As 2008 comes to a close, I will not be posting as often (because marching band has ended and new 2009 tasks will consume my time). For those select few who have followed this blog (yes you, I know you're out there!), thank you for taking time to read this. Feel free to leave me a comment (don't worry, they can be from "Anonymous") about anything - whether you liked the site, media, etc. I'd love to hear from you. Now for a special treat before the year's over. Seeing as videos from the "Purdue All-American Archive" are now off-limits to non-students, I thought I'd search for my favorite show on YouTube. I was lucky enough to find it. Here is the show, "Dancing with the Band." The first video is the full show, while the second is just the swing number with a percussion focus.
Again, thanks for reading and let me know what you think!
Color guard: the only time when the average Joe, or, more likely, Josephina, can play with large metal poles, rifles, and sabres without being considered a danger to society.
No marching band is complete with out its guard. The guard usually consists of a flagline (silks) and rifle and sabre sections. The guard is able to use color, props, and choreography to appeal visually to their audiences. In high school competitions, the guard is judged based on movement, equipment, ensemble analysis, and overall general effect. Usually, there is a caption award for "best color guard." This score is used in addition to the bands' score to determine the placements of the bands.
While most people are aware of the general information given above, the history of how color guards started is less well-known. History shows that the tradition was military. While the band played patriotic songs, an accompanying group would follow with banners depicting the army's colors. The military influence can be seen today through the equipment: banners, sabres, rifles, and flags.
Today, there is much more to auxiliary groups. In the winter season, the indoor percussion season begins. This consists of the drumline performing a full floor show with a guard group. If you would like more information on this type of organization, click here. In addition to being a part of a marching band or bugle core, the guard has its own organization. Once the band season ends, winter guard begins. Winter guard consists of the same style of performance as would be seen with a marching band or indoor percussion group, except there is no band or drumline. The guard performs to a recording of music, incorporating dance technique, equipment, and coordination skill. Below are a few videos I came across when looking up different winter guards. You'll notice that the last one is for a group called, "Insolita." I had to privilege of attending the group's performance at the 2007 BOA Summer Symposium. It blew my mind to see what they could do with flags, fire, dance, and percussion. A similar group that tours is "Blast."
INSOLITA If you would like more information on winter guard, check out the organization Winter Guard International.
"Hell yes, damn right, you bet, no sweat, gung ho, cha-cha-cha, unhh, samba, bicycle, cervesa, scooby-dooby-doo, and all that jazz, roses, yup, bufori, el baño, smax, howaya, peaches, reerr, butter, ciao, bush, chingay, sudler, alamo, FISS, coach, jing...AWESOME! THANK YOU."
Here's a special Purdue post for you all - an explanation of the historical "All-American" Marching Band "Band Cheer." This has been used since the 1950s and a new word is added for every major event the band takes part in. The cheer is performed on gameday before the Slaytor Concert and before the Fountain Concert.
Hell Yes: This was taken from a cheerleader cheer at the football games. The cheerleaders would say, "Are we gonna beat (insert rival name)?" The students would yell, "Hell yes!"
Damn Right: The band took the cheerleader's cheer and added this phrase just for kicks.
You Bet: The director tried to "clean up" the cheer, but this phrase never replaced "Hell yes, damn right."
No Sweat: Intense summer sweating stops in the fall. It's also referred to as the "November phenomenon."
Gung Ho: The AAMB is just that.
Cha-cha-cha:I'm not too sure what the reasoning is behind the words other than it has to do with the AAMB's running performance at Radio City Music Hall in 1963 (Fun Fact: Purdue was the first college band to perform there). Apparently, there was a latin number.
Unhh: The reasoning is similar to "cha-cha-cha." It has something to do with the Radio City performance.
Samba: This was the single word the band said during the Radio City Music Hall show in 1963.
Bicycle: During rehearsal, a college student tried to ride his bike through the band. I'm told that, "The guy came out the other side...the bicycle never did." (Fun Fact: It is illegal to cut through a band while they are parade marching.)
