Correction: This article misrepresented Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi's involvement and reasoning in the decision to cancel the performance of "Blurred Lines." The article has been changed from its original form.
It was going to be a rough week for the Marching 110.
“It’s going to hurt, it’s going to suck, but it’s going to be awesome,” shouted Kyle Likens, field commander of the Marching 110, pacing between rows of members standing like statues as they began their first practice of the week Tuesday.
There were four new songs to be learned before Saturday’s game against Austin Peay, with the new drill including “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke.
But by Friday, the Thicke tune was stricken from the band’s halftime show.
College of Fine Arts Dean Margaret Kennedy-Dygas, School of Music Director Christopher Hayes, Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi and Marching 110 Director Richard Suk met to discuss the controversial song before Saturday's performance.
Ultimately, it was removed from the halftime show.
“I wouldn’t say they gave me a choice,” Suk said. “I said I wanted to play it unless they said otherwise, and they said not to play it.”
With Monday’s practice gone because of a performance at the Cincinnati Bengals–Pittsburgh Steelers game, the band had the challenge of losing one day of practice on top of the weekly test of learning a new show.
The four new songs — “Safe and Sound” by Capital Cities, “Applause” by Lady Gaga, “Roar” by Katy Perry and “Blurred Lines” — were run through on Tuesday’s practice without drill and by Wednesday the band could march and play two of the four songs.
But the hard part was still to come, playing with music and learning the dance break that would be a part of “Blurred Lines.”
The band keeps up with the task of learning new music by using an application called SmartMusic, said Josh Boyer, graduate assistant for the 110.
SmartMusic allows the band staff to upload the music, which is downloaded by the students and can be heard as a digital file.
“If they utilize it correctly, they can just nail stuff right away,” Boyer said. “They know how it goes, which is a nice way to get ahead of the game a lot of times.”
And getting ahead is important, especially when Thursday rolls around, and the band has “Convo practice,” held at Peden, in addition to its usual evening rehearsal.
The “Convo practice” is when band members learn the big dance break that is part of the halftime show for Saturday; by Thursday, “Blurred Lines” was almost ready to go.
At the start of Friday’s practice, Suk told the band that they would play “The Fox” — which the band had debuted at the Marshall game the weekend before — instead of the Thicke song.
“Women and men alike have expressed concern about the climate on our campus in regards to sexism and sexual violence,” Lombardi wrote in an email to The Post. “I applaud the Marching 110 for continuing its long tradition of being a positive force on our campus by making this small but important gesture with their halftime show.”
It was vocal concerns such as those from Allie Erwin, a senior studying political science, which spurred Lombardi to discuss whether or not the song should be played. Erwin wrote a letter that was published in Friday’s edition of The Post expressing her concerns for the 110’s upcoming performance.
“The main reason that I sent in the letter was because the song is terrible,” Erwin said. “I really think having the Marching 110 play it is that it says ‘consent is a blurred line,’ and I don’t think it is a message the 110 should send to the university.”
Although Suk said he didn’t find the song “particularly offensive,” ultimately they were able to make an alternative show.
“We need to know all of our music that we’ve ever played,” said Tim Martin, a fifth-year snare drummer studying music education. “Especially in cases like this, that it’s no problem.”
With the addition of “The Fox,” and the refinement of the other songs, all that was left was a run-through rehearsal at 9 a.m. on game day. With practice wrapped by 10 a.m., band members then ironed their capes and pants and ate lunch made by parents.
By the end of it, Likens felt the band gave all it could, and, given the circumstances, the band reacted just as it is expected to: by “rolling with the punches.”
“I’m really proud of all my guys and girls in the band,” Likens said. “They really came together … and I’m just so proud of everyone for putting on a good show.”
Now, on to the next one.
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@drussell23
