THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230071
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HARRISONBURG LENGTH: Long : 135 lines
THE JAMES MADISON and Northeastern football teams were already on the field. But for one elderly but leather-lunged woman and hundreds of others lining a concourse outside Bridgeforth Stadium, the best team in Harrisonburg on Saturday was just making its entrance.
``Here comes my band!'' screamed the sixtysomething woman, her white hair framed by a purple and white JMU ball cap, as the 366-piece Marching Royal Dukes strode toward the stadium.
Then, turning to an usher, she added, ``This is the only reason I come to the football games.''
The band director, Dr. Pat Rooney, insists there's no truth to the rumor that the football team was formed to provide a forum for Marching Royal Dukes performances.
It only seems that way sometimes.
It must be a humbling thought for the Dukes' football players, who rebounded from a 6-5-1 season a year ago to qualify for the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs for only the third time in school history.
But such is life for quarterback Mike Cawley, fullback Steve Agee and company. After all, when the Dukes entertain Troy State at 1 p.m. Saturday in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs, they'll just be beginning the road to a national title.
The Marching Royal Dukes are already national champs. In a poll of national college band directors, the Marching Royal Dukes received the 1994 Sudler Trophy as the country's top college band.
``It's quite an honor,'' Rooney said. ``Usually, this is something only the big schools like Michigan and UCLA get.''
Of course, to the loyal fans who flock to see the Marching Royal Dukes perform, the Sudler Trophy merely confirmed something they'd suspected all along.
``They're just amazing,'' said JMU student Amy Koss.
That a good portion of the Marching Royal Dukes' following is made up of current JMU students is noteworthy, because the band doesn't pander to current trends. Many of the songs in the band's repertoire, including the medley of Chicago tunes the group kicked into at halftime, were standards before some JMU students were born.
Other selections, ranging from jazz classics to the gospel medley that was part of the halftime set, would no doubt send those weaned on Top-40 hits scurrying to change the station if they popped up on radio.
And while the band crisply moves through precision drill maneuvers the Marching Royal Dukes - unlike the popular Norfolk State Marching Legion - don't augment their playing with trendy hip-hop dance moves.
``The majority of my kids couldn't dance if they had to,'' Rooney said.
The Marching Royal Dukes have to be heard to be appreciated. Although only 25 percent of the band members are music majors, their stock in trade is the ability to create a powerful wall of sound so pure that it's as though they're acting out the routines while the music is being piped in through one of the group's pre-recorded CDs.
``People are startled by how well we sound,'' Rooney said. ``That's our hook.''
And the crowd in Harrisonburg just loves to be reeled in. In turn, when the purple, white and gold-clad Marching Royal Dukes parade about, the JMU community accords them the affection and adulation typically reserved for rock stars.
``In the college marching band world, I guess we are,'' said drum major Karen Harris.
This kind of attention is a big reason why the Marching Royal Dukes will have few complaints about cutting short their Thanksgiving vacations to prepare for Saturday's playoff game.
``Once the season is over, we turn in our uniforms and go back to being regular old college students,'' said drum major Jeremy Brown.
``When we're marching down the street and people are lined up and cheering for us, the feeling is just indescribable,'' Harris added. ``It's by far the best college experience I've had.''
When Brown arrived at JMU five years ago, he didn't even know the school had a band. But for Harris, a senior and formerly a drum major for a band of 28 at New Kent High School, the chance to perform with the Marching Royal Dukes was the deciding factor in her coming to JMU.
``Shenandoah (College) offered me a three-fourths scholarship,'' Harris said. ``JMU didn't offer me a dime. I came anyway.''
The ease with which the band pulls off its routines masks the hours of work the members put in during football season. Practices are limited to 90 minutes a day, but most of the group is warmed up and ready to go 30 minutes early.
``Nobody goofs off either,'' Brown said.
It showed on game day. Although the football team didn't live up to expectations Saturday, the Marching Royal Dukes delivered as usual. The biggest ovation of the day from the announced crowd of 10,000 came when the Marching Royal Dukes began their eclectic halftime set. And throughout the game, the band punctuates breaks in the action with fight calls and uptempo grooves. In tight situations, the Dukes wave their arms upward toward the band, imploring them to pour it on.
``At times, we can kind of control the flow of the game a bit,'' Rooney said.
The band's best efforts didn't pay off Saturday, however. Despite playing a Northeastern team that had won just once in 10 games coming in, the lethargic Dukes never got untracked and dropped a surprising 9-6 decision.
But the crowd's disappointment was soon quelled by the Marching Royal Dukes' post-game set, a repeat of their halftime routine, which kept approximately 5,000 in the stands roaring their approval.
``The unfortunate thing about sports is someone's got to lose,'' Rooney said. ``But we work hard to make sure we're always good, whether the team's good or not.'' ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff color photos
The Marching Royal Dukes of James Madison University, under the
direction of Bill Rooney, below, are a crowd favorite at JMU games,
and they've been honored as the top college marching band in the
United States.
Graphic
THE TOP BANDS
Previous winners of the Sudler Trophy, first given in 1982,
honoring the best college bands are:
1982, University of Michigan
1983, University of Illinois
1984, Ohio State
1985, Florida A&M
1986, University of Texas
1987, University of Oklahoma
1988, Michigan State
1989, University of Kansas
1990, University of Iowa
1991, Arizona State
1992, Northwestern
1993, UCLA
Photos
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Blaine Goodloe of Suffolk performs as a flag girl with James Madison
University's Marching Royal Dukes band during halftime of a JMU
football game in Harrisonburg.
by CNB