Band members The band includes
twirlers,
color guards, and
drum majors. The drum majors typically conduct and lead the band. Drum majors serve as secondary conductors when the band's official director is leading performances, or when special guests lead the band in performance.
Student staff The band also has student staff. The staff has section leaders who are assigned to certain instruments and/or instrument parts. They assist in helping the band's directors during practices and performance planning. The staff also features a uniform, fiscal, secretarial, and other various forms of managers.
Pre-game show The traditional pregame was recently changed for the centennial celebration of the school. The original pre-game is: FMB enters the field near the end of
Doyt Perry Stadium executing chair step marching. After finishing the cadences that they enter the field to, the band then "collects" the members from a block formation to their unique "X" block style marching. They march down the field "8 to 5" with this "X" style to the fight song. After performing the fight song, they play "Go BG Warriors" (previously "Happy Days Are Here Again") and then play "Ay Ziggy Zoomba". They then begin to perform Bowling Green State University's
Alma Mater. The Alma Mater is followed by a special arrangement of "America the Beautiful." Going into a patriotic melody, the marching band then does an advanced left-face which faces them toward the flag for the
United States National Anthem directed by the college's Director of Bands (or visiting band director when present). They then do an about-face and exit the field to the traditional cadences. The Falcon Marching Band is known for its signature pregame entrance. The entrance goes back to the late 1960s and was written and designed by Mark S. Kelly, director of bands at BGSU from 1966 to 1994. Small changes and modifications have been made to the entrance over the years to accommodate increases in membership, but the entrance has been relatively unchanged over the years. The traditional pregame entrance is similar to pregame entrances of Big Ten schools in that it uses fast cadences and makes use of the chair step. The traditional Bowling Green entrance uses various sequences and flashy visuals to bring the band on to the field for the downward march to the fight song. The description of the pregame entrance is as follows: The tuba and percussion sections are in a block-like formation in the back of the end zone. The tuba section is lined up in two lines facing downfield. The rest of the band is lined up on the sidelines. With the blowing of the drum majors' whistles the band moves into attention. The drum major turns and faces the tuba and percussion sections. Together they bend back and shout out "Right up in there!" The crowd cheers knowing it is the start of pregame. At this moment the band does a sequence called "boom up". At the sound of a drum boom, the band on the sidelines bounces up back into attention. Then the drum major commands the percussion section to forward march. Using glide step and to the cheering of the crowd, the percussion section enters the field from the end zone while an introduction video plays. Once onto the field, using cymbal crashes on each letter, the band shouts out B-G-S-U. At this moment the cadence starts at about 168 beats per minute. Using a powered chair step, the tuba section high steps out of the end zone. On count 16 of the cadence, two things happen. As the tuba section enters the field, on count 16, the right and left sides of the tuba section flank out. The right side does a 270 spin on the flank while the left side just flanks left. As the flank happens, the tubas then move themselves into a downfield position. As they move into this position, each tuba on the left sides does a 270 spin and then moves into downfield position. Also, on the count of sixteen of the cadence, the rest of the band on the sidelines marks time using a power chair step and enters the field. As the band is entering the field from the sidelines, the drum majors, kicking up their legs, move quickly from the endzone to the front of the band. When the cadence ends, the band does a halt and twists toward the homeside. After the twist, the band plays the "Falcon Fanfare" and then marches down the field to "Forward Falcons", the university fight song, using a chair step.
Post-game show After every football game, the band, football players, and fans collect at the band's stand to sing/play the Alma Mater. If a win, the band will play "Beer Barrel Polka." Every major athletic event ends with a playing of "Ay Ziggy Zoomba", and "Forward Falcons". During "Beer Barrel Polka", the tubas do a march through the end zone before the band exits playing their traditional cadences.
Symphonic sound The Falcon Marching Band is a traditional United States style marching band. Instrumentation features
trumpets,
trombones,
sousaphones,
mellophones,
euphoniums,
saxophones (alto and tenor),
clarinets,
flutes,
piccolos, and
percussion made up of snare drums, tenor drums, bass drums and cymbals. The FMB does not have a front ensemble, or pit. The reasoning for not limiting instruments to a certain set, is the band's tradition of always projecting a unique symphonic sound using a variety of instruments and composition techniques. The goal is to feature a sound not usually found among most high school and collegiate marching bands. ==Original compositions==