Florida Memorial University's The ROAR Marching Band performing its signature song, 'FloMo Groove', in Miami Gardens, Florida. Photo: Alexia Fodere/Miami Herald/TNS
Donning bright blue sweatpants, the marching band members looked serious as they prepared to perform their signature song during a summer practice.
"ROAR!” they screamed.
Then they started playing. The thunderous music filled their rehearsal room. And they danced, back and forth, with the type of coordination that marching bands rehearse for hours.
As soon as they finished FloMo Groove, they formed a paw with their hands and lifted them up in the air – a nod to their mascot, the lion. Then their serious, ready-for-war faces broke out in smiles.
"Not bad,” band director Richard Beckford told them. "But we have to keep practising. Let’s be intentional every single time. That alone is going to set us apart.”
That’s how the ROAR Marching Band at Florida Memorial University is getting ready for the performance of their lives. The musicians at the only historically Black college in South Florida are about to fly to France.
Despite forming only three years ago, The Roar will become the first American college marching band to perform at the Festival des Bandafolie’s, which loosely translates to the festival of the band madness, in Bessines-sur-Gartempe, a town southwest of Paris.
They left July 12 to join 10 other bands from around the world to perform for four days in the 26th edition of the international festival.
"I’m so excited to see everything I’ve seen in movies – the Eiffel Tower, the food, the scenery,” said Malaurie Louis, a rising junior from North Miami who majors in cybersecurity and plays the trumpet.
"I’m taking pictures of everything. People will be like, ‘Why are you taking pictures of the garbage can?’ I’ll be like, ‘That’s a beautiful garbage can!’”
The start of the band
Florida Memorial University’s history dates back to 1879, but it never had a marching band, a traditional presence at HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), until a few years ago.
Founded in Jan 2020, the ROAR includes about 90 members and usually performs in sweatpants. The band still hasn’t been able to afford uniforms.
At first glance, The ROAR pales in size and history when compared to larger, more established bands like “The Marching 100” at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee or “The Human Jukebox” at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
But in reality, The Roar matches any of them when it comes to commitment.
ROAR members go over their show meticulously, until they land on the perfect choreography and sound.
During the school year, the band rehearses from about 6pm to about 10pm weekdays on the university’s Miami Gardens campus, switching from the scorching sun on the field outside to the air-conditioned practice room inside. Many take their instruments back and forth between their dorms and the rehearsals to play in the mornings and weekends, too.
Recently the school held a band camp, and band members logged in 12-hour days with their songs, which include Marilyn Monroe by Pharrell Williams, Part of That World from the film The Little Mermaid and Stampede, the Lion King’s song that they use as their opening number.
Their effort delivered a major win in 2021: ESPN/The Undefeated ranked The Roar first among the HBCU Division Il bands in the nation.
Now it’s delivering another with the invitation to the upcoming French festival, where The ROAR will meet about 350 other musicians from Belgium and other countries in Europe, Benin in Africa and French Polynesia in Oceania.
Rashaud Marcelin, a tuba player and music major from Miami Gardens who’s going into his senior year, said he can’t believe the band got a chance to travel internationally so early in its history.
"I’ve literally been here since the band first started, and I didn’t imagine this for a million years. I actually thought this sort of thing would happen long after I was gone,” Marcelin said. "To see it happen so fast feels good. It’s rewarding to know your hard work pays off.”
Holding the campus together
At the recent summer practice, director Beckford stood in front of the room and asked the students to take a break from playing, and pay attention to him.
"I’m very proud of you,” he told them. “I’m always bragging about you. I usually believe in you guys before you even start to believe in yourselves. But I need you to rise to that belief. I’ve been looking at your grades and some of you need to improve academically.
"The band is an amazing experience,” he said, “but you’re here to prepare for the real life. Never forget that.”
Asked later why he mentioned that, Beckford said he feels a responsibility to mentor band members for life, not only for musical performance. That’s why he holds everyone accountable on getting good grades and graduating.
Louis, the trumpet player, said that her estranged mother once showed up on the university campus unannounced, and Beckford encouraged Louis to speak with her.
"I took his advice and it ended up being good advice,” she said. "I remember not having anybody when I first got here. And he was the main person I could come and talk to. He’s like a grandpa, a father, a friend.”
Xornel Campbell, a rising sophomore who’s majoring in computer science, described the band as a family, too.
"We come together, we understand each other, we get to know each others’ strengths and weaknesses and help each other,” said Campbell, a trumpet player from North Lauderdale.
That inside band energy has also spread to the entire university campus.
Jaffus Hardrick, the university president, started the band in 2020 to give students a better college experience. Since then, he said The ROAR has exceeded his expectations.
"I am absolutely overjoyed,” Hardrick said. "The band has become a type of glue that holds the campus together.”
A unique opportunity
The ROAR usually plays at university and local school events, as well as some battle of the bands. Their energy often pushes people to start dancing and cheering along.
Now for the first time, The ROAR will play in front of thousands, on bigger stages. Last year, the Festival des Bandafolie’s attracted about 10,000 people.
Beckford, the band’s director, said he hopes that after the French festival, the band will get invited to more events in the US. He’s also looking forward to recruiting more band members and keep challenging their potential.
"I’m a big guy but I feel like I gave birth to something really special, and I’m really excited about how this experience will change the students’ mindset and extend the band’s trajectory,” he said. "I hope what this is going to do is it’s going to put Florida Memorial on the map.”
He also hopes the opportunity will allow the band to encourage community members to support them with donations or sponsorships. The festival organisers will cover the expenses in Paris, but The ROAR has to finance the airfare.
Louis, the trumpet player, agreed.
"Getting this moment means a lot. We’ll use the exposure to show the world we mean what we’re about,” she said. "I know some people don’t believe in us but after this they should believe in us. We’re coming.”
Asked what he wants potential donors to know, Marcelin said he’d like them to understand just how much the band instills in its members principles like discipline that go beyond reading music notes.
"This band is going to produce a lot of people from different majors,” he said, “so I would say, ‘If you sew into this programme right now, you’re sewing into our lives, the lives of these students. And somebody from this band might someday become a doctor that saves your life; somebody might become the educator of your child. It’s worth it'.” – Miami Herald/Tribune News Service
