Days after its performance in the 97th Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Alabama A&M University Marching Maroon and White Band is still taking in the excitement surrounding the moment not soon to be forgotten by fans everywhere. Thursday’s appearance in front of 3.5 million spectators in New York City and over 28.5 million television viewers around the globe showcased the MMW and the AAMU brand on the biggest stage to-date.
The Parade brought in record viewership for the NBC network’s annual telecast – heightening the impact of the AAMU band’s show which kicked off the television event.
“This was an incredible experience for our program,” said Band Director Carlton Wright. “Our students worked really hard to prepare for this to represent not only the University but the entire state of Alabama. We’ve had to devote an hour of every rehearsal to this performance in addition to preparation for our halftime shows and other performances.”
Written across the top of the music score for the band’s Thanksgiving morning performance medley was the word “Nutcrack-ah”. MMW’s broadcast performance featured reimagined Hip-Hop-inspired themes from the Christmas classic “Nutcracker Act II: Sugarplum Fairy” arranged by Associate Director of Bands Mario Warren. The performance then transitioned to a dance breakdown, and a high-stepping exit to the iconic 70s theme music of the variety show Soul Train.
“I basically wanted to Hip-Hop out Nutckracker,” said Warren. “I pulled themes from the original music and it just grew into a thing, and the students loved it. We actually got a chance to see some excerpts from “The Nutcracker” at Radio City, so students were able to make some connections to our music.”
A year-long campaign to raise $500,000 for the trip ended with over $575,000 in contributions to the MMW program. The support made it possible for the 250-member band to tour the city, experience a boat cruise, take in a musical, and cheer on the Dancing Divas and AAMU Fabulous Flags as they opened a Famous Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall.
“When we learned that the band had been chosen for this prestigious honor, we knew that this would be an enormous undertaking from a financial standpoint,” said Vice President Jamal Ali. “We’re proud of the way our alumni and supporters came together to make this happen.”
A special pre-parade performance by five-time Grammy Award-winner Jon Batiste featuring the AAMU Dancing Divas provided a surprise for AAMU fans before Today Show anchors and parade hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, and Al Roker started the parade. The band also shined a little brighter with the addition of 18 brand new gold King sousaphones.
“We just got these instruments thanks to everyone who supported our fundraisers over the last year,” said sousaphone section leader Elijah Lee. “It’s basically like playing on easy mode now. Our old instruments were like 20 years old, so there’s just so much that goes into playing them. Now, it’s easy.”
Lee’s enthusiasm was evident as his smile hit the front page of Friday’s Wall Street Journal.
The excitement around the event was palpable throughout the city and across social media. The University’s social media platforms saw an 8.5 percent increase in audiences and a nearly 50 percent increase in engagement during the week leading up to the parade. A city-wide flag-planting campaign also elevated exposure for the AAMU brand through mobile billboards at key New York City landmarks.
“We thought it was important to bring the AAMU brand to life here in the city as well as through the actual parade performance,” said Assistant VP for Advancement and Branding Aaron Thompson. “We knew the Marching Maroon and White would handle their piece of the puzzle; our focus was on amplifying the moment in New York and beyond.”
The MMW’s Thanksgiving Day Parade performance enjoyed broad earned media coverage. National platforms including CNN, NBC, MSN, BET, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! Finance, Southern Living Magazine, NewsOne, the Chicago Defender, Blavity News, Because of Them We Can, and others shared original and package content across social media, web, and print delivery. The band also achieved notable social media instances via Madame Noire, Global Grind, the DL Hughley Show, the comedian Shuler King, The Shaderoom, Macy’s and others.
Watch the MMW's full parade route here.
Students interested in Alabama A&M University Marching Maroon and White scholarship opportunities can visit https://www.aamuband.org/join.
