Show of Unity

Joined by their love of music and a common cause, many marching bands find ways to collaborate during halftime even despite perceived rivalries.

- Elizabeth Geli

“There was a moment of silence … and it was very quiet—I’ve never heard a stadium be so quiet during a halftime show,” says Zach Arms, drum major of the Clemson (South Carolina) University Tiger Band. But by the end of the show, “it seemed like every person in the stadium leapt to their feet. It was a standing ovation. Even in the video, it’s hard to hear the band because the applause was so loud.”

So what kind of halftime show can garner this kind of extreme reaction from both the home and visiting crowds? A combined performance. In the last few years, more bands are putting aside their differences and collaborating, whether it be just for fun, musical goodwill, poking fun at a common rival, or even overcoming tragedy.

SC STRONG

In June 2015, South Carolina was rocked by the Charleston church shooting, where nine members of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church were killed during a prayer group. Then in October, a storm complex caused massive flooding throughout the state.

Arms felt that the power of music could help heal some of the pain. He took his idea to his band director, who contacted the University of South Carolina “Mighty Sound of the Southeast” Band in Columbia.

“If there’s ever suffering or heartbreak, one of the main things that all of mankind can connect to is music; music can be a great healer,” Arms says. “I just thought that one of the best things we can do to show that South Carolina is still standing and we’re still strong is during the highlight of the year when the state is divided in half, we come together as one state healing through music.”