Tennessee Band/Rocky Top—1972

[Boca Vol]

The original arrangement was by Barry McDonald. Dr. W.J. Julian noticed the crowd reaction to "Rocky Top" during a halftime show in 1972 in a game against Alabama.
With persuading from assistant band director and arranger Barry MacDonald, “Rocky Top” made it into the halftime show, a 50-second snippet tacked on to the end of a circle drill.
The crowd loved it. “It was up-tempo, fast and had a lot of energy,” Bill Connell (former P.O.T.S. Drum Major) said. “It was easy to manipulate if you had to change some counts a little bit with the drill. It just worked perfectly.”

Thanks. I remember several years ago you said that the version played by the band doesn’t completely match the words or something similar.

 

[feathersax]

Thanks. I remember several years ago you said that the version played by the band doesn’t completely match the words or something similar.

For a few years (2000's) the McDonald arrangement was changed, but today musical integrity is back, thanks to Director Dr. Michael Stewart.

 

[Volador]

They were still having to do the designs manually for a lot of shows when I marched in 2003, though they used software to print them rather than sketching by hand. The software would tell them two marchers could not pass so close to each other. Technically correct but we "made it work".

Amazing stuff. Just amazing to see the precise choreography of so many band members beat after beat after beat! Thanks for your loyalty and dedication to the Big Orange!

 

[Vol1976]

The original arrangement was by Barry McDonald. Dr. W.J. Julian noticed the crowd reaction to "Rocky Top" during a halftime show in 1972 in a game against Alabama.
With persuading from assistant band director and arranger Barry MacDonald, “Rocky Top” made it into the halftime show, a 50-second snippet tacked on to the end of a circle drill.
The crowd loved it. “It was up-tempo, fast and had a lot of energy,” Bill Connell (former P.O.T.S. Drum Major) said. “It was easy to manipulate if you had to change some counts a little bit with the drill. It just worked perfectly.”

I was there!

 

[HarderKnox59]

Did I hear a woo in there?

I was there. No Woo in 72.