Honda Battle Of The Bands Sweet 16
Mikayla Roberts
Mikayla Roberts
On January 27th, the Mercedes Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta hosted the 16th annual Honda Battle Of The Bands invitational showcase and college fair. The event was created to celebrate, support and recognize the excellence of Historically Black College (HBCU) marching bands and honor the unique academic experience offered by HBCUs. Honda has been committed to supporting the dreams of HBCUs by investing in their music programs and students for up to 16 years now; annually awarding approximately $200,00 in grants to participating bands. Bands from eight HBCUs are chosen to advance to the Invitational Showcase portion of the program. This year, schools such as Alabama A&M, Bethune Cookman, North Carolina A&T, and Prairie View University advanced and performed in the Invitational Showcase.
The college fair that is hosted prior to the band showcase is predominately Black colleges/universities but are open to students of any background. Junior Ariana Griggs attended the college fair and said, “I liked Tennessee State and North Carolina Central but I’m into a wide variety of colleges not just HBCUs. My version of an “HBCU experience” would be having an environment for education where the students share the same culture and race as you so you feel more comfortable in that environment. Also, getting an education that is focused on learning rather than the politics of diversifying the school. I think that it’s important to honor HBCUs, even if you’re not into going to a majorly black school, because I think that it’s a good opportunity for students to be comfortable with their culture and skin that their in, especially coming out of high school going into college.”
Natasha Monroe, junior, went to the marching band showcase and stated that, “Although I couldn’t hear too well from where I was sitting, the shows were pretty good. My favorite band performance was North Carolina A&T. The energy of the whole event was extremely high; everyone was engaged in everything, even the stuff in between the band performances. It was just a great experience.”
Every year at the event, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (also known as the “Black National Anthem”) is sung directly after the “National Anthem”. This is considered a social rarity and is specific to majority black events. Ariana states her opinion, “I think it should happen more often. It was a mostly black event and I think that it is good for us to sing the “Black National Anthem” and not just the regular anthem because that’s apart of our culture; it’s apart of who we are.”
The Honda Battle of the Bands has consistently brought attention to the HBCU community for 16 years and will, hopefully, continue to do so in the future. The event not only brings awareness to blacks, but to people of all backgrounds.
The college fair that is hosted prior to the band showcase is predominately Black colleges/universities but are open to students of any background. Junior Ariana Griggs attended the college fair and said, “I liked Tennessee State and North Carolina Central but I’m into a wide variety of colleges not just HBCUs. My version of an “HBCU experience” would be having an environment for education where the students share the same culture and race as you so you feel more comfortable in that environment. Also, getting an education that is focused on learning rather than the politics of diversifying the school. I think that it’s important to honor HBCUs, even if you’re not into going to a majorly black school, because I think that it’s a good opportunity for students to be comfortable with their culture and skin that their in, especially coming out of high school going into college.”
Natasha Monroe, junior, went to the marching band showcase and stated that, “Although I couldn’t hear too well from where I was sitting, the shows were pretty good. My favorite band performance was North Carolina A&T. The energy of the whole event was extremely high; everyone was engaged in everything, even the stuff in between the band performances. It was just a great experience.”
Every year at the event, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (also known as the “Black National Anthem”) is sung directly after the “National Anthem”. This is considered a social rarity and is specific to majority black events. Ariana states her opinion, “I think it should happen more often. It was a mostly black event and I think that it is good for us to sing the “Black National Anthem” and not just the regular anthem because that’s apart of our culture; it’s apart of who we are.”
The Honda Battle of the Bands has consistently brought attention to the HBCU community for 16 years and will, hopefully, continue to do so in the future. The event not only brings awareness to blacks, but to people of all backgrounds.