Mississippi Delta Community College Band Director James Shannon is hoping to start a few new traditions with the Trojan marching band. The first-year director is laboriously charged to take up the leadership of the college’s band for the first time.
And his first new tradition is the establishment of the “Trojan March” a new gameday experience that will feature the band parading the campus before the start of the games and congregating in the tailgating area to play and entertain the crowd with music, dancers and cheerleaders until kickoff.
“We’re hoping that the fans will meet us,” he said.
Shannon said he wants the fans out and lining the sidewalks because he expects there will be a lot of pomp and excitement surrounding the new tradition.
“The whole gameday experience is taking college athletics by storm now and we at MDCC want to be a part of that,” Shannon said.
And that’s not the only new item that has the Starkville native playing a happy tune. He’s also delighted to announce that students will now have a choice when it comes to musical curriculum at MDCC.
The college is adding a new Arts and Entertainment Industry major that will prepare the students for jobs in the music industry that do not fall under the current traditional music program of study, which prepares students to be teachers and band directors.
The new core curriculum will educate students on how to become promoters, managers, sound technicians and prepare them for other music-related careers similar to what the Delta Music Institute (DMI) program does at Delta State.
Shannon said the school has even matched course numbers with the Cleveland university to provide an easier transition for students who decide to go beyond the AA degree and pursue a four-year certification. He said they are adding equipment this school term and hope to have an active recording studio by next year.
Shannon is a guitarist, singer and songwriter with several recordings. He came to MDCC five years ago after spending time in Texas and Florida.
He has an upcoming performance scheduled at the B. B. King Museum in a few weeks.
Prior to being named band director a few weeks ago, Shannon was the choral music department director and Ambassadors and MDCC Singers Director. He still holds those titles and said making the transition was really easy but he’s glad they brought in help to assist him since he is serving in the dual role.
