Recorded Music at Lynah During Merrimack Games

What the heck was the deal with the recorded music played during stoppages and the intermissions tonight at Lynah? Who would have made the decision to go that route, and can we do something to make sure it never happens again?

On Friday night I was a little disappointed to hear recorded music for the national anthems, considering the pep band was represented, and it seemed to me they could have gotten the job done. But I figured perhaps the administration didn't know how many band members would show up, so to be safe had just made the decision to use recordings for the anthems. I could understand that.

In light of how good the few band members present sounded on Friday night, I actually expected that they'd be allowed to play the national anthems on Saturday night. I was disappointed that they weren't.

But my disappointment changed to shock, followed almost immediately by disgust when I realized I was hearing recorded music during stoppages. AT LYNAH RINK!

The travesty continued through the intermissions, perhaps reaching its peak of ridiculousness with "Sweet Caroline."

Whomever made the decision to subject us to this needs to learn a bit about Lynah tradition, and what tradition means to The Faithful.

andyw2100
What the heck was the deal with the recorded music played during stoppages and the intermissions tonight at Lynah? Who would have made the decision to go that route, and can we do something to make sure it never happens again?

On Friday night I was a little disappointed to hear recorded music for the national anthems, considering the pep band was represented, and it seemed to me they could have gotten the job done. But I figured perhaps the administration didn't know how many band members would show up, so to be safe had just made the decision to use recordings for the anthems. I could understand that.

In light of how good the few band members present sounded on Friday night, I actually expected that they'd be allowed to play the national anthems on Saturday night. I was disappointed that they weren't.

But my disappointment changed to shock, followed almost b by disgust when I realized I was hearing recorded music during stoppages. AT LYNAH RINK!

The travesty continued through the intermissions, perhaps reaching its peak of ridiculousness with "Sweet Caroline."

Whomever made the decision to subject us to this needs to learn a bit about Lynah tradition, and what tradition means to The Faithful.

+1

andyw2100
What the heck was the deal with the recorded music played during stoppages and the intermissions tonight at Lynah? Who would have made the decision to go that route, and can we do something to make sure it never happens again?

If you want to influence what happens in Lynah Rink during the games, stop bloviating on eLynah, and start talking to the people who actually make decisions about what happens. Talk to Anita Brenner. Talk to Matt Coats. Talk to Sue Detzer. And talk to the people who manage the band. Yeah, it's early January, and school isn't in session. But the hockey players seem to be able to figure out how to show up, why can't the band members?

From my point of view: I was told on Saturday that there wouldn't be a band, but a bunch of people showed up; they didn't seem to be too upset when I told them that arrangements had been made to play recorded versions of the anthems. I was told on Friday that the band would play the anthems, except they didn't. If the band wants to be the primary source of music at Lynah during men's hockey games, it has to make sure that a band actually shows up and does what it's supposed to do. A reliable source of recorded music makes more sense than an unreliable band.

ACM

andyw2100
What the heck was the deal with the recorded music played during stoppages and the intermissions tonight at Lynah? Who would have made the decision to go that route, and can we do something to make sure it never happens again?

If you want to influence what happens in Lynah Rink during the games, stop bloviating on eLynah, and start talking to the people who actually make decisions about what happens. Talk to Anita Brenner. Talk to Matt Coats. Talk to Sue Detzer.

I specifically asked who would have made the decision so that I (and perhaps others who feel similarly) may write to them. Of the people you mention, I only know Sue, and I can't imagine that she had much, if anything, to do with the decision. But I'll give her a call on Monday, and see where to go from there.

As for the issues with the band, I don't know much about band politics, etc. It sounds like on Friday night there may have been some confusion. I don't recall a long pause before the recording of the Canadian National Anthem started, so perhaps the band was getting ready to start when the recording started.

I give a lot of credit to the handful of pep band members that did show up, during break, and probably played their butts off. Considering how few of them there were, I thought they sounded really good.

