Senior Lecturer and Associate Director of Bands Tony Falcone participated in a podcast for The Marching Roundtable titled “Hazing and Values,” which was recorded in September and released Dec. 10.
The podcast is available to listen to or to download at http://go.unl.edu/marchingpodcast or on iTunes (search for Marching Roundtable).
The Marching Roundtable is made up of a panel of experts who present topics of interest and interviews over a broad spectrum of the marching arts and pageantry, including marching bands, drum and bugle corps, winter color guards and winter drum lines.
Last summer, The Marching Roundtable presented a podcast on the situation at Florida A&M that involved the alleged hazing death of one of their band members in 2011.
“I wrote on the comments section on the website, explaining my involvement in the topic, and thanked them for calling attention to it,” Falcone said. “I was very gratified to see them confront it in what I felt was the proper manner. One thing led to another, and I was asked to appear on the podcast myself.”
Falcone is a member of the National Leadership Team for Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity. He is the faculty sponsor for the UNL chapter of the honorary fraternity and has served as Midwest District Governor for the organization since 2007, overseeing 22 chapters in nine states through the region.
In 2009, he was asked to serve on a new task force within the leadership called the Hazing and Values Committee and became chair of the task force last summer.
“Its mission is to curb hazing within the Fraternity, and ultimately in all of college bands through outreach and education for band members, directors and parents,” Falcone said.
A 2008 University of Maine study studied more than 11,000 undergraduate students at 54 colleges and universities around the U.S. on student hazing. They study found that 55 percent of college students involved in clubs, teams and organizations experience hazing. Further, nine out of 10 students who have experienced hazing behavior in college do not consider themselves to have been hazed.
Falcone talks about combating hazing by discussing the values in an organization.
“How we treat each other is an important part of who we are and what we are,” Falcone said. “Tradition is a word that gets thrown around, and you have to really think of what’s the difference between a tradition and something that you’ve just been doing for a long time. But really true, meaningful traditions are rooted in your values, and your values shouldn’t include harming one another.”
Falcone was also co-presenter with Malinda Matney, senior research associate for the Division of Student Affairs at the University of Michigan, and David Westol from Limberlost Consulting on hazing in bands at the 2012 College Band Directors National Association Marching and Athletic Band Symposium last June at The Ohio State University. The presentation was titled “Confronting Issues to Change the Culture in Your Band.”
He will also present on the topic at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio in February.
Falcone is in his 11th year directing the Cornhusker Marching Band and his 15th year at UNL. He also conducts the Symphonic Band and Percussion Ensemble.
He earned his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from James Madison University. He is active as a marching and concert band clinician, arranger and adjudicator for school music programs throughout the country. He also currently serves as Concert Band Chair for the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association.