Why being in the Goin' Band from Raiderland was the BEST decision I made in college.
- Alexis Carden
- Mar 4, 2024
- 21 min read
Updated: Mar 4, 2024
The Goin' Band from Raiderland, or as every Red Raider says, the Goin' Band, is the marching band at Texas Tech University. Made up of 450-500 students from all different college majors, this band is the largest student organization at Texas Tech University.
Believe it or not, I LITERALLY chose to go to Texas Tech solely to be in the Goin' Band. I didn't have a specific major that I was wanting to do, I didn't have a specific location I wanted to be, but I did have a marching band that I just HAD to be a member of. I've been a huge band nerd since I was 11 years old when I picked up my flute for the first time, so I knew that being in the Goin' Band would be the cherry on top of my entire band experience.
I remember first learning about the Goin' Band when I attended the 2012 Texas Tech Band and Orchestra summer camp. That camp happened the summer between my sophomore and junior year in high school. I remember learning about the Goin' Band, watching videos of performances, and feeling the hype from the current members working at the summer camp. I remember staring with excitement at the trophy case, on the side of the main hall in the music building, that had a Goin' Band uniform and gaucho on display inside of it. At that moment, I knew I had to go to Texas Tech, and I knew I had to be in the band. At that summer camp, I even asked the director of the Goin' Band how I could prepare (2 years in advance!) to know that I would for sure make it into the Goin' Band. Let's just say, my intentions for my future were clear after that "one time at band camp". And on August 17, 2014, I found out that I earned my Foot-and-a-Half (more on what that means later) as a proud Band 2 piccolo in the Goin' Baaaaaand from Raiderland.
To this day, I don't regret my decision at all. Being in the Goin' Band was the best decision I made during my college experience. It wasn't best just because I was continuing my band experience, but it was also the best because it helped me grow as a person. Here's some of the specific reasons as to why I think being in the Goin' Band was the best decision I made during my college years:
It taught me how to be extremely dedicated and disciplined.
When I was in college, I was involved in many organizations other than the Goin' Band, trust me. But when the fall semester rolled around, band was my #1 priority. I remember how non-band people would always ask me 'how much did the Goin' Band practice', and honestly, we practiced a LOT. During the fall semester, we would have practices every single weekday afternoon - 50 minute practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and 1 hour and 20 minute rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On weeks where we would have a home game, add on a 2.5 hour stadium rehearsal on Thursday nights to that total! And all that is not even counting my personal practice time to memorize music. Let's just say, it took a lot of discipline to be able to handle all the rehearsals, especially on days when you were just not feeling it (you know, like when it would be raining but we would still have outside rehearsals, just where us woodwinds would be marching without our instruments). Honestly, being in Goin' Band gave me a lot of growth. I grew stronger not only mentally, but physically. I learned how to push past anxieties and frustration, and I pushed myself more than I ever had in band before. I feel like everyone who is, or has ever been, in the band can relate to that too.
Not only did being in the Goin' Band teach me discipline, but it also taught me how to be incredibly dedicated. During the fall, there were lots of other random performances that we would participate in other than the football games. We'd perform at local events, the TTU convocation, the Homecoming parade, pep rally, and bonfire, the Tech Knight (at the Lubbock Knights of Columbus), and more. So when you're in the band, you're definitely doing more than what you expect, so you have to be super dedicated! I've never had an issue with being dedicated to something I love doing. Because I loved being in the Goin' Band more than being in anything else, it grew my dedication toward the organization even more.
I met some of the best friends I've ever had.
When you're in Goin' Band, you end up spending a lot of time with other Goin' Band peeps. As I mentioned, we have tons of practices, so you're around other Goin' Band members a LOT. And a lot of times outside of rehearsals, we would all hang out in the music building or the SUB (Student Union Building) between classes, adding to the band camaraderie. Not to mention the 2-3 away games the entire band would travel to every year where we spent hours and hours on charter bus rides, and spent many nights in hotels with each other. I really got to know a lot of other band kids through all this. This was the best thing ever for me personally because I met many of my greatest friends of all time through this organization.