ACM

andyw2100
What the heck was the deal with the recorded music played during stoppages and the intermissions tonight at Lynah? Who would have made the decision to go that route, and can we do something to make sure it never happens again?

If you want to influence what happens in Lynah Rink during the games, stop bloviating on eLynah, and start talking to the people who actually make decisions about what happens. Talk to Anita Brenner. Talk to Matt Coats. Talk to Sue Detzer. And talk to the people who manage the band. Yeah, it's early January, and school isn't in session. But the hockey players seem to be able to figure out how to show up, why can't the band members?

From my point of view: I was told on Saturday that there wouldn't be a band, but a bunch of people showed up; they didn't seem to be too upset when I told them that arrangements had been made to play recorded versions of the anthems. I was told on Friday that the band would play the anthems, except they didn't. If the band wants to be the primary source of music at Lynah during men's hockey games, it has to make sure that a band actually shows up and does what it's supposed to do. A reliable source of recorded music makes more sense than an unreliable band.

I think that's a little harsh. The hockey players show up because it's their job. The Pep Band plays because they love it, but generally it has nothing to do with their future. I'm sure most of them, like the student fans, were home with their families, and frankly I can't argue with that.

We have what I think is the best pep band in the ECAC. They travel to many road games, and would go to more if the university would allow it. So I was happy to see a few of them playing, and I agree they sounded good.

Finally, a tip of the hat to Age for performing Sat. night. Not bad for an "old cowbell".

seems like they wouldnt have been prepared to play music if they expected the band.. how hard would it have been to decide ahead of time so each knew what the plan was?

I knew I wasn't hearing things the last game then. I don't think I ever heard any music played at the rink outside of public skate sessions or (sometimes visiting) team warmups before games.

There were some IHS band kids there who wished their band had been asked to fill in. They'd been to enough games to even know some of the right tunes. That would've been an easy call to make for either someone at Lynah or with the CU band. That could have been fun and made a nice town/gown gesture.

Also + 1 for bringing the cowbell Saturday.

ACM
start talking to the people who actually make decisions about what happens. Talk to Anita Brenner. Talk to Matt Coats. Talk to Sue Detzer.

Thank you for providing the names. Despite being a fairly close follower of the team for all these years, I only know Sue.

Now we know who to talk to when we need someone to address these concerns.

We've had to have recordings for anthems a few times in the past -- I think that's understood. Recorded music as background noise, though, is exactly what Lynah does not need (and what is so lousy about the experience at many other college and all professionals venues). Now we know who to knee in the groin to stop that from taking root; so that's good.

SU has the baldwinsville band playing during its school break. I bet if you really tried you could get some kids from several schools to play by just having an open meeting/practice and some cheap tickets. it was only a 2 game swing to cover.. SU has had multiple games 5-6 during its break.

but the school has to care enough to think ahead. when has cornell ever done that

upprdeck
SU has the baldwinsville band playing during its school break. I bet if you really tried you could get some kids from several schools to play by just having an open meeting/practice and some cheap tickets. it was only a 2 game swing to cover.. SU has had multiple games 5-6 during its break.

but the school has to care enough to think ahead. when has cornell ever done that

Great idea! With so many Cornell students away, invite local high school bands, their moms and dads, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles, and all the ships at sea.

It might also, at some future date, keep a local player closer to home. (I'm looking at you Dustin Brown.)

Trotsky
Recorded music as background noise, though, is exactly what Lynah does not need (and what is so lousy about the experience at many other college and all professionals venues).

I went to a San Jose Barracudas (AHL) game last night and could barely hear myself think with the volume of the recorded music. The game was entertaining and reasonably cheap but I'm not sure I'd go again given all the pointless noise. Please let cornell hockey never turn into that.

(And yes, I am apparently getting old. But I would have said the same thing twenty years ago.)

KeithK

Trotsky
Recorded music as background noise, though, is exactly what Lynah does not need (and what is so lousy about the experience at many other college and all professionals venues).

I went to a San Jose Barracudas (AHL) game last night and could barely hear myself think with the volume of the recorded music. The game was entertaining and reasonably cheap but I'm not sure I'd go again given all the pointless noise. Please let cornell hockey never turn into that.

