The Florida Memorial University Band, known as ‘The Roar,’ is set to introduce itself to the HBCU world this week when it hits the ‘Band of the Year’ competition.
That’s quite an accomplishment for a 116-member band that is less than half a decade old.
The journey began four years ago when Dr. Jaffus Hardrick approached Dr. Richard Beckwith with the idea of starting a band alongside the football program he was planning.
“Our president had a vision four years ago to start a bad program when he wanted to bring football to the university. And in our long history, we’ve never had a band program that was established here,” Beckwith told HBCU Gameday. “I was honored that he selected me or interacted with me to get the position. However, this has been like a baby that had to be born. Once we gave birth to the program, the opportunity to just put Florida Memorial and South Florida on the map was, I think, in our hands.”
“And for us to have grown in the four years that we’ve been here to what we’re doing now and to even be recognized by the organization is a great honor. I’ve seen people come up and cry at games because they never expected Florida Memorial to get this kind of notoriety. And we’re very, very grateful as a bandstand to be able to bring this kind of attention to South Florida and to our university.”
It wasn’t easy. The first football season was set for 2020 — which brought along the COVID-19 pandemic. FMU was the only HBCU to play football that season, playing a handful of games before being shut down.
The band continued to improve out of the purview of many in the HBCU world. Florida Memorial University competes in football at the NAIA level, and only faces a handful of HBCUs per year because of that. Even when the Band of The Year concept was announced, there wasn’t much of a buzz about FloMo, but the proof was in the rankings.
FMU ranked second in September, turning heads with its selection over marching bands in the Division II/NAIA category with much more extensive history. It maintained top three status in each of the the three months. Co-Chair Dowell Taylor, Band Director Emeritus at Jackson State University, talked about what impressed him the most.
“I was impressed with their mannerisms, the way they carried themselves, the way they handled their instrument carriage, the way they handled their total body form,” Taylor told HBCU Gameday. “And I was very impressed with the fact that everybody was in tune with each other. Everybody knew, and I recall seeing some adjusted steps in some of your maneuvers. I saw some curvilinear forms in your maneuvers.”
Florida Memorial will be competing against one of the oldest HBCU bands, Virginia State University, for the national title at the D2/NAIA level. Whatever happens, Dr. Beckwith is proud of what his band has accomplished in such a short amount of time.
“From the day that I was handed the position, we declared that one day we were going to be amongst the best,” he said. “Like we literally said it in the interview, and I’m just grateful for the opportunity to be able to actually showcase what we’re doing more than anything.
And I’m grateful to God for, you know, the prophecy and just being able to speak it out, walk in it every day and tell the students every day, listen, do it the right way, do it with integrity. Go hard every single time, show your your effort and good things will come. So this is a manifestation.”
The Band of The Year competition is set for Dec. 15 in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
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