 "Photo: File photo")
It’s game day and fans are beginning to gather in the Jones AT&T Stadium. Amid the anticipation of another Texas Tech football game, the 400-member Tech marching band appears in both tunnels of the stadium after marching down Boston Avenue.
After the Tech drum line enters the field, excitement in the stadium begins to grow when the announcer calls out, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Texas Tech University School of Music presents the Goin’ Band from Raiderland.”
The band then is signaled to play the fanfare and takes the field. The level of excitement reaches another peak when the stadium erupts as the band runs onto the field to play “Fight, Raiders, Fight.”
This is called the Tech run-on and is the classic entrance and opening for every Tech home game.
Amanda Johnson, a Goin’ Band drum major and a senior music education major from San Antonio, described the feeling she receives as one of a kind.
“I never experienced anything like it in my life,” she said. “Even after the first time, the next time is the same way.”
The Tech run-on is just one of many traditions created by Dean Killion, director of bands for Tech from 1959 to 1981.
Killion’s most notable creation was in his first year as director when he named the Tech marching band the Goin’ Band from Raiderland.
The name stuck, and Saturday marks the last home game of the Goin’ Band’s 50th anniversary season.
Doyle Gammill, a Tech alumnus, played trombone in the Goin’ Band from 1957 to 1962. He said the marching program changed when Killion arrived.
Gammill said he remembered when Killion decided to start changing things; the band was going to march to the stadium and do a run-on to the field. Initially this concerned him, he said, because a run-on sounded more like physical education class than marching band, and he and his friends did not know what to do with the girls they usually brought along as dates to football games.
“(Killion) said, ‘We’re going to do something new next week. We’re going to march over to the stadium,’” Gammill said, “And we raised our hands and asked, ‘What about our dates?’”
With Killion, things changed quickly.
Gamble could tell things were improving. He said the crowd began reacting to the band. He witnessed the audience give the Goin’ Band a standing ovation after doing the now traditional Tech run-on.
Killion’s passion for music, determination and ability to act quickly are the reasons the community and students responded to the Goin’ Band, Gammill said.
“He was just a great guy, and you did it his way,” Gammill said. “You did it Killion’s way.”
Dick Tolley, professor of trumpet at Tech from 1959 to 1991, said he worked with the Goin’ Band every year and saw the band grow under Killion’s watch.
The Tech marching band began in 1925 along with the university and became the first college band to travel to an away game and have its performance broadcasted on the radio.
But it wasn’t until Killion and the landmark name, Tolley said, when the band began to grow in size and popularity.
“It was like a miracle,” Tolley said. “I think Dean had a dynamic personality. He attracted the people who wanted to do something.”
He said Killion was a great recruiter and the band grew from about 100 members in 1959 to more than 200 the following year in 1981, when it reached the average 400 members it maintains today.
Killion was a man of action and decisiveness with a great sense of humor, Tolley said, and students loved him and flocked to him. The Goin’ Band became well respected around the country and Killion’s reputation gained national notoriety as well.
“In passing on the Killion legacy, our new director seems to have watched videos of the band or something,” said the retired Tech professor. “He has taken the baton as in a race and is trying to keep the tradition alive and I really respect him.”
Christopher Anderson, associate director of bands, is the third director of the Goin’ Band since 1959, something he considers unusual because of the tendency for band professors to turn over more often.
Anderson said something that attracted him to the Tech marching program was, with an average membership of 400 students, it has one of the biggest — if not the biggest — marching bands in the nation. He attributes the size of the Goin’ Band to Killion, who he said poured all kinds of energy into the program while director.
“It didn’t develop as a normal band developed,” he said. “It’s like someone poured gasoline on a fire.”
The Goin’ Band has several traditions that make it unique when compared to other university marching bands, one of which he said is the practice of stereophonic sound originated by Killion. To create this stereophonic sound, the band is divided in half to form two marching bands of equal size and performs as mirror images of each other on the field.
Other traditions include the band’s uniforms that reflect Tech’s traditional Spanish style.
The band also incorporates performances in a mixture of two styles of marching: corps and traditional.
Something fairly new to the marching program is the presentation of the Big 12 School flags, which began in 2007. The presentation of the other university’s school flags is an attempt to push sportsmanship amidst what he said seems to be national battle against bad sportsmanship.
A trademark of the Goin’ Band is the variety of styles of music chosen to perform.
Anderson said the band is known to have taken requests from both students and football players on what music is played.
“I think our diversity is unique,” Anderson said. “I don’t think there’s a lot of bands that do a classical show, a patriotic show, and a music of Queen show in one season — and that’s what we did last year.”
Anderson said the Goin’ Band is able to perform such an array of styles is because of the fact the students are so talented.
Chris Riley, Goin’ Band drum major and a senior music education major from Abilene, said the marching band is an integral fabric to Tech and aid in making the university. Riley said Anderson tells the band is each of them has a foot and a half. Foot and half, in the band sense, is a phrase first used by Killion and is continued to be used to signify the membership and position in the band.
“It gives each person ownership,” Riley said. “Before it was mine it was someone else’s. That’s what put it into perspective for me.”
Bethany Tolley, the Tech twirling coach and a former feature twirler for the Goin’ Band, said she felt the responsibility to uphold the traditions of the Goin’ Band when she was in the marching band.
“I think everyone comes in knowing there’s big shoes to fill,” she said.
Since she has been in the band she said the style of marching has changed but most of the traditions are still around. Bethany Tolley is just one of many from her family who have been a part of the Goin’ Band; Her mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt and daughter have been involved with Tech’s marching band.
“To me, it has been one big family and for a lot of kids it’s their family away from home,” she said.
Sarah McKoin, director of bands and associate professor of music, said the band consists of about 75 percent non-music-related majors making it a great cross-section of students to be ambassadors for the university. The band has a strong history of leadership and tradition and receives support from the community.
“It’s a very well-respected marching band and they have such a unique relationship with the community that I’m proud of,” the director of bands said.
11 comments
As for the ZIT comment, this is about Goin' Band, not just one part of it. Yes it mentions twirlers, but not colorguard. Not sousas, trumpets, or any particular section. It is written to reflect what is Goin' Band and the history it has made.
no mention of ZIT.regards,
harvey neptune