Three of William P. Foster’s former students in the running to lead Marching 100

Three FAMU alumni who marched under “The Maestro” are finalists to carry the banner of his legacy.

The search committee for the new FAMU director of marching and pep bands has narrowed the applicant pool down to four finalists. Three of the four played with the Marching 100 while it was under the directorship of the legendary William P. Foster. They are Richard Beckford, Jorim Reid, and Shelby Chipman.

Beckford is the director of bands at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Fla. Reid directs the Marching Sound Machine Band at North Carolina Central University. Chipman is the associate director of the FAMU Marching 100.

Gregory Drane is only finalist who did not attend FAMU. He is an alumnus of Bethune-Cookman and is the assistant director of the Penn State University Blue Band.

Beckford’s campus interview took place yesterday. Drane visits today. Reid will interview on Nov. 29 and Chipman will interview on Nov. 30.

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Permalink Reply by Chris on November 28, 2012 at 8:30pm

Let's be "pc" here…

Beckford – I doubt it.

Chipman - The "search committee" will drop the "we're taking a new direction" line.

Drane - Many positives but those positives may work against him in this situation. "You’ve been around them white folks too long."

I think Reid has the best chance of being offered the position. A young man with a clean slate, he's built NCCU into a very strong program, attended FAMU...

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Permalink Reply by Aquann Smith on November 28, 2012 at 10:01pm

Chipman all the way

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Permalink Reply by Your Highness® on November 28, 2012 at 10:37pm

Actually, it's favored that Beckford will get the position. He's even turned it down twice already in the past. He's the guy for the job...
Chris - The humble peasant... said:

Let's be "pc" here…

Beckford – I doubt it.

Chipman - The "search committee" will drop the "we're taking a new direction" line.

Drane - Many positives but those positives may work against him in this situation. "You’ve been around them white folks too long."

I think Reid has the best chance of being offered the position. A young man with a clean slate, he's built NCCU into a very strong program, attended FAMU...

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Permalink Reply by BRAD TV ENT. NEWS on November 29, 2012 at 3:38pm

Chipman have it in the bag

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Permalink Reply by Saxrebel on November 29, 2012 at 11:35pm

I've been there last three days.

Beckford is pretty good. He understood the concept, he had energy and shows knowledge of the scores and was good at conducting and answer the questions wells. He was also real with us, and had seems to already have a plan as far as improving the band upon our return.

Drane was alright. I think what scared people most is that he put is own styles and changes to the music,and the students are kind of afraid of change. He did show knowledge, prowess and excitement. He also do his research on the "100" and went for the "God Bless America" tag at the end of one of the pieces we played. He even said he's read, Band Pageantry, which was a plus. Personally faired better WAAYYY than I expected, but I don't think his style will mesh here at FAM. Also to note, he wasn't sensitive to intonation at times. He also left a quote that probably stuck with a lot of us.

Reid.... I called it before I went into the bandroom, "Reid won't be as good as we want him to be, FAMU alumnus or not." I was right. He didn't have excitement or show any real conduction skills. He was literally on auto pilot the whole time, following us instead of us following him. He def wasn't hearing intonation at all. He did a whole bunch on tuning and balance but in the actual practice, people were purposely playing wrong notes, and he wasn't very receptive of it.

All Chipman really has to do is conduct us like a normal practice, and he'll EASILY get the position. It's not really hard for him.

My money is on Beckford and Chipman, leaning very much towards Chipman.. However, I feel we do need some young blood and Beckford (well, he's not THAT young, lol) wouldn't be a bad pick at all.