The Power Sound of the South

The Power Sound of the South is the marching band of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. While the band serves as ambassadors to the university in a number of settings, their primary function is to support the NC State football team both at home in Carter–Finley Stadium and on the road. The Power Sound of the South performs at all home football games and select away games. The band has also represented NC State internationally, in countries including Ireland, Spain, and France.

North Carolina State University does not offer music as a major, instead only offering a music minor program. Even so, 315-345 students participate in the marching band at NC State each year.

The band performs the same pregame show for all football games, but plays 4-5 different halftime shows throughout the course of the football season. The pregame show includes sprinting out of the tunnel and onto the field, the "dirty shuffle", the NC State Fight Song, The Star-Spangled Banner, Red and White, the NC State Alma Mater, and various excerpts from John Philip Sousa's marches. Recent halftime show themes include Daft Punk, classic and modern cartoons, The Beatles, The Sound of Music, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Phantom of the Opera, The Incredibles, and US Armed Forces appreciation. In addition to the field shows, the band plays a large variety of pep tunes in the stands to engage and excite the football fans.

Instrumentation of the group consists of a drumline (bass drums, snare drums, tenor drums, cymbals) piccolos, soprano clarinets, alto saxophones, tenor saxophones, trumpets, mellophones, tenor trombones, marching baritone horns, bass trombones (starting in 2013), and sousaphones.