MV for a Day – VT vs. BC

It was an electrifying night in Lane Stadium this past Saturday as the Hokies took on Boston College in our first home game of the season! Coming off of a rocky start to the football season, the Hokies, backed by the Marching Virginians and every Hokie fan, cheered out team on to a 27-10 victory!

Though the game was exciting, the Marching Virginians had an even more exciting day – it was MV for a Day! We had over 500 high school students join us on Worsham Field from 10 states and over 70 schools to perform one of our show tunes,We Don’t Talk About Bruno, and a game-day classic, The Hokie Pokie.

1st Quarter

The Hokies take the field! (Source: HokieSports)

From the moment the Marching Virginians entered Lane Stadium, the excitement of game day became infectious! Many of the upperclassmen were refreshed to be back to jumping in Lane Stadium with 330 of their best friends! Once the game started, the Marching Virginians had no time to rest — not even a minute into the quarter, #9 Armani Chatman intercepts a pass and runs it straight to the 10 yard line! The crowd became deafeningly loud as all of our hopes for an exciting season were coming to realization. The score was BC 0 – VT 10 at the end of the first quarter.

2nd Quarter

#4 Conner Blumrick avoiding a tackle (Source: HokieSports)

Just one minute into the second quarter, #23 Keshawn King ran a 65-yard touchdown that got every Hokie on their feet! The Marching Virginians were ecstatic to see our team do so well under our new head coach, Brent Pry. For the remainder of the quarter, the Hokie’s Lunch Pail Defense proved to be hard to break, lead by #45 TyJuan Garbutt, having his greatest game of his career. With minutes left in the half, the Marching Virginians left the stands, and prepared to take the field for halftime! The score was BC 3 – VT 17 at the end of the second quarter.

Halftime

When halftime came around, the MVs took the field with our hype video playing on the jumbotron. We opened with the fiery latin tune, El Toro Caliente, featuring trumpet soloists Tommy Doubleday, Spencer Melillo, and Thomas McWithey.

Our trumpet section performing El Toro Caliente (source: HokieSports)

We then invited all 500 high schoolers onto the field to perform the hit song from Disney’s Encanto, We Don’t Talk About Bruno. We then had our VTubas rush to the front of the field to perform a fan favorite, The Hokie Pokie. After out tubas put on a stellar performance, we ended our halftime performance with every Hokie’s favorite song, Tech Triumph.

VTubas and MVs for a Day doing the Hokie Pokie (source: HokieSports)

3rd Quarter

#92 William Ross going for a kick (Source: HokieSports)

After halftime, the action picked up again as the Hokies Lunch Pail Defense once again held off Boston College, with a total of 6 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. As the Hokies continued to move the ball, #80 Kaleb Smith made a one-armed catch that brought the Hokies straight into the red zone! The score was BC 10 – VT 24 at the end of the third quarter.

4th Quarter

The Hokies cheer along to the Marching Virginians performing Tech Triumph (Source: HokieSports)

The Marching Virginians continued to cheer on our team to another field goal as light rain started falling. In some of the final moments of the game, it became clear that the Hokies were on their way to win the game they came in with 51.2% odds. The final score was BC 10 – VT 27. At the end of the game, the football team — as they do after every win — came to the north end zone to hear the band play and sing Tech Triumph, and Coach Pry celebrated along with us. It was a picture perfect opening home game to our season, and to the Pry Era of Hokie football!

Coach Pry celebrates his first home, season, and ACC win with Virginia Tech! (Source: HokieSports)

Check back next week for when the Hokies take on Wofford!

All information referenced is from ESPN and HokieSports.com

Game-Day Traditions

Our first home game of the season is just around the corner, and we’re super excited to be back in Lane Stadium! Ahead of the game against Boston College, we’d like to take some time to talk about some of our game-day traditions. While each section of the band has their own specific traditions that they hold dear, we’ll be looking at some of the traditions practiced by the entire band!

Motorcycles

Once game day officially starts with the Spirit of Tech donning their uniforms, we warm up with a fun game of “motorcycles”. Motorcycles consists of Dr. Polly calling out a number 1 through 7, and the MVs squatting down to different depths and shouting, eventually getting to 7 and (typically) falling on the ground.

(Source: Nayha Pochiraju)

March to Victory

The trek to Lane Stadium, beginning at the Marching Virginians Center, entails cheering fans, hyping up tailgaters, and plenty of high-fives. Each section of the MVs has synchronized dances, jigs, and cheers to hype everyone up!

(Source: Beau Wong)

Stack

Stack is the Marching Virginians Center’s very own Hokie Bird. Named in honor of Ryan “Stack” Clark, a baritone player who lost his life in the April 16th tragedy, Stack has become an important part of MV tradition. During our March to Victory, every MV gives Stack a pat on the back for good luck and to honor his memory.

(Source: Abbie Robertson)

The Hokie Pokie and Tech Triumph

During the game, the tubas take to the field to perform the Hokie Pokie, a staple of Hokie football tradition! After a hard fought game, the football team meets the Marching Virginians at the north end-zone to hear the band sing and perform Tech Triumph!

(Source: Nayha Pochiraju)

Superman

Ever since it was first performed during our pregame performance in 1982, the MVs have played the “Superman” theme at the end of a VT football game. This song connects the MVs to past, present, and future Marching Virginians. Some of our sections help people to “fly” like Superman by hoisting them up at the swell of the tune.

