NARRATOR: This program was made possible in part by... Fulton Bank is a proud supporter of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Learn more about Fulton Bank's commitment to making communities better through education and inclusivity at fultonbank.com.

NARRATOR: Each week this fall, HBCU Go TV will showcase the gridiron games and show-stopping bands from around the country.

TV ANNOUNCER: They cannot stop this man.

NARRATOR: For more information log on to HBCUGo.tv.

♪ Whoo!

♪ (whistle).

(marching band playing).

♪ Whoo!

♪ (whistle).

NARRATOR 2: STEM City USA bridging the digital gap for millions of underserved through community and education.

An immersive digital world that provides personal and professional development tools and resources.

Details at stemcityusa.com.

BEMO: Hello!

HBCU activity has been very exciting for the last year.

We have seen the end of the Deion Sanders era at Jackson State University, while Fisk University has successfully produced the first gymnastics team in HBCU history.

And then of course this year, we all watched the historic video, Tennessee State winning not one but two Grammys for the performance of their marching band.

At the center of these beautiful moments is an answer to a question that lays at the feet of all HBCUs.

What is our purpose?

Is it education or success?

Is it for the individual or community?

Are we reaching for enlightenment, or skill?

Today we're here with the filmmakers behind "Milestone", a story about the Morgan State University Marching Band, and its subject, the former 49-year head band director, Mr. Melvin Miles.

To investigate how HBCU marching bands actually embody the purpose of HBCUs.

I am your cultural analyst Bryant "Bemo" Brown, and this is "Sounds of the Game".

(drumline playing).

(theme music plays).

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: Okay ladies and gentlemen, this is the part of the show where we're normally telling that other team over there just who we are.

WILSON: Mr. President, the board of regents of Morgan State University hereby authorizes you to confer upon native son Mr. Melvin Miles Jr... (cheering).

An honorary degree in recognition of his notable and noteworthy achievements.

MAN: Melvin N. Miles, Jr. Morgan State University's recently retired director of university bands and instructor of music, proudly provided the soundtrack of decades of memorable moments for Morganites spanning nearly 50 years.

(cheering).

While at Morgan, Miles conducted the MSU Symphonic Winds, the MSU Concert Band, and the MSU Jazz Ensemble.

And he was instrumental in bringing to life the spirited high-stepping performances of Morgan's heralded marching band, the Magnificent Marching Machine.

(cheering).

Among Miles', uh Miles' long list of compositions and credits, there is one that ranks above all, especially for our fair Morgan faithful.

"We are the Bears"!

(cheering).

An arrangement by Miles with his sons Jared and Jermaine, that is the consummate Bears fan anthem.

As an instructor in the fine arts department, Miles served as Morgan faculty from 1973 to 2022, teaching instrumental music methods, brass methods, woodwind methods, instrumental music repertoire, and instrumental conducting.

And serving as the wind, percussion, and string faculty coordinator.

(cheering).

WILSON: Melvin N. Miles, Jr. By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Morgan State University Board of Regents, I confer upon you the degree Doctor of Fine Arts, with all the rights, privileges, duties, and responsibilities thereto appertaining.

Congratulations.

(cheering).

ANNOUNCER: Make some noise!

(cheering).

BEMO: Mr.

Miles!

MELVIN: I'm trying to figure out whether I should use my glasses or not.

BEMO: Nah, you look good.

MELVIN: Oh, okay.

BEMO: You look good.

MELVIN: I like your shoes, brother.

BEMO: Thank you.

You know I had to represent some orange for ya, had to do you right.

Don't tell my band director, though.

MELVIN: Who, uh who?

BEMO: Newson.

MELVIN: Newson?

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: I just talked to him about two weeks ago.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Yeah.

BEMO: Hello, and welcome back to "Sounds of the Game".

I'm here with the subject of "Milestones", Mr. Melvin Miles.

Hello, how are you doing today?

MELVIN: I'm fine, sir.

How are you?

BEMO: I have, I have the first question for you... MELVIN: Oh.

