Marching Mizzou is preparing a special halftime show for MU’s homecoming game against North Texas on Oct. 9 at 3 p.m., inspired by this year’s homecoming subtheme: video games.
According to the Director of Marching Mizzou Amy M. Knopps, the three-minute performance will feature arrangements of songs from iconic video games. Opening with the PAC-MAN theme, the performance will also include music from Tetris and Super Mario Bros.
“This [was] actually arranged by one of our former students [Ben Rouder of] Marching Mizzou who earned a degree in music composition [at the MU School of Music],” Knopps said. “He was someone I knew wanted to one day arrange for Marching Mizzou, so when we had this idea [for our show], we thought of him.”
The members of Marching Mizzou have already begun rehearsals, with their first practice held on Sept. 23. Meg Swords is a current fourth-year member of Marching Mizzou and the leader of the clarinet section. After not being able to perform on Faurot Field last year, Swords said that she is excited to return back for this year’s show and celebrate homecoming.
“On top of our halftime show, because that always gets a lot of attention and we really go all out for it, [I’m] just [excited for] all the other homecoming traditions Marching Mizzou is involved in,” Swords said.
As a longtime member of the band, Swords is familiar with its many homecoming traditions. The homecoming performance is always a big deal compared to other halftime shows, so the band’s preparations for this game have an added sense of importance. The performance will, however, be shorter than their typical halftime shows because of the time needed to recognize the homecoming royalty.
“It is a bit differently structured because of the homecoming festivities and the king and queen presenting,” Swords said.
Michael Alexander, a sophomore member of Marching Mizzou, expressed excitement for the upcoming performance as the band’s practice begins.
“It’s homecoming. It’s special. It’s tradition,” Alexander said.
Marching Mizzou has a full schedule throughout homecoming day. According to Knopps, it all starts with the homecoming parade in the morning, followed by a game day rehearsal. Then, as it gets closer to game time, the band will lead Tiger Walk, which is the football team’s arrival at Memorial Stadium. Fifty minutes before the game begins, the band will then do their own march to the stadium.
“We do our pregame performance [approximately] 20 minutes before kickoff,” Knopps said. “Then of course we’ll play during the game, play at halftime and then we do a postgame show in the stands.”
The band is also adding a few additional stand tunes that will appear in future football games after homecoming.
“We always like to be highly engaging and entertaining,” Knopps said. “We like to say we’re the soundtrack of our university, and we’re always happy to contribute to homecoming — one of the best traditions we have [at Mizzou].”
As homecoming is an event centered around alumni, Marching Mizzou is usually joined by former members in the stands.
“Often we’ll have our alumni band [perform] with us, but unfortunately not this year because of [the parameters surrounding] COVID-19,” Knopps said.
Although the current circumstances of the pandemic limit some of Marching Mizzou’s usual homecoming traditions, Knopps says fans should definitely anticipate the performance.
“You never know what’s up Marching Mizzou’s sleeve, so you’ve got to see what we do on the field,” Knopps said.
Edited by Elise Mulligan | emulligan@themaneater.com