Cervesa: On a South America band trip to Venezuela, the head drummer sold the drum major to a prostitute for a round of beers. (Fun Fact: Please never try this ever again.)
Scooby-dooby-doo: This was part of the Radio City Music Hall show in 1966.
And all that jazz: See "scooby-dooby-doo" explanation.
Roses: The Rose Bowl was the band's first bowl trip.
Yup: In the past after long rehearsals, the band would be asked, "Have we got the best damn band in the land?" Their response was short and sweet.
Bufori: The band chose this word after travels to the 1970 World Expo held in Japan. It means crab in Japanese.
El baño: During the band's travels to Mexico in 1972, more than a few students came to know "Montezuma's Revenge" quite well.
Smax: During the Holland trip in 1974, Professor Maxine LeFever got smacked across the face after taking a picture of a cathouse.
Howaya: The band decided to adopted the New Yorker's greeting during its time there at the Radio City Music Hall in 1974.
Peaches: This was added in honor of the Atlanta Peach Bowl in 1978.
Reerr: The band interpreted this as the sound of bagpipes at the Canadian National Expo in 1979.
Butter: This word represents the Houston-Astro Bluebonnet Butter Bowl in 1979.
Ciao: This stands for the trip to the Caribbean in 1981.
Bush: The band was invited to play in Bush's inaugural parade in Washington D.C. in 1989.
Chingay: This phrase represents the band's travels to Singapore in 1992 where it performed in the Singapore Chingay Procession.
Sudler: The band received this coveted prize in 1995. (Fun Fact: Purdue was the first college without a school of music to receive the trophy.)
Alamo: The band was able to travel with the football team to the Alamo Bowl in 1997.
FISS: This stands for the "Feria Internacional de San Sebastian." The band traveled to Spain to perform at this festival.
Coach: When Bill "Coach" Kisinger retired ater 37 years of service as director, he was honored with having his name added to the long list.
Jing: In the summer of 2008, the band performed at the "Meet in Bejing Art and Music Festival" before the Olympics commenced.
Today brings the official end to the marching season. After performing the Christmas Parade, students attended their final rehearsal today to fill out paperwork consisting of student leader and staff evaluations, recommendations for leaders next year, and petitions for leaders. Uniform check-in will happen on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. On a personal note, being in the "All-American" Marching Band was more than I could have asked for. It was surprisingly 20 times better than high school band - something I never thought would happen when I joined what is, in actuality, a pep band. For those of you who are not currently part of the music program at your own college or community, I highly recommend giving it a shot. You never know what you might experience.
On a brighter note, there is one more performance left for specific sections of the band. "Tuba Christmas" will be held this Friday at 7:00pm in Stewart Center. Join the baritones and sousas in a unique display of holiday cheer. Immediately following is the Purdue Jazz Band Concert at 8:00pm. If you happen to be in town, check out the excellent musicians of Purdue University.
I sent a message recently to one of my friends from high school who marched in a DCI drum corp. I asked him to give me a blurb on what it was like - if he liked it or hated it, how challenging it was, if there were any good band stories, etc. I asked him just to describe the experience in general. What I received back was the following:
"Life-changing."
When I was part of my high school marching band (a pretty mediocre one at that), I had a million words to say about it. If after only two years of marching with the same corp this was all he had to say, then there's no way this phrase can be taken lightly or dismissed as cliché.
DCI is short for Drum Corps International. In essence, it's as close as you can get to professional marching band. I first stumbled across this organization the summer before my freshman year when four friends and myself went to a local show. The only way I can describe it was like I was the little 11-year-old Harry Potter discovering Hogwarts and asking, "Oh my tea and crumpets! Whatever could this 'Quidditch' be?" (to be said in a dainty English accent). It was a completely new and completely complete world of its own. With quite a large fan base, there were multiple merchandise stands selling shirts, mugs, jewelry, and pins for the "Cavies" and "Bluecoats." Needless to say, I was blown away by how in depth the marching world was considering I had absolutely no experience in the subject.