BEMO: You just retired after 49 years at Morgan State University.

MELVIN: Yeah.

BEMO: My first question, how?

How did you work 49 years in one place?

MELVIN: Well, you know, you don't wake up in the morning and say "You know, I'm gonna work here for 49 years" it just doesn't, it just kinda happens.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Um, lots of things.

You know, you, you, you come to work and um, you get involved in the activities there.

So, you got to figure the first couple years you kinda just, you know I, I started there in '73.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: And it was um, learning the craft, figuring it out putting it together.

And then the next few years you do, you know, then John came along, and I worked with him, and um so, you, you do...

I think we did about 10 years together.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: And then he left, and I was there alone.

And so, I had to figure out how to put some things together, and um...

But I will tell you that it's always been a collaborative... BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: It's always been a thing with me and students, and how students work and how students work together.

I love Morgan.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And so, I was always um, very um, partial to how it operates.

Um and I always knew well how it operated.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And so, it was kinda easy to do.

Some of my sons came to school there, so that, that kept me there.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: Uh, we built the new building.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: So that kept me there.

BEMO: There you go, yeah.

MELVIN: You know, uh... then my grandkids came.

BEMO: Wow.

MELVIN: And that kept me there.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: So just a, a lot of, circumstances that um brought, you know that allowed me to stay or made me want to stay.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And then one day you wake up and you sort of say, "why am I still here?"

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: And um, I was there because that's where God wanted me to be.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And so, so it became a, a spiritual thing for me, to understand in my job to be there was to be there to help guide, and work with students, and to bring them along in a particular way.

And that that was my ministry, that was my place to be uh, to, to, to, serve and work with students, and to serve my university in a, in a very different kind of way.

So, you find a sense of purpose in regards to that.

Then, you know you look around and you say well it's almost time to retire, so why leave now?

You know, so you spend the next four or five years doing that and, and next thing you know... BEMO: It's 49.

MELVIN: It's been almost 50 years, 49, 50 years and... BEMO: Wow.

MELVIN: And it's gone pretty good.

But, I will always say that it's been um, it's always been somewhat challenging but also a great deal of pleasure.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Because I've met a lot of people along the way, a lot of students along the way, uh, uh.

And I've always, wanna say to people that I had great students, and they've always made it wonderful for me throughout, throughout my tenure there.

BEMO: Let's check out a clip from "Milestones", the story of Morgan State University's Marching Band.

MELVIN: Nathan Carter, who was the chair at that time, just felt like... You know, he said "Miles, I don't really have a problem."

He said, "I think that what you do is great, but we need somebody that has a little more seasoning."

And I'm not sure John had a lot more seasoning, but what John Newson had that I didn't have is that he came from a world where band was thought of differently.

JOHN: I went to college, I majored in music.

At Southern University.

I was offered a job at Prairie View A&M, uh as the associate band director.

So, I did take that job, and I was the associate band director there for three years.

MELVIN: You know, he came from Southwest Conference where you had Southern University, Florida A&M, Texas Southern, Jackson State, Alabama, he had all those schools in that area.

And so, he came here with that.

He came here with that, that Black band swag that we... only time that we saw a little bit of that was when we would play Grambling in Yankee Stadium, we see, and Grambling doesn't have the kind of Black band swag that Southern University had.

JOHN: I wanted us to go out, make sure we can do a precision drill, make different formations, and have young ladies who could come out and dance, and dance with some class.

And so forth.

And then when the band danced that they would do a routine that's uh, of high quality.

MELVIN: I remember starting to change, and how we started changing the uniform.

JOHN: When I got there, I made some subtle changes, uh, from a cosmetic standpoint of view.

They had, we call it the buffalo hat, some schools still wear them, but it's the big hat and I changed it to a more that military-style hat, and with the plumes and so forth.

The white shoes to regular black shoes with the spats on them, uh to give you uh a more unified look.

Those were two solid changes I made uh, upon my first year there.

MELVIN: So, I think together, we for a long time, we had a really good, really good thing here.

