Applause for the new look

Hello everyone! Long time lurker, less frequent poster here. My name is Cameron Kubos and I am the Director of Athletic Bands and Spirit Groups at UH (Spirit of Houston).

Thank you so much for the kind words about the band and uniform. We are proud of the work that all of our students (band, cheer, dance, mascots) have put in, especially in the 2020/2021 seasons for basketball and football. They committed to participating as safely as possible, followed all protocols that we put in place, and allowed our groups to not take a “year off”. Their work last year is part of why our groups are operating how they are this year.

To answer a few questions-

The uniforms feature a charcoal grey pant color. We chose a darker pant color as opposed to red for one main reason- it allows the drill on the field to read a lot easier for the crowd. When the band is in all red, and the field markings are all red, it is really easy for formations and marching to blend into the field. We didn’t want to go full black and look like universities where the actual colors are red/black, so this grey was chosen to meet somewhere in the middle. The uniform as a whole was designed with some more modern elements reminiscent of what you see in drum corps/competitive band as well as some specific nods to very traditional UH and college aspects.

In regards to numbers, we are sitting at the 250 band number that we have floated around for several years. Some games, this year specifically, will look different as we have students out. We are very proactive in protocols for health and safety right now, and the students are doing a wonderful job with that which allows us to hopefully perform a full season without interruption.

The 250 number is fairly specific, as that is where we can provide what we feel is a high-level experience for all students. The Spirit of Houston also houses the Cheerleaders, Cougar Dolls, and Mascots directly. It puts us a little over 300 total, and all students receive a $1000 service award per year. In addition, they only pay a $100 flat fee to participate and in turn receive uniforms and equipment, food at all games as well as during our pre-school rehearsals, and anything else needed to participate. They do not pay to travel at any point in our organization. In 2019, a portion of full SOH attended every football game except for the Tulane game (trip was planned, didn’t travel due to flooding). This year we will appear at multiple off-campus games, the marching band will appear in San Antonio at both the State Marching Contest and the Bands of America Super Regional Contest (will be viewed by thousands of high school students and parents), and we will take Cougar Brass and Spirit to the UH Men’s Basketball game versus Oklahoma State in December. We are grateful to the Moores School of Music, University of Houston, UH Athletics, and the Student Fees Allocation Committee for their support. Our students receive a high level experience, which allows us to attract high level talent, which is what some of you are noticing in our sound this year. Our students are good, our students are dedicated, and it is a dream to work with them. This student experience and what we can provide is a large reason we have them. We will continue to grow our support system, and numbers will continue to grow in alignment with the experience they receive.

Like I said, I stay away from posting a lot due to my proximity to the program, but I appreciate the support our student’s receive and love to offer any insight into what we do when possible. I hope to see a lot of you in TDECU this weekend, and GO COOGS!

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Cameron, where can we get MP3s of Spirit of Houston. Lots of other big time college bands have a presence on iTunes.

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Thank you Cameron for the great information and music!!! Go Coogs!!!

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SoundCloud has a bunch of UH MP3s!! Even the old marching tunes!

Cameron, CV3 loves you and SOH so much thank you for letting us sing with y’all at games!

Do you plan on bringing back that slight modification of the first two bars of the fight song (consistently raising in pitch) and the Slim Thug/Fight Song baseline? Those were fun! Will we hear budbones more this year?

Can’t wait to see what y’all do again. Let us know if you need anything.

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Umm linky??

Can we keep the helmets? That logo is the best

Thanks for sharing those details. If I could I would love to have more scholarship money for
every band member. They are THAT important to the school, the game, and our spirit.

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Great information. Thanks for sharing.
As a former band member, I appreciate what you all are putting into everything you do. The sounds are great, but the epitome of the Spirit of Houston is and has always been its enthusiasm. I can’t imagine how you all maintain it with covid protocols and distancing.

Keep up the great work, sir!

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It all starts right here


Cameron!

You are shining. Keep up the good work and thanks for keeping the students safe physically and mentally.

Phil Winston

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We are working on some new audio and visual recordings. We hope to have more out starting at the end of this season and moving forward!

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Cameron. You didn’t comment on my observation that there seems to be a more heavy brass sound to the band this year. It seemed to me that there were fewer woodwinds and more brass instruments than I remember from previous seasons. It this is true, I love it. The brassy sound is louder, fuller and more distinct in an outside environment. The Ohio State marching band comes to mind and it’s appears about the size of the Spirit.