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“Being in the band was more than just playing music,” says Ryan Redding, a former member of the trombone section of Bethune Cookman Marching Wildcats, known as The PRIDE from 2008 to 2013.
“You join a lineage when you join an HBCU band of so many black musicians,” says Larry Jenkins, a member of Tennessee State University’s Aristocrat of Bands.
Members of the Jackson State Tigers Prancing J-Settes dance team perform with the Sonic Boom of the South marching band at halftime of the team’s game against the UNLV Rebels at Sam Boyd Stadium on September 1, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Members of the Jackson State Tigers Sonic Boom of the South marching band get ready to perform at halftime of the team’s game against the UNLV Rebels at Sam Boyd Stadium on September 1, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
When I do speaking engagements or I’m speaking to some of my fellow bandmates or colleagues, I talk about, how I never knew how beautiful my Black was until I was a member of the Kentucky State University band.
