Barry McNamara  |   Published August 31, 2022

Strike Up the Band

Monmouth College’s growing Fighting Scots Marching Band ready to start season under lights on Sept. 3. 

MONMOUTH, Ill. – Good musicians will be playing songs about bad men when the Monmouth College Fighting Scots Marching Band makes its football game debut under new director John Eckstine this Saturday night at April Zorn Memorial Stadium.

JOHN ECKSTINE: Although he's been working at the College since 2021, Saturday will be band di... JOHN ECKSTINE: Although he's been working at the College since 2021, Saturday will be band director's first time in charge of a Fighting Scots halftime show.The band, which has nearly doubled in size since Eckstine took over late in 2021, will perform a halftime show at the Fighting Scots’ season opener against Wartburg, which will kick off at 7 p.m. The group will also play in the stands throughout the contest, which is the first night football game the Fighting Scots have hosted.

Among the selections to be performed by the 45-member group are the Michael Jackson hit “Smooth Criminal,” Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” and the Brittney Spears hit “Toxic.”

The band will also play at Monmouth’s home football games on Sept. 17, Oct. 1, Oct. 15 and Nov. 5.

Additionally, the band will play “Road to the Isles” when it marches in the Warren County Prime Beef Festival parade on Sept. 7 and the Monmouth College Homecoming parade on Oct. 1.

“The band is sounding very full and mature this year and is constantly improving,” said Eckstine. “These are perhaps the most dedicated and mature musicians that the Monmouth College Fighting Scots Marching Band has seen in the past several years.”

The drum major this year is Anatasia Suman ’23 of Milan, Illinois.

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