Former Sound Machine assistant drum major Austin Chambers shows the crowd how to get low at the 2004 Aggie-Eagle Classic. (Photo: Echo File
Photo)
Additional 2008 NCCU Marching Sound Machine Photos
http://nccueagles.smugmug...607_Qzrz5#389087678_2gZA5
On the road, less and less - Tight budget, farther-away games means fewer road trips for Sound Machine
http://web.nccu.edu/campus/echo/c-band.html
By Sade Thompson
Echo Staff Reporter
Since 2001, Jorim Reid, director of bands, has led N.C. Central University's Sound Machine in a triumphant rendition.
Yet when funds show no sign of increasing, the music doesn't always make it to the stadium. And the instruments don't always get purchased.
The Sound Machine is funded by Student Affairs.
"The number of students in the marching band has quadrupled," said Reid.
"The budget has not."
The band did make it to the Oct. 11 game against the Presbyterian Blue Hose.
"It's disappointing when we put in 20 hours of hard work during the week and can't play at the game," said Reubin Ahukanna, a trombone player in the Sound Machine.
Reid said he has purchased meals and paid for transportation for the marching band out of his own pocket.
He also has purchased items such as drumsticks, reeds and sheet music, often because they were needed immediately.
Due to scheduled performances, the band can't spare the time to wait two or three months for monies to be approved by the school.
The NCCU Sound Machine at this year's Aggie-Eagle Classic in Charlotte's Memorial Stadium. (Photo: Bryson Pope/Echo Staff
Photographer)
Price increases - especially gas prices - have also hit the Sound Machine hard and cut into their ability to travel to away games.
"There was a time where diesel used to be cheaper than regular gas, but now it costs more," said Reid.
According to Reid, it now costs about $1,800 dollars per bus per trip, compared to $600 dollars per bus three to four years ago.
"People have to get out of the CIAA culture and mentality," Reid said.
"New stipulations come with transferring to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, and the marching band will not be at every game."
Schools that NCCU used to play regularly including Shaw University and Johnson C. Smith University, are located closer to NCCU.
But MEAC games, at schools like Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Florida A&M University in Tallahassee are farther way.
Reid said that even when the band is not present, fans should be excited to see the Eagles play.
"Students should be students and pep up the game," he said.
Reid said he reaches out to outside corporations, like Yamaha, for support.
The corporation gave the Sound Machine equipment valued at half a million dollars for $100,000.