(And yes, I am apparently getting old. But I would have said the same thing twenty years ago.)

+1
In fact, I usually take ear plugs to non-Lynah rinks just in case they get crazy with the canned music. It's, in any way, entertaining to me and never has been.

I'm kind of old fashioned about enjoying conversation with friends at the rink. Loud canned music and/or ear plugs are not conducive to that.

FWIW this is not exactly a new issue. Without knowing anything about this past weekend other than what was written here, what happened makes total sense to me based on my experiences through '91 in pep or marching band.

ACM
If you want to influence what happens in Lynah Rink during the games, stop bloviating on eLynah, and start talking to the people who actually make decisions about what happens. Talk to Anita Brenner. Talk to Matt Coats. Talk to Sue Detzer. And talk to the people who manage the band. Yeah, it's early January, and school isn't in session. But the hockey players seem to be able to figure out how to show up, why can't the band members?

From my point of view: I was told on Saturday that there wouldn't be a band, but a bunch of people showed up; they didn't seem to be too upset when I told them that arrangements had been made to play recorded versions of the anthems. I was told on Friday that the band would play the anthems, except they didn't. If the band wants to be the primary source of music at Lynah during men's hockey games, it has to make sure that a band actually shows up and does what it's supposed to do. A reliable source of recorded music makes more sense than an unreliable band.

ACM's post highlights what is ultimately the simple issues of expectations, commitment, and communication.

As Jim pointed out, it's the hockey team's job to show up to every game, whether in or out of semester. However, for the pep band (and this would apply to the marching band as well) that's definitely not the case; there is no expectation or commitment to do so. When you look at the relationship between the athletic department and any of the bands there are a completely different set of expectations. For example, it's almost always going to be an expectation that the pep band shows up at all non-break home hockey games and do what's expected for those occasions and that the marching band do the same for football. That's just the basic agreement.

When it comes to games over any break, though, it's a different story. The Athletics expectation is that the band will NOT be there. I'm sure they'd be thrilled if the pep band committed to having a full compliment for all games over breaks, but that ask has never been made and wouldn't even be worth discussing unless athletics ponied up the funds to cover travel, lodging, food etc for the band to get there. Obviously that isn't going to happen.

• To my memory, there was one exception for a football game at Penn on Thanksgiving day around 89/90?, for the 150th tilt between the two teams that they got (or bought) ESPN time for. Athletics ponied up the money, the marching band agreed to go and it was a voluntary thing to do for the individuals. I'd say maybe we marched 150+ instead of 220+, roughly that day. Athletics made it clear that they really wanted us there...and a ton of people were excited to go so it worked out. Had 75% of that group said hell no I don't know what would have happened.

This Merrimack series sounds typical of past experience. While a bunch of band members showed up, it's incredibly likely that they just showed up and it wasn't pre-arranged and communicated with Athletics. I'm assuming this because that's the way it usually went down all the times that I got back to Ithaca to see winter break games. *If* there were enough of us that showed up impromptu, musical issues usually sorted fairly easily by someone there talking to someone from athletics on the spot.

From ACM's post, it sounds like that's exactly what happened, though probably with some garbled communication tossed in. If the band represented those nights to Athletics that they would do X, then they should do it. On Friday either ACM was mis-informed or the band didn't have it's act together. I don't know which, but this sort of thing happens with the impromptu. I'm making assumptions again, but of course this confusion is avoided if the pep-bandies who decide to show up in January tell the pep band manager who then can "officially" chat with Athletics about it and everyone can have clear expectations. Not to mention a clear head from hearing that much less piped-in crap that the old-timer in me doesn't ever want to hear in a college hockey rink.

For those that wanted to write/call Athletics about your feelings over the weekend, you should. It will be interesting to hear the response - especially as it will depend on what you are asking for.