(Source: Andrew Single)

See you next week for our first game-day recap of the 2022 season!

Hokie Football is Back!

September has come, and every Hokie knows what that means — college football is back! The Marching Virginians are no exception to the excitement of our 2022 season, with our very first game being tonight at Old Dominion University with kickoff at 7:00 pm EST. This upcoming season is sure to be one to remember, as we introduce our new head coach, Brent Pry.

From Altoona, Pennsylvania, Pry spent time at Virginia Tech from 1995-97 as a graduate assistant to Hokie football legends Frank Beamer and Bud Foster and helped lead the Hokies to two consecutive New Years’ Day bowl games. Since 2016, Pry served as the defensive coordinator for Penn State, but was thrilled to return to Virginia Tech as our new head coach. Pry, upon returning to Virginia Tech, has fostered a “Ground Up” approach of building the team up to their full potential. The “Ground Up” initiative has also brought back a beloved piece of Hokie football tradition — the Lunch Pail.

Brent Pry speaking to The Marching Virginians (Source: Dave Knachel)

Coach Pry visited The Marching Virginians at one of our rehearsals and took the opportunity to speak with the band as a whole about his vision for the Spirit of Tech’s important role in game-day tradition. Pry voiced his appreciation of the band and the relationship that the band and football team have formed over the years. To reciprocate our appreciation, a small band visited the football team and surprised them by performing game day favorites! We also taught the football team the lyrics to Tech Triumph!

The Marching Virginians surprising the football team (source: Emily Saintsing)

Ahead of our opening game of the season, Pry will be facing off against a former colleague from Penn State, Old Dominion’s head coach Ricky Rahne. With many fresh faces on both the coaching staff and the team, the coaching staff was excited to announce our new starting quarterback, Grant Wells. The 6’2” junior transferred from Marshall and will be wearing #6. The Hokie’s record against ODU currently stands at 2-1, with ESPN giving the Hokies a 66.3% chance of victory over ODU.

The full band with Coach Brent Pry (source: Dave Knachel)

As we taught the football team during our surprise visit, “Win or lose, we'll greet you with a glad returning. You're the pride of V. P. I.”!

All information found in this post is from hokiesports.com and ESPN.

New Beginnings - Rookie Perspective

Our first week of classes comes to an end, we wanted to take time to reminisce on OUR favorite week of the year - band camp. Seven full days of marching, making music, and seeing our closest friends, as well as making new ones with rookies. We took the time to ask our rookies some questions about their journey of becoming part of the 2022 edition of the Marching Virginians!

We have 105 new marchers in the 2022 edition of the Marching Virginians!

Pictured: Our (bari)tone and (trom)bone sections source: Abbie Robertson

Question 1: How did you hear about the MVs?

Pictured: Our trumpet section and drum major Thomas Chase source: Abbie Robertson

Jeremy Teague (3rd-year rookie, Trumpet)

• “My brother was one. He graduated last winter, so I went to the games recently. I’ve always loved marching band.”

Alex Shupp (1st-year rookie, Alto sax)

• “I always knew of college marching band, but I heard about MVs through my brother.”

Lauren Watt (1st-year rookie, Trumpet)

• “When I started looking at schools I knew I was going to be checking out the marching band programs because it’s something I was passionate about in high school and wanted to continue in college so when I looked into Virginia Tech I got to see how important the MV’s are to the community and just generally how awesome and dedicated the band is!”

Question 2: What was your audition process like?

Pictured: Our goofy sax section source: Andrew Stewart

Jeremy Teague

• “It wasn’t too difficult, but it was very mental. Try to keep my focus and not get stressed about getting in. They told us to have fun and I made friends early.”

Alex Shupp

• “I thought it was going to be a lot more stressful, but all the upperclassmen made me feel welcome as soon as I got there.”

Lauren Watt

• “My audition experience was interesting! Over the summer I got to practice a little bit of music and marching as the first part of the audition and when I started band camp everyone was very nice and encouraging while I tried out in person. Overall it was very fun and I really liked the process!”

Question 3: What are you most excited for as a rookie?

Pictured: Our 37-person net section source: Abbie Robertson

Jeremy Teague

• “The football games. It’s so fun watching it, but it’ll be even better being a part of it. The environment in the stadium is awesome.”

Alex Shupp

• “Football games. I’ve watched the marching band from afar, but now that I know the dances, it’ll be so fun.”

Lauren Watt

• “It’s a little nerve-wracking as well but as a rookie I’m most excited for my first time playing in Lane Stadium as an official MV, getting to experience what it’s like in the stands, hearing enter sandman, and marching the show!”

Question 4: What has been your favorite part of MVs so far?

Pictured: Our lovely piccolo section source: Abbie Robertson

Jeremy Teague

• “So far, honestly, the breaks we get to play with our sections. The fun we get to have with our sections outside of marching.”

Alex Shupp

• “All of the saxophone traditions. Especially rank traditions #bank rank is the best rank”

Lauren Watt

• “My favorite part of being an MV is definitely the connection I feel to my section. Everyone is so kind to each other and upbeat and I really like getting to hang out together in and out of practice! I’m very grateful for the positivity and acceptance that I feel each time I interact with anyone in the band and it makes me so proud to call myself a Marching Virginian.”

We are so excited for what this year has to offer!

Pictured: The horns and their corn source: Abbie Robertson