He figured out what they, where they were gonna go on the field, he figured out how they were gonna dress, I figured out what they were gonna play.

So, together we both complemented each other in a great deal, in a great way.

BEMO: I was in the band, what 16 years of my life.

Was in middle school all the way through college, right.

And so, sitting here talking to you feels like I'm talking to my band director.

It just, you just feel so familiar.

Uh and I watched, I went to Howard, graduated uh under Newson, right.

MELVIN: Okay.

BEMO: And so, um, I watched his graduation ceremony, was blessed to be on the planning committee, and I heard all this love and adulation around him.

What are some of your favorite parts about when your students interact with you, band director to student?

What are some of your favorite like, intimate moments that happen only between band director and student?

MELVIN: There's a period, and I always felt like, because this is all I've ever done.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Um, there's a growth period between 18 and 22.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: And the favorite thing for me is to watch that maturation, and to participate in it.

So, when they come to me when they got, they have a concern, or they have a problem, or they have a grade issue, or they have a thought process, and, or they just want to have some place to... to chat and talk, I just think being able to participate in their lives in that way.

Or when a student says to me, says "Mr.

Miles, I, I'm nervous and I'm getting ready to do something, and, what do you do to keep you from being nervous?"

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: "What do you do for this and what do you do for that?"

And, or sometimes I will use my life, and the things that happen in my life, and they would say, "Well, how did you do that?"

So, and so being able to say to a student that sometimes you just get up in the morning and you do what you're supposed to do.

And if you don't, if you just honestly do what you're supposed to do, then it goes and it moves on and life goes on the way it needs to go.

If you are nervous about something, just...

I always say to people there's only two times you really need to be nervous.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Really, if you're gonna kill somebody or somebody gonna kill you.

BEMO: That's it.

MELVIN: That's it.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Other times, anything else is just sorta in between.

BEMO: Right.

MELVIN: I always say to students the, the best time of your day, the best time of your life is when you wake up... BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And everything else is just something to do.

(laughing).

Everything else is just something to do.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: But waking up is the most important part, you know.

And so, when you wake up and you can, and I say so you just need to be thankful, you need to be grateful.

BEMO: Right.

MELVIN: I always talk to students about being hopeful.

BEMO: Mmm.

MELVIN: You know, um, um, being, being that understand there, today may seem a little weary to you, but you know, sometimes when you think about other people and other parts and other lives and other things that are going on, sometimes what's happening to you is really not that bad, and just kind of put it in perspective.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And what you need to know is that it's Tuesday, and Wednesday will come.

BEMO: That's right.

MELVIN: And, and so sometimes it's just nothing else you can do but just kinda move on with life.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: So, it's just being able to counsel students and help them along the way.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Uh, to watch students fall in love and get married.

BEMO: Wow.

MELVIN: And to, you know, sometimes be the, the godparent to their children.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: Um, and to have the opportunity to have students, and then teach their children, have, has been a, an amazing thing for me.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: You know, you know I taught... BEMO: That's gotta be a trip, that's gotta be a trip.

MELVIN: I taught your mother, and I taught your father, I helped them when they were growing, and then, and now I'm teaching you and, and you, you're a part of my life.

So, it becomes a really strong, strong family.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: So, I don't know, I just think there are a lot of things in terms of just counseling, guiding, and uh, helping students, and listening to them.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And and watching them grow.

When we moved into this building, I had a vision right away of a marching band show.

(marching band playing).

Putting the marching band on the stage, performing, presenting in a manner that we present.

You know, move the band out, bring the flags out, move the dancers, all that kind of stuff up.

When we were building the hall, and they told me that I got a pit that lowers up and down, right away I'm like "oh, put the drum major on the pit, we'll rise him up on the pit".

And they love it.

We wanted it to be a family friendly kind of friendly thing that you could bring your kids to.

Um, Mr. Stewart because he has background, we have both have backgrounds in theater production.

(cheering).

MELVIN: I come out in the dark, and the light, the gloves light up.

And I'm in all black and there's this light up so you can see the gloves, and the band does this big fanfare, all in typical fanfare.