****** Bonus story as proof by example, plus it lets me toss off a gratuitous shot at Andy; likely tl;dr for many****

On a quasi-related note, some readers might find this winter break pep-band v athletics story interesting. What happens when athletics wants to sell tickets and could give a **** about supporting the men's basketball team...and some pep bandies just show up at a game over winter break?

On January 3, 1991 we had a home men's hoop game against then #7 ranked North Carolina. Dean Smith had some policy of promising his players at least one game near their hometown during their career. In this case, King Rice was from Binghamton originally and this game was for him. There was never any doubt that this game would be a sellout and athletics didn't ask us if we could get a band together to give some team support and atmosphere.

However, the infamous Jeff Weintraub was not to be deterred and adamant that we show some support. He and I were going to be a two man/two trumpet pep band. Knowing that attendance would be an issue, we did talk to the pep-band manager and had him tell athletics that we were coming. Naively we thought this covered it.

Day of the game comes, I had driven 6 hours to get there, Jeff probably 4+ and we arrive at a jam-packed gym. Since they knew we were coming, we just start walking into the gym by pointing to our instruments as we had for any other basketball game we'd played in the pep band; the people working the door don't let us in since we don't have tickets to show. OK, we walk over to will-call figuring that we must be on some list since Athletics had been informed that the two of us were coming. Nope, nothing at will-call, no list anywhere.

(At this point I'll have the gist of the story correct. Admittedly I might be off on a few details just from foggy memory). We talked with a LOT of people from the athletic department and ticket office trying to get into that game. Not only were they supposed to have known, but many of them knew me, and the vast majority knew Jeff. We weren't trying to sneak in without paying, we were trying to support the program at a time of year where maybe there were 50 students in the building? Sadly, even in the face of that appeal, they had no interest whatsoever in having a little team support. Pretty sure we talked to Andy himself at that moment as well. He and a whole bunch of people were just all about the tickets and that "sold-out" was "sold-out". (Despite the fact that we were perfectly happy to stand to the side of the bleachers, for example, and didn't need seats.)

I wish I remember who finally got some sense in their head and got clearance for us to go in, but I don't. (Kevin Rugg, were you at the game?) Since the gym ended up being full of people from Binghamton there to support UNC, with even precious few staff/townies present, this was an away game in our own building. I have no doubt that hearing a few familiar cheers played over and over made a difference to the team at least though I'm sure it was not reflected in the score, a 108-64 blowout that probably could have been worse.

In case you're wondering the point of that story...it really does relate to the thread: As always, athletics will do what they want to do. And communication matters.

If they want/need a band for hockey over break, they can figure out how to make it happen. Over breaks they could get that done in many ways, even by grabbing a makeshift one from IHS as has been done on occasion. If for some very strange reason (read $$$$) they don't want one at a home event, or don't want to send one to an away event they won't.

When you are somewhere in-between those situations like with Merrimack or that hoop story, it's just as simple as clear cut communication in both directions and people doing what they agreed to do.

And life-lesson learned by me that day at the basketball game. Just because you think you've gotten proper channels to talk and coordinate, make sure you are 100% clear about the response or get it in writing.

Eek- I took a while to write that as 5 responses came in.

Never an excuse to have no band at all at Lynah. There are many high-schools that would be happy to fill-in in teh future (or have in the past) as others have mentioned. Or you do a mix-n-match: I used to help fill-in at UVM home hockey games when I was home in VT over a break. They would have a band made up of regular UVM pep-band players who were in town except they'd reach out into the local music community and get people to sub-in who didn't suck so it would still sound almost like the regular band, and not a high-school one.

It's easy to save Lynah from the electronic stuff and at the same time garner some good-will in the community with those sorts of invitations.

I was kind-of bummed to have no cowbell on Friday, so I too want to thank Age for his cowbell solo.

KeithK

Trotsky
Recorded music as background noise, though, is exactly what Lynah does not need (and what is so lousy about the experience at many other college and all professionals venues).

I went to a San Jose Barracudas (AHL) game last night and could barely hear myself think with the volume of the recorded music. The game was entertaining and reasonably cheap but I'm not sure I'd go again given all the pointless noise. Please let cornell hockey never turn into that.

