Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Home/Ensembles
Nine Ways
to Perform
The JCSU band program is made up of the IIOS Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Pep Band, Jazz Ensemble and chamber ensembles — all under the College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Arts and Humanities.
The ensembles & squads
Find Your
Section
Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
IIOS Marching Band
The marching band — the university’s most popular performing group. Music and non-music majors alike, selected through an audition process and Preseason Band Camp. The IIOS performs at home and away games, parades, exhibitions and other performances as requested.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Blue Satin Dance Team
Precision, style and tradition. Dancers are selected through an interview, participation in a dance clinic, prepared and freestyle routines, an aptitude test and a technique check.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Flag & Color Guard
Slams, presents, butterflies and tosses. Twirl & Toss clinics run throughout the year, and candidates are selected on routine, aptitude and technique.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Majorettes, Twirlers & Banner
Baton twirlers work with the JCSU Twirl Coordinator; the banner line leads the IIOS onto every field and parade route it marches.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Drumline — The Untouchabulls
Snare, tenors, bass, cymbals and front ensemble. Percussion candidates audition on mallets, snare and timpani, and are encouraged to demonstrate auxiliary percussion skills.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Percussion Ensemble
Percussionists drawn from across the bands, learning and demonstrating proper technique on standard and world percussion instruments. Percussion and non-percussion majors may participate.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Symphonic Band
A year-round ensemble performing a minimum of three full-length concerts each year, plus University-sanctioned events such as Freshman Convocation, Founders’ Day Convocation and Commencement.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Pep Band
The Pep Band performs at home basketball games, recruitment events and the annual CIAA Basketball Tournament. Membership is made up of current and aspiring members of the marching band.
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Jayden Hollins / IIOS Media Team
Five O’Clock Jazz Ensemble
For students who already have improvisational skills in jazz, or who want to learn the idiom. Repertoire ranges across the swing era, cool jazz, smooth jazz, bebop and some mainstream music.
Explore →From the band handbook
What Each
Section Asks
Every section of the Institution holds its members to a published standard. These are the requirements as they appear in the 2026–2027 Band Program Handbook.
IIOS Marching Band
- Open to all JCSU students and subsidiary community colleges
- Enroll in MUS 210 each year of participation
- Scholarship members also enroll in Symphonic Band (MUS 211) in the spring
- Report 4–5 hours before kickoff on home game days
Blue Satin Dance Team
- Interview
- Dance clinic participation (offered throughout the year)
- Prepared routine taught by JCSU dance staff and student leaders
- Freestyle routine created by the candidate
- Technique check — splits, Russians, tumbles, grand jeté
Flag & Color Guard
- Interview
- Twirl & Toss clinic participation
- Prepared routine taught by JCSU flag staff and student leaders
- Freestyle routine created by the candidate
- Technique check — slams, presents, butterflies, tosses
Majorettes, Twirlers & Banner
- Twirlers: flourishes, flashes, flat toss, figure 8s
- Twirlers: prepared and freestyle routines plus aptitude test
- Banner: interview, marching and maneuvering skills
- Banner: response to commands
Drumline & Percussion
- Mallets: major and chromatic scales, reading fluency
- Snare: the 26 standard rudiments, open–close–open (40 PAS rudiments preferred)
- Prepared etude and sight-reading excerpt
- Timpani: prepared etude and tuning exercise
Percussion Ensemble
- Membership through the percussion instructor and Band Director
- Open to percussion and non-percussion majors
- Standard and world percussion repertoire
Symphonic Band
- Rehearses Monday–Thursday, 4:00–6:00 p.m. in the spring
- Required of all scholarship and band financial award recipients
- Will split into Concert Band and Symphonic Band within three years
- The Symphonic Band will become the official touring ensemble
Pep Band
- Rehearses Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:00–5:30 p.m.
- Attend at least 90% of home basketball games to be considered for the CIAA Tournament
- Must be in good academic standing with all professors at the time of travel
Five O’Clock Jazz Ensemble
- Members selected by the instructor and/or audition
- Swing, cool, smooth, bebop and mainstream repertoire
- Open to players building improvisational skill
Membership
Students
First
Membership is open to every student enrolled at least half-time at Johnson C. Smith University, and to approved full-time students at local community colleges and partner institutions — UNC Charlotte, Johnson & Wales, Davidson College and Queens University among them.
- 2.0 GPA to march
- 2.75 GPA to lead
- 3.0 GPA — Scholar’s Club
Student leadership positions are open to sophomores and above with at least one full year in the program, selected through an interview, performance assessment, vocal command, conducting and field teaching.
Fall rehearsal schedule