Penn State Marching Band Performs Avengers-Themed Halftime Show
In the midst of a cutthroat football game between Penn State and Michigan this past Saturday, Penn [...]
In the midst of a cutthroat football game between Penn State and Michigan this past Saturday, Penn State's marching band took the field for a halftime show made up of nothing but pieces of music from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. After digging out the old Marvel Studios fanfare that used to play during the introductory Marvel title card, the Blue Band then went on to play Alan Silvestri's iconic Avengers theme and two songs from the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack — "Hooked on a Feeling" and "Escape"— before wrapping everything up with the Wakanda theme from Black Panther. You can see the entire nine-minute performance above.
Scores have long been a major focal point for Marvel Studios with the studio hiring top-shelf composers like Silvestri, Michael Giacchino, and Ludwig Göransson to score the films. In fact, Göransson won one of Marvel's first Oscars for his work on Black Panther, taking away Best Original Score at last year's awards. In a post-win interview, the composer mentioned he and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler wanted to remain rooted in traditional African culture.
"The most important thing for me and [director] Ryan [Coogler] in making the music for this film was to have the score rooted in traditional African music," Göransson explained. "That was the number one most important thing. I actually went to West Africa right after I read the script. I told Ryan, 'The only way I can score this movie is to go to Africa and do my research and immerse myself in the culture.'"
Avengers: Infinity War is now streaming on Netflix while Avengers: Endgame is available wherever movies are sold.
Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.
What MCU movie do you think has the best score? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt!
Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images