Before I was technically a member of the band, I went to a Goin' Band mini camp. This was basically where the director, alongside other leadership, went around to different cities across Texas and hosted afternoon teaching sessions to prospective students. They would briefly teach us the different styles of marching that we would need to know for audition purposes. Funnily enough, I met one of my best friends at the mini camp before I even got into the band! She and I ended up both being Band 2 piccolos and we stayed besties through all four years of Goin' Band too. Another one of my best friends ever was also a Band 2 piccolo, and she so happened to become my little sister in the band sorority, Tau Beta Sigma! And yet another time, I became friends with this guy during summer band his freshman year. I was complaining because of the heat, and not wanting to run during morning exercise, and he was hyping me up to help me out. We ended up clicking as best friends later that day. I also made friends with several others who were in my section, or I spent a lot of time hanging out with (you know who you are!). Yes, I'm still great friends with all these people to this day. And if it wasn't for Goin' Band, I would've never met them!
I learned how to push through hard times of all kinds.
Honestly, I had to deal with the most difficult physical situations when I was in the Goin' Band, but it all helped me grow. Most of the situations dealt with the weather. Lubbock weather is wild. Living there, you get a little bit of every type of weather occur - torrential rain and flooding, blizzards, haboobs (giant dust storms that roll in, looking like the apocalypse is coming), ice storms, scalding summer temperatures, and let's not forget the ever-present winds (not breeze... wind... like consistent 30-50mph wind almost every day). When you're in marching band, the practices are 95% outdoors, and yes, we dealt with ALL of the weather - especially the heat.
During the Goin' Band summer band weeks, throughout my college career, there were several times I almost passed out because of the heat. Yes, Lubbock may have a "dry heat", but that makes it harder to stay hydrated. The early season games were tough too, for everyone in the band. We would be wearing our full uniform (which was mostly black, with multiple layers), with the sun beating down on us. I remember during one of the first games of my sophomore year, when we went on for halftime, the surface temperature of the turf, at the stadium, was 130 degrees. We had people passing out, dropping like flies. That was probably the harshest heat I dealt with during a performance. The time we performed at the University of Houston in 2017 was challenging too, but I blame that on the fact that we went from being in 0% humidity Lubbock to 85% humidity Houston in like two days, and humid heat is 100 times worse than dry heat. But dealing with the heat is something your body can get used to, and it made me stronger, and helped my stamina.
The wind itself was also something we had to deal with. Most college marching bands don't live in a place where the wind is blowing all the time, and yes that includes during our midday rehearsals. I remember that I couldn't even use my flip folder (which held all my sheet music) at rehearsals because the wind (too many times) would just blow the sheets out of the plastic sleeves, into the sky, and I'd never see that music again. I'm not even kidding! That really happened! I'd just make sure to memorize my music immediately after getting it, and I'd bring a fanny pack to rehearsal to zip up my coordinate sheets in (because losing those is worse than losing sheet music!). This really taught me patience and innovation.
Another difficult thing I had to deal with was learning to balance classwork and band. My first semester of college, I did not have this mastered, and I was put on academic probation after that semester because my grades were so low. Don't worry, I ended up making all A's that spring!
Goin' Band takes up a lot of time and it's definitely a learning experience to figure out how to manage it alongside 13-17 hours of class work. Especially homecoming week... I calculated the hours I used that week for Goin' Band stuff alone, and it totaled to about 15 hours of rehearsals and performances. No one really gave us tips either, you just had to figure it out. The work is worth it though, I promise.
These were all tough things I had to deal with by being in the band, but it was all worth it because it helped me grow as a person.
Being in the Goin' Band gave me opportunities other than just being in the band.
Another thing most people don't know until they are auditioning to be in the Goin' Band is the other opportunities that you can be a part of while being in the band. The main two opportunities are being a member in Court Jesters and/or rushing Tau Beta Sigma or Kappa Kappa Psi.
