Pride Parents' Day. Pride Parents' Day will take place on September 15 when the Sooners take on Utah State. Parents' Day is an opportunity for all Pride member's parents to take part in a gameday experience with their son or daughter. A schedule and order forms were mailed to the home address we have on file on Thursday, August 16. You may also download the information in PDF format if you did not receive the mailing. Please note that these items are very time sensitive so complete them today! We would like everyone to be able to participate! We look forward to seeing you on the 15th. Boomer Sooner!
Concert Ensemble Auditions Update. The audition schedule for concert ensemble auditions has been finalized and is available for you to view. Students interested in auditioning should sign up for an audition slot on the bulletin board between the band and orchestra rooms prior to auditions next week. Audition Materials for positions in the Wind Symphony, Symphony Band and Orchestra are still available for download. Please contact the band office if you have difficulty downloading the material.
Concert Ensemble Auditions. Audition Materials for positions in the Wind Symphony, Symphony Band and Orchestra are now posted. Follow the link to your instrument to print the .pdf file, which includes audition music and a newsletter with audition and calendar information. The files are approximately 9 MB in size so if you are downloading from a dial-up connection, please be advised that it will take a little while. Auditions are scheduled the first week of classes between August 20-22. Please contact the band office if you have difficulty downloading the material.
2007 Pride of Oklahoma Auditions. Auditions for the 2007 Pride of Oklahoma will begin Monday, August 13 for all members. Audition music is now available on our secure website. In order to access the secure website, prospective members must either be enrolled in marching band (MUTE 1130, sec 900) or - if enrollment is not yet possible - must provide the band office with their 4x4 (we do not need the account password). Upon login, prospective students will fill out an information profile and once the profile is completed and saved, the student will be able to access the audition files. If there is any trouble with the login, please contact the band office and we will return your email as soon as possible. Boomer Sooner!
University of Oklahoma Honors Wind Ensemble and Choir Camp. The University of Oklahoma Honors Wind Ensemble and Choir Camp brings honors music students to the beautiful university setting for professional development with faculty, conductors, and artist teachers. The groups are comprised of outstanding students from Oklahoma and Texas, grades 9-12, who achieve excellence through membership in all-state, all-area, all-region honor groups, or receive superior ratings at solo and ensemble contest. Participants may also be nominated by their director or applied teacher. Students rehearse, attend master classes/sectional rehearsals with University faculty and perform a final concert at Paul F. Sharp Hall in Catlett Music Center on the University of Oklahoma campus. For additional information, please visit our Honors Wind Ensemble and Choir website.
Wind Symphony selected to perform at regional conference. The Wind Symphony has been selected to perform for the 2008 College Band Directors National Association Southwestern Division Conference at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music on Thursday, February 28, at 8:00 p.m. CBDNA is comprised of college band conductors who focus on the advancement of bands through performance, teaching, and scholarly activity. National and regional conferences present the latest ideas and literature for the medium and are held in alternating years at selected sites. The University of Oklahoma hosted the regional conference in 1990 and 2000.
An Evening of Winds and Percussion. Monday, April 23 at 8:00 p.m., the Symphony Band and Concert Band will present their final concerts for this academic year. The Concert Band will perform Golden Point Overture, As Summer Was Just Beginning, Visions of Flight, and Invercargill. Armenian Dances (Part I), Down a Country Lane, Igor Fantasy, and Symphony in B-flat will be performed by the Symphony Band. Admission to the concert is free. Get a printer-friendly poster here. We hope to see you on the 23rd!
Our beloved Sooners are now 0-4 in their last four BCS bowl games, including two national championship games and two consecutive Tostitos Fiesta Bowl appearances. All hail to the Mountaineers, who overcame significant turmoil to play a fantastic game. Plus, a 11-3 season is nothing to sneeze at, nor is OU's second consecutive conference championship (#41 in an ongoing series).
We've got a few videos from KOKH-TV (Fox 25 in Oklahoma City) and from the national FOX Broadcasting's coverage of the BCS and the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. First up, from KOKH news reporter Jaime Cerreta—an Arizona State University alumna, who's very familiary with the Fiesta Bowl and its festivities—a segment on The Pride's two-time world champion feature twirler, Meredith Sigler:
Next up is a live interview Jaime Cerreta conducted from the field at University of Phoenix Stadium with Brian Britt (not only one of us but, of course, director of The Pride of Oklahoma) at approximately 6:11 PM CST, or just about 70 minutes before kickoff, when The Pride entered the stadium:
Of course, what we really want to see is The Pride on the field, and FOX's BCS coverage in high definition obliged at both pregame and halftime! And if you can't have John McCormick, George Ryan, or Jeremy Gossett doing the honors on television, who better could you imagine to introduce The Pride of Oklahoma than legendary Sooners coach Barry Switzer?
And finally, nearly two full minutes of the halftime performance itself, featuring Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Wind and the Lion, and Michael Jackson's Thriller. FOX's timing did not include the Thriller dance, to everyone's great disappointment, but what did make the air looked pretty darned good:
The armchair coaches will have plenty to chew over until Pride auditions start in August, but there was no question to anyone watching the broadcast that The Pride was there for all sixty minutes of that game. Long after the TV shots made it clear that most Sooner fans had left the building, the young men and women in the new red uniforms finished strong, never giving up, never flagging.
We're proud to have had them carry on our tradition in this just-completed Oklahoma Centennial Season, one in which band members traveled over 10,000 miles supporting the Sooners and representing our state. Thanks, 2007 Pride of Oklahoma—and for those who have completed your time on the practice field, welcome to our ranks.
