For the past two weeks, the Jacksonville State University Marching Southerners have weathered heat advisories and long, tedious rehearsals packed into 13-hour days.

Band camp is wrapping up. But the Marching Southerners’ 63rd season is just beginning. Director of Bands Ken Bodiford thinks this may be the best year yet.

It’s the biggest, with 556 members at camp this year. And it’s the largest first-year group ever: 198 freshmen.

“This is the biggest band we’ve ever had and it’s the most talented,” Bodiford said between sectional rehearsal and trumpet tryouts.

“We’ve had some really, really wonderful bands. And I know every year I say ‘this is the best band.’ But there’s something special about this group this year. They’re so talented and the attitude has been so fantastic. I just can’t wait to see what we’re able to do by the end of the season.”

The Southerners have a distinct bugle corps sound—one developed by the band’s original director, Dr. John T. Finley, in the 1950s. Finley taught the brass players to play as if they were playing in an orchestra, creating a warm, rich brass sound. Bodiford has no plans to change that signature sound.

During band camp last week, trombone instructor Kasey Thomas listened with a critical ear. He picked apart the pieces, even down to one instrument’s part, commenting on the tone or the precision with which each note is played.

An outsider may see this picking apart as too exhaustive, but it’s this attention to detail that gives the band its rich sound.

“For a lot of college bands, the approach is just play as loud as you can to be louder than the other band. We don’t want that. We want that tone quality to be like an orchestra,” Bodiford said.

Bodiford and his six-member staff expect the band to sound like an orchestra while marching and maneuvering amidst hundreds of other band members. It’s a tall order to fill, but one the Southerners don’t fear.

“The No. 1 goal here is to have fun. The second goal is to have fun being good,” said trumpet section leader and senior Caleb McDonald of Chickamauga, Ga.

The Southerners’ fans expect excellence as well.

“Some other bands have the luxury of people saying, ‘They were good. They'll get better as the year goes on.’ But our fans expect us to be outstanding the moment they see us. So that puts a lot of responsibility on the freshmen to do a lot of individual practice,” Bodiford said.

For freshman trumpet player Josh Ruff, it’s exciting to finally be a Southerner.

Ruff, like many, was exposed to the band either through their JSU alumnus band directors or through the Southerners Band Day, where high school students get to march with the Southerners. About 2,000 high school students usually attend.

“I’m just really excited to be here and really excited to be a part of something I’ve been looking forward to for a very long time,” he said. “Being a part of an organization where everyone wants everyone to succeed is really nice. Everyone is striving for that same excellence that we’ve all seen throughout the years. Being a part of that and being pushed to that level is ... is a really cool experience.”

Excellence is part of the culture of the Southerners and when everyone understands that, achieving excellence isn’t such a struggle, said junior drum major Jared Stephens.

“We try and instill it, a constant strive for excellence. We just want them to realize that everybody here wants to be good. If, you know, if you show that from the beginning, you’re not going to have to beat it into them. They’re going to do it by themselves,” Stephens said.

2018 tornadoes

Both the band and the university still deal with the aftermath of the March 2018 tornadoes that devastated east-central Alabama. The university was hit hard, with multiple campus buildings and surrounding apartment complexes heavily damaged or destroyed.

The music department is holding classes in multiple buildings across campus. Mason Hall—the music building—was heavily damaged in the storm. It’s now under repair, with a new addition being added to the building. Bodiford said the building was supposed to be completed and open for the fall 2019 semester. The process has been delayed.

They expect to be back in Mason Hall by early next year.

Ask any Southerner about their experience and the first thing they’ll tell is you is about the feeling of “family” within the band.

Many bands, sports teams and clubs will say they are a “family,” but what does that mean? What does that look like for the Southerners?

For fifth-year senior and piccolo player Jesslyn Mccullough, the Southerner family was there for her when she lost everything in the March 2018 tornadoes.

Luckily, she was not in Jacksonville when the storm hit, but her apartment complex was heavily damaged by the storm. She recalled making many frantic phone calls between friends and neighbors trying to figure out if everyone was safe and what had been damaged.

Her car was destroyed and all her clothes and many of her other belongings were ruined by water from the storm. She essentially had to start over.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I didn’t know where I was going to live,” McCullough said. “I had to live on a couch for two months before I could rent a new apartment. I had to carpool everywhere. I didn’t have any of my bath stuff. I didn’t have any of my clothes. I had to go to a food bank because I couldn’t afford food. It was really hard.”

Despite the devastation, she said it was comforting to see the community pull together to help those affected by the storm, including her fellow Southerners.

“Everyone was asking ‘do you have a place to stay? Do you have food? Do you have money? Do you need anything? Let me know,’” she said. “I felt a lot of those family aspects [of the band]. I felt very loved. People gave me what they could and I gave them what I could.”

The family extends past graduation. For Greg and Denise LaFollette, the band has been there for them in some of their happiest and most difficult days. Both Greg and Denise marched for the Southerners in the 1970s and 80s. They met later in life and in 2016, were married at Burgess-Snow Field. The Southerners provided the music for the ceremony. The color guard helped coordinate their engagement, too.

Denise spends time as a surrogate “mom” to the color guard members when they need it. As much as she has been a safe place for them, she said they were her “saving grace” when her mother fell ill in 2014.

When her mother died in 2015, about 50 band members, both musicians and color guard, came to the funeral. They played “Salvation,” a song with deep Southerner roots, and comforted LaFollette.

“Many of these kids who do not know me took time out of their day to help me through one of my most difficult days,” she said.

Though the couple hasn’t marched for years, they still follow the band. They often attend the Thursday night practices along with the other 200-400 people who come watch the band rehearse.

Alumni also come to the first day of band camp each year, where Greg LaFolette said he usually sees someone who was in band with him years ago.

“When I came there [the band] was immediately like a family. You’re working together for a goal. Working together to be the best you can and spending so much time together. It’s a family and always has been family,” Greg LaFolette said. “Next week will be the 40th anniversary of my first band camp. I’m still seeing and talking to and interacting with people who were there with me.”

Not much has changed about the band since the LaFollettes marched, but the main difference between the 80s and now is the band’s international reputation.

The Southerners were once one of the best kept secrets of Alabama, but not anymore. The band has performed across the U.S. and has even made multiple international appearances. On Jan. 1, the band performed at the Vatican at the conclusion of the Pope’s New Year’s Day blessing.

The experience of performing there as the Pope gave his blessing, regardless of religious affiliation, was nothing short of incredible.

“I looked around at the band and see the kids have tears coming out of their eyes,” Bodiford said.

For Bodiford, what’s more than the international recognition for the band he directs is the opportunities and experience that recognition provides the students.

“The greatest payoff is just like seeing the kids' faces, the excitement. It's just like seeing children at Christmas time,” he said.

The Southerners will have their first public performance of their 2019 show, titled “Earth, Wind and Fire,” at the Gamecocks vs. Chattanooga Mocs game at Burgess-Snow Field Sept. 7. The band will also perform at the Bands of America Grand Nationals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN, Nov. 15.

Alumni Southerners: share your memories of your time marching with the Southerners with reporter Anna Beahm on Twitter @_AnnaBeahm or by email at abeahm@al.com.

Is your marching band great too? Post your video and tag @_AnnaBeahm or email it to abeahm@al.com.