The Major Reason Why Branson Missouri Is A Destination For Student Bands

Branson, Missouri doesn’t have tropical beaches. It doesn’t have breathtaking skyscrapers and it's not home to a beloved cartoon mouse.

Then why do student bands flock to this humble midwest destination every year? How is Branson, Missouri ever mentioned in the same breath as America’s most popular cities as a destination for a band trip?

Here’s a reason: unique performance opportunities you can’t get anywhere else.

Yes, Branson has beautiful mountains, super cool outdoor activities, and some of the friendliest people you’ll ever meet, but it’s truly differentiated itself as a destination with unmatched performance opportunities thanks to a program known as Branson On Stage Live.

Branson boasts over 100 professional shows which amount to more theater seats than Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. That statistic has earned it the title of “America’s Top Live Music Show Destination”. The Branson On Stage Live program was founded on the idea that those shows could use opening acts, and who better to provide them than the student bands of America?

But Branson On Stage Live wasn’t the work of a big marketing team or an investor scheme. It’s the brainchild of Greg Hoffman, a man who believes dreams of “making it” as a musician can come true, because they did for him.

“Branson On Stage Live really is a culmination of my life experiences.” Hoffman explained.

Hoffman was inspired to learn trumpet as a boy while watching a Louis Armstrong movie. One scene in particular stuck with him when he watched the band jam out on a bus while driving down the highway between gigs.

“I thought, ‘What a life!’ Wouldn’t it be awesome to be a professional musician?”

Little did he know that by the age of 17 his dream would become reality. After joining the military, he begged for a chance to audition for the military band and was offered a spot. Before he knew it, he was on a bus with his trumpet and his bandmates driving down the highway between gigs, feeling just like Louis Armstrong.

What followed was a winding career of music performance and education that eventually led him to Branson, Missouri. In 1993, he was performing as a trumpet player for Tony Orlando’s show which, like many others at the time in Branson, was known for drawing long lines of motor coaches filled with senior citizens.

“One day before a show I knocked on my boss’s door and said ‘Hey Tony I got a great idea!’ That’s when I shared that I wanted to bring student performing groups to be the opening act.” Hoffman said.

After some convincing, Orlando agreed and Branson Live On Stage was born. In 1994 they had their first student group perform as their opening act but even after it was established, it was an uphill battle convincing people that Branson was a town worth visiting.

“I was excited to tell tour operators about the greatest thing in musical performance for a student group and they were like, ‘Where are you from? Branson? What’s In Branson?’”

So for the next decade Hoffman shifted his marketing focus to a different audience: band directors.

“I knew that in order to convince the tour operators, I needed to get directors to come. I told them you can go to festivals. You can perform at events. But you’re never gonna have an experience like you do in Branson. Becoming the opening act in a pre-show performance to a star. Boy, their eyes lit up!” Hoffman said.

One at a time, Hoffman was convincing directors to participate, until word-of-mouth kicked in.

“All of a sudden the buzz is ‘Oh, where’d your band go this year?’ and they’d say ‘We performed on stage for Wayne Newton this summer’ and their colleagues would say ‘WHAT!?. Hoffman said.

“For the next five years or so we started getting groups that were very interested in what their colleagues were doing.”

From there, Branson On Stage Live started to spread rapidly through the surrounding states. Soon after, tour operators started building itineraries for Branson and the shift was in full effect: Branson was becoming a destination for student performance groups. However because of Branson’s history with senior citizen groups, the city was more than prepared for this new wave of visitors.

“All the different vendors here in Branson, they want you, they treat you with that southern hospitality, you’re not just a number. And that’s just the culture of the Ozarks.” Hoffman said.

“Really great, friendly people. And that all translates to a winning trip too. And you can sense that as soon as you hit the town.”

Branson On Stage Live has since helped a staggering number of students achieve professional live performance experience as well as provide the spark for Branson’s meteoric rise as a destination for student bands. Greg Hoffman’s impact on the city is easy to see when you spot buses full of student musicians, but the impact his program has had on those students may be harder to quantify.

“Going through a professional showcase that one evening can change a student’s life. Like it did mine.” Hoffman said.

“You’re hitting students at the most inspirational moment. They get to see the audience’s reaction. They get to feel the audience’s reaction… There’s a lot of opportunities out there that they never even realize until they step into that theater and become a professional for an evening. ”

Branson may not have the glitz of some of America’s most popular cities but thanks to Greg Hoffman and Branson On Stage Live, there’s a spirit of making musical dreams come true through accessibility that you can’t find anywhere else in the country.