Court Jesters is the all-volunteer pep band that performs at Red Raider and Lady Raider home basketball, and volleyball, games. When you would audition for Goin' Band, they would use your audition as the Court Jesters audition, if you wanted to do both. For as much as I love all things band, I definitely took advantage of this. I was in Court Jesters for as long as I was in the Goin' Band! It was also fun because Court Jesters season lasts longer than Goin' Band! This way we had many more months of playing the fun stand tunes that we play during football season in Goin' Band. But unlike Goin' Band, in CJ's, we would always play everything at a faster tempo (and add a drum set instead of a drum line). It was a very fun experience. I also got to travel with CJ's to Raleigh, NC in 2016 to perform at the NCAA Tournament's first round of March Madness, which was SUPER cool. I also got to perform with CJ's when ESPN's College GameDay came to Texas Tech in 2018.
The other opportunity I got to do because of Goin' Band, was being able to rush Tau Beta Sigma. Tau Beta Sigma (or as we call it, TBS), is a nation-wide sorority that is for college band members that are dedicated to serving their college band programs. Kappa Kappa Psi is the brother fraternity to Tau Beta Sigma, and we would do a lot of events, and service, with them. TBS is a non-Greek sorority, but functions similar to a traditional one, just with an emphasis on serving the band (and no hazing obviously). I rushed in fall 2014, did my candidacy in spring 2015, and became a full active sister in the sorority by the end of my freshman year. I met a lot of friends through being in TBS, especially in my little TBS family, and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. MLITB <3
These experiences I wouldn't have had without being in Goin' Band, which adds to why it was the best thing I did in college.
I excelled in my musicianship.
As I mentioned, we practiced a lot in Goin' Band, about 6 hours a week, and 9 hours on home game weeks. And to add to it, we would perform a different show every single week/game. It was a constant cycle of getting new music and memorizing it. The music we would play was more difficult than the music I played in high school. So when I was a freshman, this was a massive challenge. I remember during my first halftime show in the band, we were performing the Traditions Show - which is the one and only show we did (pretty much) the same every single year. The thing is, is that I didn't even play one of the songs (Macarena) because I didn't have it memorized fully, the piece was in 4/4 time, and we were doing 6-to-5 marching (where instead of the typical 8 steps between each yard line we would do, it was 6 steps, so it didn't match up with the music). In my head it made no sense. But by the time my senior year rolled around, and we did that show again, I was able to play with no issues, which proved my growth as a musician and marching band athlete. Due to the difficulty of the music, constant practice, and my determination to do my absolute best, my musicianship during my time in Goin' Band excelled!
I got travel opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
Let's just say, the Goin' Band is called the "GOIN" band for a reason. Fun history fact, the Goin' Band is called the "Goin" band because starting in the mid 1960s, the entire band travelled to, and began to make major bowl game appearances, unlike most college bands at the time. They were Goin' and are still Goin' to this day.
During my time in the band, we would travel to 2-3 away games a year (because it's extremely expensive to rent 8 charter buses, about 125 hotel rooms, pay for food for 500 people, etc.). Most of the places we travelled to were in Texas, but to be fair, it still took us 8-9 hours to get anywhere on the buses, despite it still being within the state boundaries. Those are the joys of living so far out in the panhandle! During my time, we went to games at Texas Christian University, University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin (ew), and our annual Texas Tech vs Baylor matchup at AT&T Stadium (yes, I've performed many times at the same stadium the Dallas Cowboys play at). We would also perform as exhibition at several high school games across the state, on the Friday nights when we would pass through on the way to our destination for the Saturday game. We also performed in a parade at the Texas State Fair in 2015!
During my time though, I went to one out of state game. We played at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, which was an absolute blast. We also went to the Birmingham Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama my senior year (but I wasn't able to go to that one due to a prior vacation plan).
Traveling with the band was just generally fun as well! We would get to choose which bus we wanted to ride on (Bus 4 for lifeee), and we got to choose our roommates at the hotels too! Those trips were special memories of my Goin' Band days for sure.
I got to be a representative of the university.
