The Ohio State University Marching Band has made headlines recently with some of its performances, most notably its routine that paid tribute to Michael Jackson and featured an on-field display of the king of pop’s moonwalking.
This weekend, the band went in a more patriotic direction, with its amazing marching rendition of the Gettysburg Address – this after a week that marked the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech.
The performance has everything – marching soldiers, horses, a stunning display of the Lincoln Memorial, and even the firing of a cannon, mixed in with some more somber moments. It all builds up to a moving conclusion (which I won’t spoil for you here), as the crowd erupts in applause and cheers.
h/t KVUE News
(Featured image credit: OSU YouTube video)
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I’ve got family who went to OSU and they’re often too intense about it…but that sure is the “Best Damn Band in the Land.” Amazing.
There is a reason they are referred to as “TBDBITL” aka The Best Damn Band In The Land!!! All brass, no flutes, no woodwinds, no other wussy instruments! All brass & percussion!
Signed, A proud Buckeye graduate!!! Go Bucks!
Hey, careful there – I’m a flutist; was a music ed/performance major in college, flute was my performance major and I still play. It’s ok though, I also played lead snare in marching band 😉
“Why OBOZO Blew Off Attending Gettysburg”
Lincoln himself said it best: “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”
MicahStone, to you a big fat, but not wet, MWUH,
I’m glad they’re beginning to bring back “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” It has been repressed because of PC for too d@mn long. Makes the hair on the back of my neck rise – one of the most powerful songs ever written.
I do prefer to hear the Army chorus sing the original words: “As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,” (as opposed to ‘live to make’). After all, it is a “Battle Hymn.” YouTube has the Army chorus singing for Pope Benedict. George Bush… “Miss me yet?”
Okay, one of those people who used to make ASCII animations is now choreographining OSU. But seriously, very stirring and I don’t hate that it probably made the Usual Suspects cringe…
It seems obvious that it was designed with computers, but how to they practice on the field?
they definitely have to have a tower or a scissor lift to check how it looks, but you don’t get to march in college unless you can move “in space” like that …
Thanks for the eye candy, Wm. great stuff!
TBDBITL – GO BUCKS!
Wow! I sure wish half-time shows would be televised instead of the 50 million commercials and the blah, blah blah of insipid announcers.
It is an amazing thing to see how the passions of the Civil War were so grandly expressed in the songs of the time and that those passions can still be evoked 150 years later. We can argue about the causes for the Civil War (wars almost always boil down to politics and economics) but the overlying passion in Lincoln was keeping the country united as expressed in the Constitution. The Battle Hymn of the Republic evokes that passion.
Elvis has a fabulous rendition of patriotic songs that focuses principally on the Battle Hymn. It rocks me every time I hear it.
Upon review, the Army version is very good, but the Marine Corps version is stronger (heh, heh – I never miss a chance to keep the inter-service rivalry going).
I’d forgotten the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version, which I highly recommend. The interplay of men and women and their usual fabulous voice ranges brings a depth to the song that is thrilling. Having been a Catholic school choir boy, I still get envious of the MTC. They are good.