(band playing fanfare).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (applause).

BEMO: Hello, and welcome back to "Sounds of the Game" I am here with Jay and Julene Dunmoore, producers of "Milestones" a story about the marching band of Morgan State University.

Thank y'all for joining me today.

JULENE: Thank you.

BEMO: So, before we get started, I just gotta know, what's your individual history with HBCUs?

JAY: Ooh, so our individual histories with HBCU.

Well, we're both graduates of Morgan State University.

BEMO: Oh, okay.

JAY: Which is actually where we both met.

JULENE: Mm-hm.

JAY: And that's kind of the connection, that's a whole other story in itself, probably be its own series, so I'll keep the focus over here.

BEMO: Okay.

JAY: But the thing is with that is we both met at Morgan State University and that's where we found our passion for storytelling, multimedia production that we're still doing to this day.

BEMO: Well, that's amazing.

So did you, did you fall in love with the Morgan State band then, or was this something...

I know it's hard to not love a band while you're at the school so what was your connection with the band while you were there?

JAY: So, the connection with the band, that Morgan sound was that initial connection to it.

Morgan State homecoming, of course you had the different football games of course, being native New York, New Yorkers so they had, that's where we found out about the HBCUs, they had some of the battles that they would have taking place in the early fall season.

So with that, that's where I first became, you know, acquainted with the Morgan band, learning about that from the sound of the band and also then that kind of was what drew to the program.

BEMO: Okay.

JULENE: And then my experience was, with the band is um, just recording homecoming games, uh, that's how we met at the media lab, so... BEMO: Really?

JULENE: So, when we met there, we would every year record the marching band show, marching band performance at homecoming.

BEMO: As a former band member, I cannot tell you how important it was to see media people on the sideline.

Specifically for halftime, right.

We always say the game is about what happens at halftime, but there are a lot of times well, it didn't happen then, but back in the day there wasn't really much YouTube, not to date ourselves, but!

Looking back after the game, you wanted to see the performance directly after, and we weren't able to actually capture that story as much uh, back in our time.

So, tell me, why do you think it's important to try to capture these stories now?

Why is telling the Morgan State University, the Magnificent Marching Machine story, why is that important to tell right now?

JAY: Hmm.

There's a saying you know when you think about the future, the past, and the present are both, they kind of fuel that engine moving forward.

And the story of Morgan State University, you know the marching band and just music at Morgan goes back even, 30s and 40s.

BEMO: Hold on timeout, timeout.

Tell me more about that.

Tell me more about 30s, 1930s and 1940s?

JAY: We're talking 1930s, 1940s.

BEMO: Go head.

JAY: Then you know you had um, starting that was starting that with Striders Riders, which was a, you know basically band and music at Morgan at that point in time.

And then obviously you transition to the 50s and 60s, and they were just different type of ensembles, different groups that, you know that would perform different types of music.

BEMO: Mmm.

JAY: And this is around the time obviously you're thinking 30s and 40s, jazz music and just all the different forms of music that were being, experimented music and stuff like that... BEMO: Yeah.

JAY: Morgan was, of course being in Baltimore which just has a strong musical history just in itself, but that time that's where Morgan was doing music back in those point in time, and then transitioning more into the 60s where we get more into the Miles story, but there's been a long history of music.

And Baltimore being a great city, of music and just with a culture of Black people, Black culture, that music has had an impact on that, and the Morgan State band story, starting back then, as you have the timeline of where Baltimore has evolved over a period of time, there's like a parallel timeline that's taking place as far as that building of the band, but also the band building in that story in Baltimore.

BEMO: Now that we've heard from the Dunmoore's, let's check out "Milestones", their story on Morgan State University's Marching Band.

MELVIN: There was a time when you played at pro football and your band played, it was a, it was a win for you, because you got a chance to be on national TV, with your band.

JOHN: After it got to a certain point and we started doing them, they were calling us about coming back year and year after.

MELVIN: But we've, we've played for just about everybody in this area.

I think the farthest west, we played for Cincinnati one time.

