TU Marching Band Members Perform In College Football National Championship Virtual Halftime Show

Press release from Towson University:

By Rebecca Kirkman on January 11, 2021

Drum major Bradley Stansbury ’21 during a Towson University Marching Band performance
in October 2019. (Photo: Kanji Takeno)

Members of the Towson University Marching Band (TUMB) performed on the big screen at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami as Alabama and Ohio
State met for the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, Jan. 11
at 8 p.m.

The 2-minute virtual performance of Beyonce’s “End of Time” by the Intercollegiate Marching Band (IMB) featured more than 1,500 students from 200 university marching bands.

The video premiered during halftime at the stadium and on the IMB YouTube channel.

Organized by the College Band Directors National Association, the newly formed IMB
aims to bring together university marching bands across the country for virtual performances
since they have been forced to the sidelines due to the novel coronavirus.

TUMB director John Miliauskas nominated 10 TU seniors to participate, including drum
majors Bradley Stansbury ’21 and Emily Wose ’21.

“It was a really unique experience; I had never seen something like this at this scale
before,” says Stansbury, a biology major who joined TUMB his freshman year. “I was very honored to be asked to help
out with this. I’m glad we’ve been able to have any sort of opportunity when the world
has pretty much been shut down in every other aspect.”

Miliauskas and assistant director Taylor Yozwiak delivered band uniforms to students
to wear while they recorded their parts at home or from the Center for the Arts band
rehearsal space.

Emily Wose in fall 2019.

“Nine other TUMB students and I got the chance to learn the piece and put together
some choreography, and we even were able to meet up on campus for the first time in
months to create our video submissions,” says instrumental music education major Emily Wose, who played trumpet in the performance. “Musicians are constantly
trying to adapt and create music in new ways, and I learned a lot from preparing for
this experience that I will carry with me as I become a music educator.”

The experience offered seniors a memorable experience to cap a virtual season that
was very different from past years.

“Band has been a big part of their college experience, and they get to the pinnacle
of it, their senior year, when we typically have so many great senior activities and
we really send them off with a lot of appreciation, and they weren’t able to have
those things this year,” Miliauskas says. “My fingers are crossed that this can, in
some way, fill that void.”

“It’s been quite a different experience from what I had hoped,” Stansbury adds, “but
with the forethought that John Miliauskas put into the ensemble, as well as Taylor
Yozwiak, they gave us a really good experience and made the best out of really crummy
situation.”

This press release was produced by Towson University. The views expressed here are the author’s own.