Sorry folks !

The Singing Cadets of TAMU are not cadets.

Colonel director of FTAB is not a Regular or Reserve uniformed US Army or US Air Force Colonel.

The Fightin' Texas Aggie Band doesn't fight?

Next you'll be telling me that the Ross Volunteers don't volunteer. Or the fish drill team has no actual ichthyes.

Bop,

The singing cadets actually do have a few actual cadets. I personally am not a fan.

Wonder if it's less than five ?

That's a good estimate

Name Change Proposal:
The Texas A&M Glee Club (and a few cadets) ?

Is there not ah Hullabalooo A&M Basketball Pep Band (with a few FTAB members) ?


[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/13/2012 10:55a).]

How about A&M men's choir?

Men's Glee Club works for me. The name we used for those guys back in the day won't pass the PC police currently. LTC Adams wouldn't share 30 seconds of ANY drill with those boys. Not sure where the disdain came from but I do remember it.

Seriously, calling them 'cadets' is BS and not honest. They should change their name. Yesterday.

Lots of smart (alec) comments come to mind. But I'll be serious and wonder out loud how the 95% non-cadet membership feels about being called "cadets" ? I wonder what their audience thinks about a group of "singing cadets" in what appear to be Chinese Military uniforms?

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Texas A&M Singing Cadets by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/denisemattox/]niseag03[/url], on Flickr

Under the previous SQ director, at least they maintained some amount Bearing and dressed in a way suggestive of some sort of military affiliation.

Under the current director, the uniforms resemble hotel staff, and the bearing of the members is, well, I lack words to describe it.

I'd not be surprised if they no longer have to wander about with those goofy yellow 'pledge' paddles.

Just be somewhat thankful there is no TAMU military-like patch on their shoulder nor indicators of cadet rank.

Wonder if their is a weight/height standard for the "Singing Cadets" of TAMU.
(Fairly sure there are no PT requirements.)

Surely there's something better than a bell-hop uniform. Geeeeez ?

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what appear to be Chinese Military uniforms?

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Look at the singer on the front row, 2nd from right, behind the drum. Maybe he's the culprit of the uniform design!!!!!!!

Tuck in shirts or jacket, ah little starch, and crease in the pants legs would look ah little more militarily presentable.

We ARE talking about cadet uniform aren't we ?

(Gotta be worst lookin' Cadet Slouch uniform in the USA.)

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Colonel director of FTAB is not a Regular or Reserve uniformed US Army or US Air Force Colonel.

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If you're referring to the previous one, you'd actually be wrong. Col. Tolar WAS a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

Understood Tolar was a retired active duty USAF LTC and took the job after retirement as per a nationwide search of candidates. He was OK, better than Haney IMHO.

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better than Haney

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Strongly Disagree

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better than Haney IMHO.

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Joe Haney composed "Noble Men of Kyle". Hard to top that.

Surely there's a Regular or Reserve US military commissioned officer - band director - somewhere in the USA (nearing retirement) who is not necessarily hell-bent on personal compositions (yet longs to stick with the John Philip Sousa brand).

The FTAB is not a Hullabloo Band and needs not occasion to venture into new modern compositions whatever in name they may be cleverly called.

Drop chauvinistic "Noble Men of Kyle".

Stick with "them that brung us to the dance".

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/18/2012 11:23a).]

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Drop chauvinistic "Noble Men of Kyle".

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With that, you have now and forever more irrevocably disqualified yourself from making any more comments regarding the Aggie Band.

May God have mercy on your soul, rest and STFU.

Sorry, Noble Men of Kyle has become so rediculously redundant it's more than tiresome.

O.K., O.K., so FTAB buried John Philip Sousa a long time ago.

ACCEPTED. Modernism is in. Traditional martial music out. (Hullabloo repertoir making inroads at Kyle?) So be it !

Don't like an occasional Sousa ? French National Defile ain't bad.

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/18/2012 12:59p).]

Noble Men of Kyle predates me in the Aggie Band by 10 years. As you were NEVER an Aggie Bandsman, I again invite you to STFU.

O.K. but even in the best defense of FTAB self-aggrandisement, the Noble Men of Kyle (as far as martial music is concern) is (or was) not a best seller outside the precincts of C/S.

Dare it also be said, no other collegiate or military band in the U.S.A. plays it or...has it in their files.

And, yes it will remain enduring (only IN C/S) !

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/18/2012 2:19p).]

Reverting back to the Singing Cadets, they have a hump-it that they're pretty serious about...it's rather humorous to see.

The Humming Homos. Almost forgot about them. Represent the university well but isn't it time for a name change as well as getting out of the pjs and into something more business like. Singing cadets wearing uniforms is almost like TSG wearing...

Mahrooon blazers, starched white shirt (Loftin bow tie),starched khaki slacks w/crease, brown belt, brown shoes, white socks.

Call 'em, "The Reveille Glee Club" of Texas A&M.

Gotta get away from that Singing Cadets misnomer, like soon, like bad.

Haney showed up 2nd semester of my (_,_) year, with the explanation that he was going to understudy LTC Adams for a few years. After a few months Smilin' Jack decided to retire LTC Adams because he told him in no uncertain terms that non-regs weren't going to get to use his brand new bandhall that he waited so many years to get. Haney was a major let down to us, not much of a leader and had the misfortune to follow a legend. He really never had a chance with the '74 guys. Wet sock analogy comes to mind.

The first drill of my zip year, '73 Wichita St., ended with the HDM missing a whistle and screwing up the "T" - one of the top edges wound up 2 steps in front of the rest of the top rank, one slid back. Almost a fist fight when we got back to the sideline. Worst screw up in a drill of my 4 years. The next Mon at 1700 we met in the Band Hall and LTC Adams shows up to sorta 'calm' us down some. At that moment I knew/confirmed why that old man was such a tremendous leader. We got over it and moved on. Some things you remember; referred to that drill as the 'Winged T', not with good humor, though. I am familiar with the '74 SMU and '81 Rice meltdowns, too. Also under Haney's watch.

Haney foisted an early version of Noble Men of Kyle onto us, didn't have all the portions it has now and we pretty much thought it sucked. Seems like we used in the '73 Tech drill up in Lubbock but not much afterwards. Never really cared much for the tune, but I have my own biases and recognize same. Lots of tunes the FTAB plays that I like better. Just like lots of movements the FTAB does I like better than some of the stuff I see now.

We all have our experiences and what we felt was important. Haney was a nice gentleman but couldn't hold LTC Adams's jockstrap when it came to all things about the Texas Aggie Band. Just the way it was. If you weren't there, you don't/can't know.



[This message has been edited by WBBQ74 (edited 1/19/2012 6:58a).]

Of course noble men of Kyle will only be played by the FTAB, why would it be played by anyone else? Who cares what other military bands play, FTAB is not every other military band.

2nd talking crap about it revokes your privileges of saying anything about the band. It's a great song and you Bop are being way overly critical of everything of course and complaining about nothing.

Times change and things will change eventually. Get over it.

WBBQ74's comments are about as historically accurate as you'll get from first encounters with: "The Noble Men of Kyle".

They've simply driven it into the ground.

Sorry, but that's excessive evolution.