SEMO Marching Band uniforms bring new look to old tradition

Anyone who went to a Redhawk's football game this season may have noticed the Marching Band got new uniforms.

Jim Daughters, director of bands at Southeast Missouri State University, said the previous uniforms were over 10 years old, made from wool and were falling apart.

"About 25 or 30 years ago, the band won a national award for the Best Dressed Band in the Land, I think is what it was called," Daughters said. "Getting 140 students fitted for the new uniforms was tricky, but we got through it and they look really sharp."

He said they tried to keep a traditional look in the new design and he was happy the material was changed from wool to something lightweight and machine washable.

This is Daughters's second year as band director, but the SEMO Marching Band has been an important part of the university's tradition since it was first formed in 1907. The band is the largest student organization on campus and a great recruiting tool for the university, so they need to look good as well as sound good, Daughters said.

Southeast Missouri State Marching Band members in their new uniforms.Courtesy of Alicia Stull

This past October, the Marching Band played in front of a packed stadium of high school students and their families for the River City Showcase, a marching band competition at Fort Zumwalt North High School in O'Fallon, Missouri.

Daughters said the band was invited by Zumwalt's band director, who is a SEMO alum, and they were able to pay for the trip by having the band students park cars during the SEMO District Fair.

"I wanted to get the students out of Cape on a trip," Daughters said. "When I was a student, looking back, I remember the trips I took with the band more than what I learned in class. They had a great time and did a great job representing SEMO."

Most students in the SEMO Marching Band are not music majors, and often, Daughters said, high school band students, regardless of whether they want to major in music, will pick a college based on its marching band as a way to be involved on campus. And involved they are, especial during football season.

"I don't know that anyone really has the full scope of what we do on game days," Daughters said. "We do the 'Red Hawk Walk' around the outside of the stadium where all the tailgaters are. We stop in front of the alumni building and sing the alma mater, then a pregame pep rally in the stadium, then we're in the stands playing our fight song, 'Onward to Victory', during the game and, of course, our halftime show."

The university will be hosting an Honor Band on campus Monday, Feb. 27. Daughters said this will be the second year SEMO is participating in this one-day event. He said high school band students come and put together a concert with only two long rehearsals.

"We had almost 600 students nominated for that last year but we can only take 200 because of the amount of space we have," Daughters said. "That's a big deal for us because, again, it's 200 potential future students from all around the region coming to campus."

Daughters said it's also a good opportunity for his music education students to learn leadership skills as they are put in charge of many aspects of the event.

"These are our future teachers and band directors, so it's really important to us that we place those students in leadership positions," Daughters said. "That's what they're going to be doing when they're teaching and band leading, so we want to get them that experience."

Along with his student leaders, Daughters said he needs every bit of help he gets from the rest of the SEMO Marching Band's staff.

"From our assistant director, Nick Kenney, who is over the pep band and show band, to Trudy Giasi, our Color Guard coordinator, to Shane Mizicko our percussion professor, we have just a phenomenal staff and really, really great students," Daughters said.