(And yes, I am apparently getting old. But I would have said the same thing twenty years ago.)

Sounds like the Achilles heel of the ECAC.

We'll be there Saturday - my wife with ear protection - and I'll be worrying about losing my cool listening to the dreck over their "improved" sound system. Lynah will never sink to that level.

marty

KeithK

Trotsky
Recorded music as background noise, though, is exactly what Lynah does not need (and what is so lousy about the experience at many other college and all professionals venues).

I went to a San Jose Barracudas (AHL) game last night and could barely hear myself think with the volume of the recorded music. The game was entertaining and reasonably cheap but I'm not sure I'd go again given all the pointless noise. Please let cornell hockey never turn into that.

(And yes, I am apparently getting old. But I would have said the same thing twenty years ago.)

Sounds like the Achilles heel of the ECAC.

We'll be there Saturday - my wife with ear protection - and I'll be worrying about losing my cool listening to the dreck over their "improved" sound system. Lynah will never sink to that level.

Further evidence that I'm getting old: I don't remember the noise from my couple of trips to Achilles back in the day. So either I've forgotten or it didn't bother me as much. Then again, I was probably busy screaming my head off at those games, something I don't do at a random minor league game.

The only noise there's been when I've been at Achilles is the hundred or so feral redneck offspring that run around loose while their parents get lit in the restrooms.

I can't add too much more from a bandie's perspective than Mr. Marks's post. Through my days in the band, there were always "who can make it back" e-mails from band managers for the games over break, and I always assumed there was communication well in advance if we had enough in numbers, due to ticket distribution and planning. We always were able to cobble together 10-20 at least, and my one and only experience conducting was for a mid-break game. I'm pretty sure I came back as an alumnus to sit-in when needed. To address another suggestion, we always made fun of schools that would bring in local high school talent like UVM and Harvard, mainly because we didn't have that problem.

Here's my question: Why do we even need any canned music at all, even in the extremely rare event of a missing band? I'm proud that up until now, Lynah has NOT resorted to playing Jock Jamz. And it pleases me greatly that the participants here feel the same way. A HUGE irritant for me these days at other ECAC arenas is the insistence that even with TWO BANDS in the building there still needs to be a DJ with "YALL READY FOR THIS" and "Katie Perry's greatest pop tunes" booming to have a turn. There are two bands. Let them play.

I remember canned music being used for Women's games in the era where Cornell didn't have a good team and had very low attendance. The band did play for some, but not all the Women's games.

I wanted to add some points on band leadership:

A. The new pep band manager's term begins on New Year's Day. From the attendance lists sent out to the band's listserv, she was not at the games. In such instances, the former pep band manager would be "in charge" at the games (he was there). In my opinion, it should be job of a manager, past or present, to inform athletics/Arthur that the band will be there and if we plan to do anything out of the ordinary. (Example: As manager, I coordinated with Arthur via e-mail that the band would play the German national anthem as Krueger did his senior lap).
B. The pep band conductors' term begins at the beginning of each semester. From the attendance lists sent out to the band's listserv, no current or former conductor was at the game. The job of the conductor during the game is to go according to schedule the Arthur hands them when the band gets there . This hand-off gives the conductor the opportunity to tell Arthur that the band would NOT play the anthems.


I see two potential areas for problems:
1. The conductor had no Lynah-conducting experience and most likely had never conducted the band in public. There's a lot of things to keep track of and it's very easy for anyone to get frazzled and make mistakes (i.e. not playing an anthem). This is why I always thought fall conductors had it easier: instead of being thrown into Lynah for your first handful of events, you start off with less stressful events like sprint football and field hockey.
2. Potential failure to communicate between the former and current manager, the conductor, and athletics/Arthur. This is part of the headache with games over break plus a change in leadership.

Another thing to keep in mind: the band has a short memory because there's complete turnover every four years. It's tempting to say: "Why don't you handle games over break the way you did last time?" The reason is that the last time the band at Lynah this early in the year was against Niagara in 2008 and 2009.