Ever since I attended at Texas Tech, my family would call me the "walking Texas Tech advertisement". I absolutely LOVE my university, and I'm not ashamed. Being in the Goin' Band was an extension of my school spirit I had (and still have). I was, and still am, proud to wear Goin' Band merch. Not only am I repping the best university in the nation, but I'm also repping the best marching band in the world (yes, I'm biased).
I remember one specific instance (of many) of being proud to represent the band - I had gone to Walmart after a football game. I hadn't gone back to my dorm yet, so I was wearing not only my red Goin' Band hoodie, but also my black MTX shoes, my white spats over them, and my Goin' Band ball cap. I was just straight up repping Goin' Band head to toe. Then a lady came over to me with her son next to her, he looked to be only maybe 6-7 years old. She then asked if I could take a photo with her son! She said the Goin' Band was his favorite part of Tech games, and he was excited to see an actual Goin' Band member in person, especially since they had gone to the game that day. I thought this was the sweetest thing! Her son ran up to me and gave me a hug, told me we did amazing at halftime, and then his mom took our photo. I'll never forget that moment. I was representing the university, and I saw how important that was to someone. Who knows, that kid could one day be in the Goin' Band because of that moment. You don't realize how being a representative for something affects others until you're really in that position.
I had something to look forward to every single week.
Being able to perform at football games was something I looked forward to every single week. No matter how good, or bad, the football team is, every game is fun when you're in the Goin' Band. Regardless of how the team plays, the Goin' Band ALWAYS wins halftime, and everybody knows it. Even when I would be having a trash week because of my classes, I knew that my Saturday at the Jones was going to be great no matter what. Just thinking of doing march over to the stadium would bring my spirits up. So every week there was something to look forward to!
This video is from one of our march overs when I was a junior at Tech. You can see me, on the end, close to the camera at the 1:07 time mark.
It was a great way to get exercise.
When you have a Chic-fil-a just steps outside of your dorm, having a mandatory workout session every afternoon was helpful. Being in the Goin' Band is for sure a workout, ESPECIALLY if you're in the pre-game show. Basically, our halftime show style of marching is completely different from the pre-game show style of marching. In our pre-game show, it's more upbeat, more energetic, and more technical. There's a lot of high knees, and a lot of the "upper body is the musician and the lower body is the athlete" mentality. Surprisingly, one of the most difficult parts of marching to master in the Goin' Band is the transitional step sequence (high mark time 7, lock 2,3, kick) we have before we even start playing the fight song down the field for pre-game. But overall, pre-game is a workout, especially on game days, and stadium rehearsals, where we quite literally run out of the tunnels onto the field. It's so fun though! I'm so thankful I got the opportunity to perform in every single pre-game show in my four years because it was always my favorite, despite how exhausting it could be sometimes! Don't get me wrong though, practicing our halftime shows was definitely a workout as well.
It gave me my #1 absolute favorite memory during all my years of college.
"What is your favorite memory from college?" - This is the most popular question I get asked about my college years. I feel like for most people it would be a difficult question to answer, and I totally understand. How can you narrow down four years into one amazing memory? Well, because of Goin' Band, I can!
My absolute, number one, greatest of all time, out of this world, BEST memory from college happened on August 30, 2014... just days after my first day of college, freshman year. This was the day that Texas Tech played Central Arkansas at home, making it my first game day as a member of the Goin' Band. But the part of that day that became my favorite memory was before the game began.
When the Goin' Band marches over to the stadium, the band splits in two (Band 1 and Band 2), and half the band (Band 1) goes over to the visitor side tunnel, and the other half (Band 2 - my crew) goes into the home side tunnel. These tunnels lead directly down to the field. We stay in those tunnels until it's time to run out for pre-game.
