Grayson and I drove up to Commerce yesterday for Homecoming at old ET. Day started with me getting lost in what used to be simply the parking lot outside the music building. Actually I wasn't lost - the music building was, pretty well buried behind the new sciece building and the new Sam Rayburn Memorial Student Center right behind it (which is phenomenal) with enough landscaping in the area to choke a horse (it looks really great). We went shopping at the bookstore for A&M-Commerce shirts for the boys (Jamie was coincidentally shopping in Waco for Baylor shirts at the same time), then went up and saw the parade getting started and went through the new alumni building (which is really neat). We then went through the old music building and then walked over to say my goodbyes to the old MSC, which is now a grass field next to the football stadium.
Met Gene Lockhart and Dr. Chris White, chair of the music department at the construction site for the new music building 
and got a tour of this monster. The picture above shows its location towering (literally) over the football stadium (which as you can see has artificial turf now - making it a tolerable practice field). You have to see it in context to realize that in addition to being a spectacular building for teaching music, it is going to be literally the crown jewel of the university - it is in what used to be the front yard adjacent to the highway and has the best views in campus across Gee Lake. It is the centerpiece of what is rapidly becoming a rebuilt university, which is already 1,500 students larger than when I was there, and is closing in on 10,000 students by next fall. When you see the music building (to say nothing of the new science building or student center) you'll see why. It is sort of what the Performing Arts Center was thirty years ago, except this building is high octane - the things it can do will blow your mind.
Got to see the band at the pep rally, in the stands, and at halftime (couldn't stay for postgame) and they are phenomenal. They wear new (last year, I'm told) blue and white uniforms with a tiny bit of shiny gold trim. The Homecoming show was probably truncated, but what I saw they sounded and marched very well. Up close what impresses you is the discipline - they are always watching the new director, who is constantly giving hand signals to indicate when to repeat, when to stop, when to bring up and put down horns, etc. Very disciplined, which is great to see. When I saw that, how well they sounded and marched didn't come as a surprise at all. Comparing them to the drum corps I saw this summer in Dallas is difficult because there wasn't a full show, but in terms of sounds and look, they were certainly comparable to the better ones. I also have to point out that they are more active supporting the team in the stands - much like larger college bands, and both in person in the president's box and on the radio I heard comments about how much they contribute to the team. I was specifically told how impressed the president's box occupants were at a recent game when the rain was pouring down and they could see it spraying off the drum heads as the drum line kept up the fight. Perhaps not coincidentally, I think the Lions came from behind to win. Yesterday they lost - barely - to the #7 ranked team in the nation.
All in all, a very enjoyable day, and I wish I could have stuck around for postgame, but had to get back to Marshall. But ran into Caressa and Tom Lynge (from my band days) and they assured me that the band still sings "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" after games, so the tradition is preserved.
And while I'm on the topic, the last time I went in the music building was during the tailgate party - and on the way out I heard a sound from the band hall - and when I went around the door to see what was going on, the whole band was in there about to be released to go form up to march over to the stadium. They then started singing the "Alma Mater" (which was my first clue they were going to be good - they sounded extraordinary just singing) and then were released, making that the last thing I heard from the band hall. Grayson then spoiled what was a really special moment for me with my memories of my time in the building by observing, as only a ten year old can, that that was my last pee in the building, and on that note we left.
It's ready for the dynamite now.
