It’s a familiar feeling for every student — the blank stare that pairs with anxiety when you simply have no answer to a question on an exam. Some bite their pens, some crack their knuckles, but when it comes to Maurice Taylor, the 45-year-old has been nervously tapping his hands since he was a child. As the young Taylor found himself struggling over a pop quiz in the fifth grade, his teacher recognized that his nervous tapping had beat and rhythm. It was then that Taylor was introduced to the drums and believes from there, “the rest was history.”

Growing up he was nicknamed “Reese” until his radio personality tagged him as “Mo,” but on the Binghamton University campus he is “Mo Music,” conductor of The Screaming Green, the Binghamton University Pep Band.

As a native of Binghamton, Taylor was no stranger to Binghamton University or its athletic department growing up. But it wasn’t the fight in the Colonials that got Taylor inspired to spread his knowledge of music onto others.

“I went to school at Binghamton High with several ‘in-demand’ musicians that live around the New York area and around the world,” Taylor said. “Tony Kadleck, Steve Davis, Kris Jensen, Dena Derose, Tom Dempsey, John Hollenbeck, we all keep in touch.”

Having played with legitimate musicians in a high school setting, Taylor was exposed to formal music training, as well as an overflow of musical knowledge from his classmates. With his unique understanding of music, Taylor found himself auditioning for a local top-40 band after his high school graduation, where he would not only play, but also eventually become the musical director, similar to conducting.

“The actual ‘conducting’ came from being asked to work with the Binghamton High School Pep Band in the early to mid 90’s,” Taylor recalled of his first conducting gig.

More than 15 years later, Taylor has now made himself a home with The Screaming Green, which was established in 2004 by five undergraduate students. Taylor’s notorious antics, which include dancing with BU mascot “Baxter” and chanting after every free throw that a Bearcat makes, have made Mo an entertaining sideshow. Though the fans do the cheering, Mo deserves some credit for the Events Center’s rowdy atmosphere, routinely daring the crowd to get louder with a provoking (but encouraging) hand to the ear.

When he’s not leading the pep band, Taylor is a trombonist and singer for the Terry Walker Project, a band located in Binghamton. The band’s website calls him a “versatile instrumentalist that can play many different styles of music. His soulful voice accentuates the grooves of the band.”

Aside from appearing with the band in the 2009 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament in Greensboro, N.C., “Mo Music” has brought character to his band and to the athletic department in his five years as band director, but admits it’s not always easy.

“There are times that I am teaching music to the pep band and I hope as an instructor, I am showing or … playing in a way that they can understand what you are trying to pull from them,” Taylor explained. “That is one of the biggest struggles and the biggest reward when I hear or see that they are really getting it.”

So, the next time you are leaving the Events Center to The Screaming Green’s rendition of “Hey Baby,” remember where the music started.