Now that was the memory. I remember it so clearly. We were in the tunnel, I could hear the stadium sounds, people cheering, music being played on the jumbotron, and the whistling of the fog maker at the end of the tunnel. But the best memory I have from college was when our pre-game began. It starts with the drumline marching out onto the field, and then we play our fanfare in the tunnels. As soon as fanfare ends, we literally run out of the tunnels, onto the sidelines of the field, to run out for our pre-game show all to the beat of the drum line. I will never forget the exhilaration and adrenaline I got seeing the stadium opening up in front of me, as I ran out of the tunnel. I remember how the entire place was screaming for us! I remember the sense of intense school pride I felt as we started playing the fight song. That entire moment of running out of the tunnels, going onto the field, and performing the fight song for my first time in front of 60,000 people, was the best memory I had in my entire 6 years (including grad school) of college. Nothing can compare to that feeling. And every pre-game I felt a similar way running out of the tunnels, but that first time will always be on repeat in my mind's eye.
Below is a video of this EXACT type of moment - I'm not in this video (it's from 2022), but this is the exact moment that happened that is my favorite memory of college. The video even shows the tunnel side that I always ran out from!
It helped me learn to ignore the haters, and act with class.
Going to a big "brand name" university means that you have a lot of people who love your school, but also a lot of people who don't like your school, and that's okay... until it's not. And you have to learn to not react on emotion, but to act with class.
Being in the band meant that we were going to end up in a lot of places that were rival territory. Usually it wasn't bad at all. Most places we went, or fans we saw, actually loved seeing us because all marching bands are cool (yes, that even includes the Longhorn band). But sometimes, the haters would disclose themselves in awful ways. I have a few personal anecdotes of these occurrences that stick out to me.
The first time this happened occurred in 2014, when we were playing Baylor at AT&T Stadium. This memory still annoys me to this day, but it's definitely taught me how to deal with rivals. Basically, we were performing our halftime show, and literally in the middle of it, Baylor's kicker came out onto the field and started kicking field goals DURING our performance, and was not caring that the band was performing around him. I was so livid when I found out about this. I couldn't believe it. How could they let him do that? And crazy enough, this isn't the first time this happened with Baylor's players during a Goin' Band performance. I just wanted to go off on them, but I learned to ignore the haters with class.
The next happened when we played UT in Austin in 2015. It was raining that game, and because each of the uniforms is worth about $1,000, everyone in the band was wearing ponchos over them... thankfully (yes, that's foreshadowing). The game was going great, I even met Jace Amaro (a tight end playing for the Jets at the time) at that game. But then stuff started to happen the later it got in the game, and the more drunk the students around us were getting. Longhorn fans (especially students) were always generally rude to us anyway, but add alcohol and it goes to another level. So basically, I was standing on the end of a row, and this guy across the aisle from me starts cussing and talking bad about Tech and how we were "stupid" and more nonsense. And I tried to ignore him, but he came closer, made eye contact, and proceeded to throw his cup of beer all over me - thankfully I had the rain poncho on. I was so mad, but as a representation of the university, I had to act with class. So I got one of the security people, told them what happened, and the guy got kicked out of the stadium. Lesson learned again, ignore the haters.
One more anecdote for fun; it happened at the Texas Bowl in 2015 - the same year as the UT incident. We played Louisiana State University at that bowl game, and let me tell you, LSU fans rivaled UT fans in their general disrespect. I remember we were sitting in the stands at NRG Stadium in Houston, and the seating was so close, squished, and uncomfortable. There was a point where I needed to get up to go walk around for a second, and stretch. As I was walking up the steps to the higher level, this LSU fan guy (clearly inebriated) ran up to me from the side and was screaming at me, cussing me out, asking why I went to a "loser school", and all this crazy nonsense. I just started running up the stairs and he was still yelling at me while I was leaving. Another lesson of ignoring the haters.
Basically, Goin' Band taught me that not everyone may not like me in every situation, but I can't let it affect me. It was a huge lesson in personal growth once again.
I got to be a part of the best, and most unique, marching band in the state.
