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The Arts

Making the Band

Marching to the beat of a brand new drum

by Elizabeth Klipp | Photography by Meg Buscema

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Chester Phillips, Director of Athletic Bands, cues the musicians

Just like head football coach Bill Curry, Chester Phillips, GSU's director of athletic bands, is building a new tradition from the ground up.

For the past year, Phillips has been hard at work orchestrating the new Georgia State Marching Band. His job has included everything from designing uniforms to auditioning students to writing marching drills.

"It hasn't been easy," Phillips said. "It's a very exciting opportunity, but it's a big responsibility to get it right."

On Sept. 2, minutes before the football team storms the Georgia Dome turf, the 150-member band will step off for the first time. The corps-style band will be decked out in sleek new uniforms displaying the GSU flame and sporting brand new instruments.

After taking the field in a "creative and distinctive way" (which Phillips wants to keep a surprise), the band will do a pre-game show incorporating the National Anthem, the university's Alma Mater and a new GSU Fight Song. The band will then take their seats in the student section and keep the Panthers and the fans pumped by playing throughout the game.

"We know we're the largest and most visible spirit group at any game," said Phillips, who will also direct the band. "So we take it upon ourselves to develop the cheers and to play the right tunes at the right time to really cheer on our team."

For their first halftime show, the ensemble will pull from several options, including a medley that's inspired by the university's mascot, the Panther. It will open with the Guns N' Roses rock anthem, "Welcome to the Jungle," followed by "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & The Gang and "Jungle Love" by the Steve Miller Band.

"We're trying to fit multiple mediums and decades," Phillips said. "Hopefully, it will reach a wide variety of people who will know it and like it."

Students auditioned for the band this spring and learned their musical parts this summer.

Jonathan Grogan, a music education major who is one of the band's four drum majors, said there's a lot to learn.

"It's cool," he said, "because we're establishing the traditions for the future. We're creating something that could be used 20 years from now."

What's in a Band?

Chester Phillips, director of athletic bands, says the GSU Marching Band will blend the traditional aspects of a marching band with unique twists that "fit the atmosphere of the metropolitan campus."

One significant difference is that GSU's front ensemble will feature a five-member rock band with a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, electric bass, synthesizer and drum set rather than a traditional set of xylophones, wood blocks, timpani or other orchestral percussion.

The rest of the GSU Marching Band will consist of 30 young women who will twirl flags as the color guard, a GSU drum line with 24 percussionist, and six piccolos, 12 clarinets, 18 saxophones, 20 trumpets, 10 mellophones, eight trombones, eight baritones and eight sousaphones.

Students from Kennesaw State University, Georgia Perimeter College and Clayton State University will march in the GSU band because their schools do not offer marching band programs. Similarly, GSU students who had been marching with the Georgia Tech band are returning home for the inaugural season of the GSU Marching Band.

As director, Phillips draws from his experience as a former member and soloist with the University of Georgia Redcoats and the Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps of Bergen County, N.J. He also has taught bands and orchestra in public schools.

"We want to make great music and be visually stunning on the field," he said. "If we can do those two things from a performance standpoint, we'll be very successful."