JOHN: And then we just went up the, the east coast uh, the New England Patriots, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, New York Giants, and we were performing at all these games and we was on great demand, I don't think no other program was out there uh, doing anything of that magnitude so it, it meant a whole lot for the program, and we could put some monies into the band program.

MELVIN: It was kind of interesting because you could actually play, you could actually go and do a halftime.

It was, it was entirely different.

We would also play, and we could stay for the game.

We also played and we could sit in the seats, and sometimes we were at, we were at professional games they would even allow us to play on breaks.

So, it's so it was a very friendly thing, then over time marketing shares and things changed, and all of that really drastically changed.

Going to those stadiums was such a thrill for the kids that you wouldn't believe.

BEMO: I want you to brag a little bit though.

MELVIN: Oh.

BEMO: I'm not, I'm not, I can't hold you doctor.

I need you to brag a little bit.

I keep hearing all these stories of how you have innovated marching band, how you have changed the sound and the MEAC and then the SWAC, are there any particular accomplishments that you look back on that make you smile, that make you go, "you know what, that was alright, I did that".

MELVIN: I, I just after 50 years or 49 years of, of working, I'm just in the point in my life where, in retirement, that I have the opportunity to reflect.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: Because when you're working, you don't really have any chance to reflect.

BEMO: That's right.

MELVIN: So, I am just beginning to reflect.

BEMO: Mm-hm.

MELVIN: Uh, but I would say it, it, at the top of my head, uh the one thing that I'm proud of that we did was when we played for President Obama.

BEMO: Yes sir.

MELVIN: It was, one of the best things I've had in my life.

I mean really, to have my kids there, have the students there, to be at the White House, to have a tunnel, so everybody that was coming to the event came through the tunnel... BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: And they're all danced.

BEMO: Yeah.

MELVIN: They all danced.

And it was just, it was just an amazing, amazing, great, great, great, great, good feeling.

BEMO: Wow.

MELVIN: And um, um, I just, and every time I think about it, I think about, it just fills my heart.

I came to work because my students needed something.

I came to work because I needed something.

Each day, I believed that I was doing God's work, and gave you all I could.

And I knew that if I gave you my all, God would always fill me up so I could give you what you needed each day.

I ask that you give, I ask that you give your all, and because you believed that if you gave it, gave your all, God would give you more to give.

And each day, I came to the band room, you the students, past and present, always gave me what I needed.

To my students, you were always, you were always inspiring, and I will carry your gifts with me forever.

To the MSU band, I know what you've been, I know what you are, and I'm excited about seeing what you will become.

Finally, two words used when we receive God's grace and blessings are: Thank.

You.

Thank you for the love, and who are we?

We are the Bears!

(applause).

BEMO: Thank you for watching this edition of "Sounds of the Game", featuring an exclusive sneak peek of upcoming documentary film "Milestones", the story of Morgan State University's Magnificent Marching Machine, and its band leader for nearly 50 years, the legendary Melvin Miles.

"Milestones" is produced by Jay and Julene Dunmoore, and we thank you for this riveting conversation on the dynamic legacy of not only the great Magnificent Marching Machine, but of band culture within the rich history of our nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

So, until next time my friends, be well.

I am your cultural analyst Bryant "Bemo" Brown, and this is "Sounds of the Game".

(marching band playing).

NARRATOR: This program was made possible in part by... Fulton Bank is a proud supporter of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Learn more about Fulton Bank's commitment to making communities better through education and inclusivity at fultonbank.com.

NARRATOR: Each week this fall, HBCU Go TV will showcase the gridiron games and show-stopping bands from around the country.

COMMENTATOR: They cannot stop this man!

NARRATOR: For more information, log on to hbcugo.tv.

♪ Whoo!

♪ (whistle).

(marching band playing) ♪ Whoo!

♪ (whistle).

NARRATOR: STEM City, USA.

Bridging the digital gap for millions of underserved through community and education.

An immersive digital world that provides personal and professional development tools and resources.

Details at stemcityusa.com.