The Goin' Band is not like any other marching band, and it's incredibly unique. From our marching styles, to our matador-themed uniforms, we are one-of-a-kind. And I'm not saying that other college bands in the state aren't unique - the Longhorn Band's cowboy aesthetic is unique and fun, the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band is unique, and iconic, all on its own, etc. But I think the Goin' Band's unique status makes them stand out to even the other Texas college bands. The matador theme of the band is so special. It relates back to the early days of Texas Tech:
When classes began at Texas Tech in 1925 (or at that time, Texas Technological College), the football team was known as the Matadors to reflect the architecture of the buildings on campus. On the Texas Tech campus, every single building is themed in the Spanish Renaissance style architecture (even new buildings are built to match this style - it's super cool). The mascot was the Matadors until 1935 when it changed to the current Red Raiders. The homage to the original mascot is shown in the Goin' Band uniforms, traditions, and music, to this day. I don't know of any other university in the state that has that big of a theming occurring with their band. I think it makes the Goin' Band special. No other college bands are out there wearing gauchos and capes, playing songs like Macarena (no, not the song from the 90s), or having Latin-themed halftime shows.
Here's a video below from my freshman year when we played Macarena (one of our traditional songs) to the alumni on Alumni Band Day.
I also think that the Goin' Band is one of the best college bands in the state because they focus on "setting the standard from within". As a member, you are held to a level of maturity, musicianship, team work, and excellence, that most college organizations aren't. This mindset is the key to succeed, and it is proven in every performance that I was a part of, and every performance I've watched since as an alumni. The band just keeps getting better, and I just keep getting more proud!
It gave me a sense of pride to be a part of something bigger than myself.
Being a part of the largest organization, at an already massive university, feels like a huge thing. But when you learn about the Goin' Band network of alumni that exist, you really learn just how special being in the band is. So many of the alumni are still dedicated to the band, decades after graduating. As a current alumni, I can understand this. But when I was a student, the understanding that I was in something so big and special didn't occur. I couldn't fathom it until my senior year:
As you enter your fourth year in the Goin' Band, you earn your "senior spats", which are the normal white spats we would wear over our shoes, but have your last season year embroidered on them alongside a double T (for example, my last season was fall 2017, so I have a '17 on mine). When I got mine handed to me is when I started to realize that I wasn't just in this band just because. I was in this band because I was passionate about it. As I looked around at my fellow bandmates, who also got their identical spats, I saw that they felt the same way I did.
This feeling continued through my entire senior season, and even when we had our senior march. This was where after the halftime show, at the last home game, seniors lined up at the end zone in a block formation, and played March Grandioso across the field one last time as the announcer tells everyone to cheer on the Goin' Band seniors for their last march. I remember barely playing as I marched down that field. I was focussed on holding back the massive flow of tears coming out, as I looked side to side at my friends who probably felt the same way.
And finally, the last thing that truly made me feel like being in the Goin' Band was being a part of something huge, was when I earned my Foot-and-a-Half. At the end of the season, we would have our band banquet, and that was when seniors would be given plaques of their earned "land deeds" of their "Foot-and-a-Half of prime real estate in the Goin' Band from Raiderland". When I was handed mine, I remember staring at it and then looking up to see all my other friends getting one too. At that moment, we all realized it. This moment was huge. We spent four incredible years in this band, and we earned this. Right then and there, I knew that being a member of this band was something I was going to cherish forever.
As an alumni, I get amazing opportunities to re-live the experience.
Not only do I get to treasure the memories from being in the Goin' Band, but I get to re-live them once a year!
The Goin' Band Association puts on the Alumni Band Day each year for members. This is where for one of the early games of the season, they invite member alumni to come and re-live their Goin' Band experience. This includes doing march over, playing in the stands, and even performing a few songs at halftime on the field. This is so cool because it really makes you feel like you're re-living the experience again, especially when people from your student years participate as well. It really made me feel all the same feelings that I would feel as a student, and it's amazing. And it's also super interesting because alumni of all ages, and all Goin' Band eras, join in on the fun during that weekend. You get to meet so many people who had the same experience as you, and have that same passion for the band as you, despite being a part of it decades apart. It's really eye-opening, and makes you realize how special the band really is.
Overall, being in the Goin' Band was a very big deal for me. It's so much more special to me than anyone will ever realize. My experience made me into the person I am today, and I'm so proud to call myself an alumni of "the greatest band in the land".
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