DCI consists of three divisions with Division I (World Class) being the most followed (there is also Open Class [div.II/III] and International Class [corps from countries other than the US). Members of the corps are between the ages 13 and 21, and all must go through auditions for whichever corp they are interested in performing with. For a list of DCI drum corps, click Mhere. Auditions for groups are usually held in the fall and winter through camp sessions. By spring, the members are selected, and the competition season kicks off in June. The season culminates with the DCI championships, which, beginning in 2009, will be held at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN. If you can't make it out to view the action live, ESPN2 usually broadcasts the competition. However, I encourage everyone to get out to see a DCI show at some point in your life. The high level of musicality, drill-execution, and overall performance will blow you away.
For more information, check out the Drum Corp International website. The "Drum Corps Planet" site is another valuable resource for DCI information.
That's one small step for man; one giant leap for...a baritone player?
It's the truth. Neil Armstrong was the first bandsmen to be rocketed into space and to set foot on the moon. He played baritone in the Purdue band program while attending the university. Purdue's long-standing tradition doesn't begin or end with him however.
Purdue's "All-American" Marching Band, 1995 Sudler recipient, began its history in 1886 as an ROTC band consisting of five members. For the most part, the band remained a military band until Paul Spotts Emerick joined the band program in 1904. In 1905, he was elected director by his fellow bandsmen and remained in the position until 1954 when he retired. Emerick was the first to introduce the block P in 1907 (the first time a band broke military ranks on the field to form a letter). This tradition continues today but with a much larger band of 340 members. However, this is not the only tradition the band has continued to perform. In 1919, the band started the tradition of carrying the Big Ten flags every gameday and in 1920 was the first band to play the opposing school's fight song during pregame. Both traditions are alive today along with the tradition of every member of the band turning their hats backwards after a Big Ten victory. In addition to football game performances, the band has also upheld the tradition of playing at the Indianapolis 500 every spring.
The band is not solely composed of musicians. Auxiliary members include a flagline (Golden Silks), a pom squad (Goldusters), and a twirling line, which includes four feature twirlers (Silver Twins, Girl in Black, and Golden Girl). The unique position of "Golden Girl" began in 1954 when Purdue was home to quarterback, Len Dawson, nicknamed "Golden Boy." Under director Al G. Wright, the solo twirler position came to be known as the "Golden Girl" in order to match the quarterback's status. Ever since then, the title has been passed down each year to the lucky twirler who earns it through spring auditions.
Purdue bandsmen take part not only in full band traditions, but also in section traditions. For example, the piccolos and trombones always take part in the "Picc-a-bone Party" at the end of band camp - nothing too complex, just a party where piccolos and trombones intermingle. Similarly, at the end of band camp, the trumpet takes part in "Trumpet Pizza" - senior trumpets buy pizza for the entire section. The following video is proof of the special trumpet tradition: For more information and for more "special" videos of trumpet traditions, check out their section site.
There's much more to the Purdue marching band, like the Big Bass Drum and the "Band Cheer," but those will be discussed in later postings. If you'd like to get ahead of the game, take a look at the band's official site here.
The football season is officially over, but the band continues to marching. Check out the "All-American" Marching Band this Sunday in Lafayette, Indiana. The band will be performing in the Lafayette Christmas Parade which kicks off at 1:30pm and will be the last band before Santa. Music selections is the holiday jazz tune, "Jingle Jams" and of course, "Hail Purdue." The band will be in full uniform with additional Christmas ornamentation. The usual parade marching will also be altered slightly to get into the holiday spirit. Hope to see you at the parade!
As 2008 comes to a close, I will not be posting as often (because marching band has ended and new 2009 tasks will consume my time). For those select few who have followed this blog (yes you, I know you're out there!), thank you for taking time to read this. Feel free to leave me a comment (don't worry, they can be from "Anonymous") about anything - whether you liked the site, media, etc. I'd love to hear from you. Now for a special treat before the year's over. Seeing as videos from the "Purdue All-American Archive" are now off-limits to non-students, I thought I'd search for my favorite show on YouTube. I was lucky enough to find it. Here is the show, "Dancing with the Band." The first video is the full show, while the second is just the swing number with a percussion focus.
