COLUMBIA, S.C. — A huge part of gameday at Williams Brice Stadium is the halftime show from the "Mighty Sound of the Southeast."
The Carolina Band has been hard at work getting ready for the football season, but this year, they're also preparing for a special event in the Big Apple: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"Very short time, very big impact that we’re going to make in that time," Carolina Band Drum Major Maggie Boyd said.
With a performance time of one minute and 15 seconds, the Carolina Band is one of just 10 bands, only four of which are collegiate bands, selected to perform in the fall out of more than 100 applicants.
This talented ensemble is back at work, and this year, they're preparing for a little over a minute more of music that's especially important this November.
"We've been preparing for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since last September, so it's been a good year of deliberate, slow-moving planning, and now here we are in the fall. We've got a few months left until we're hitting the streets of New York. So we've been putting together music, we've been putting together our show for Harold Square," Carolina Band Director Jay Jacobs said.
The focus has been on the band's normal schedule and Macy's for the last four weeks. Jacobs said he's most excited for the students.
"The greatest joy I get is watching the students, and what they experience, and their joy of being able to perform at Williams Brice or in New York City," Jacobs said.
Band members said they were shocked when they learned about Macy's last fall.
"I kind of froze for a second whenever he said it because I was like, wait, what do you mean? We've never done that before. What are you talking about?" clarinet section leader Nia Misprize said. "But after a minute of processing it, everyone started screaming and freaking out because we were just in such disbelief that we're actually going to be going."
Now, band members said the excitement is building.
"We've set up our Macy's block a couple times just to get a general idea of it. We won't get into the nitty gritty of that until we get into football bi-weeks," Carolina Band Drum Major Brayden Russell said. "That way, we can have two whole weeks to focus on preparing for Macy's."
The band said getting the timing down in New York City might be challenging, but they're ready to be adaptable and nail the performance.
"Macy's was the reason that I decided to stay for a whole extra season on the Coquettes because I'm in grad school now," Coquettes Section Leader Logan Acker said. "And Macy's just made me really want to stick it out one more year so I could have this experience, and I'm so excited and grateful."
The band now has a fundraising site to raise $645,000 for the trip to New York City on November 28, 2024.