 establishments in Alabama