Additionally, if you have any comments you would like to address to band leadership, you can find their e-mail addresses here: [pepband.bigredbands.org]

KGR11
B. The pep band conductors' term begins at the beginning of each semester. From the attendance lists sent out to the band's listserv, no current or former conductor was at the game. The job of the conductor during the game is to go according to schedule the Arthur hands them when the band gets there . This hand-off gives the conductor the opportunity to tell Arthur that the band would NOT play the anthems.

There's a schedule? "What a difference in this generation!"

"Back in my day," I just relied on my years of experience (as a townie) with ACM's habitual announcing rhythms…

(My only critique of current practice? Start cheers more quickly, allowing less dead space and clueing ACM in on when you intend to play and when you intend to stay silent; i.e., if you're going to play a cheer, be decisive and do it—don't dick around, as is the current habit.)

(Oh, I lied about having only one critique. My others? (1) Play cheers more frequently, particularly on the road. (2) TUNE! (3) Don't play up the octave if you can't… trumpets.)

Scersk '97
"What a difference in this generation!"

Now that takes me back.

Scersk '97

KGR11
B. The pep band conductors' term begins at the beginning of each semester. From the attendance lists sent out to the band's listserv, no current or former conductor was at the game. The job of the conductor during the game is to go according to schedule the Arthur hands them when the band gets there . This hand-off gives the conductor the opportunity to tell Arthur that the band would NOT play the anthems.

There's a schedule? "What a difference in this generation!"

"Back in my day," I just relied on my years of experience (as a townie) with ACM's habitual announcing rhythms…

(My only critique of current practice? Start cheers more quickly, allowing less dead space and clueing ACM in on when you intend to play and when you intend to stay silent; i.e., if you're going to play a cheer, be decisive and do it—don't dick around, as is the current habit.)

(Oh, I lied about having only one critique. My others? (1) Play cheers more frequently, particularly on the road. (2) TUNE! (3) Don't play up the octave if you can't… trumpets.)

Yeah, experienced conductors didn't really need it. It did help for unusual games, such as when ACM needed to announce the teddy bear toss or senior night.

For cheer quickness, I was a big fan of counting off a cheer during a delayed icing. "One, Two, Three" <whistle> "Four". Man we could play a lot during those stoppages.

KGR11

Another thing to keep in mind: the band has a short memory because there's complete turnover every four years. It's tempting to say: "Why don't you handle games over break the way you did last time?" The reason is that the last time the band at Lynah this early in the year was against Niagara in 2008 and 2009.

write a protocol! later bands can amend it as they see fit - they can do this every year! - but someone should take the time to get make the institutional memory more than just word of mouth.

ugarte

KGR11

Another thing to keep in mind: the band has a short memory because there's complete turnover every four years. It's tempting to say: "Why don't you handle games over break the way you did last time?" The reason is that the last time the band at Lynah this early in the year was against Niagara in 2008 and 2009.

write a protocol! later bands can amend it as they see fit - they can do this every year! - but someone should take the time to get make the institutional memory more than just word of mouth.

Bonus points if you put the title "CCT Pep Band Playlist" on the top.

Just to follow up on this, I did call and speak to Sue on Monday. I did wind up sending an email message to Anita Brenner and Matt Coats. I heard back from Matt very quickly, and my take on it is that he will take my opinion into consideration when making decisions about this kind of thing in the future.

That being said, I expect there is only so much consideration he should give to just one person's opinion. If some of you feel similarly to the way I do, it would probably be helpful if you let Matt (or Matt and Anita) know. You can find contact information for both of them here:

[www.cornell.edu]

If you agree that Lynah is not the place for recorded music, but don't take a few minutes to send a quick email message or make a quick call, the next time you hear "Sweet Caroline" blasting over the PA system at Lynah it really will be ALL YOUR FAULT! (Okay, maybe not all, but you get the idea.)

Seriously--please let Matt and Anita know how you feel. I really think doing so may make a difference.

Thanks!