Harvard University Band

The band was formed in 1919. By 1930 the band had become a scramble band, a method that was also adopted by most other Ivy League marching bands (as well as the Stanford Band and the Rice Marching Owl Band), with the exception of the Cornell University band. While the inventor of the scramble band technique remains in debate, the HUB maintains a strong claim to the title. A scramble band simply runs (in lieu of marching) from one formation to the next on a cue, typically a starter's pistol.[1]

The HUB office was formerly at 9 Prescott St., and moved to 74 Mt. Auburn St, in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1995. The Harvard University Band's new headquarters was named the "Anderson Band Center" on October 26, 1995, in honor of Leroy Anderson, Director in 1929 and from 1931 to 1935.[2]

At The Game 1994

The Band is led by a Senior Staff consisting of five officers:

Manager: Oversees finances and activity bookings. The current Manager is Luke Jackson '24.

Drill Master: Writes and directs the field shows for football games; coordinates the cheers during hockey games. The current Drill Master is Ja'Karri Pierre '25.

Student Conductor: Conducts and writes arrangements. The current StudCon is Travis Tucker '25.

Drum Major: Serves as the leader for field and parade performances; assists in conducting with a mace; acts as the liaison with other Ivy Bands and coordinator of all away trips. The current Drum Major is Justin Su '24.

Schneider: Coordinates the social activities of the Band and maintains and bolsters esprit de corps. The current Schneider is Kyle Stevenson '25.

The senior staff uniforms vary from the standard uniform. The Drum Major wears a tuxedo, red bow tie, and carries a mace, the Drill Master wears a black trench coat, the Student Conductor wears a HUB bow tie, the Manager wears a unique black hat, and the Schneider wears a green tie.

Junior Staffers, who often later become Senior Staffers, work to build up band loyalty and spirit, and themselves provide the core active membership. Junior staff is composed largely of committees under each of the Senior Staff members:

Manager's Committee: Treasurer, Merchandise Coordinator, Webmaster, Alumni and Public Relations Coordinator, Mailing Coordinator, Historian

Drill Master's Committee: Assistant Drill Manager (ADM), Prop Crew Manager, Recruiting Coordinator, Cinematographer, Social Media Coordinator, Minecraft Maestro (retired position)

Student Conductor's Committee: Music Manager (2), Music Archivist, Arrangements and Licensing Coordinator, Percussion Arranging Coordinator, Instruments Manager

Drum Major's Committee: Internal, Trips Manager, Section Leaders - Saxophones, Clarinets, Trumpets, Flutes, Percussion, Low Brass

Schneider's Committee: Weisse (3-4), Schwartz

Miscellaneous: Wind Ensemble Manager, Jazz Band Manager

The Senior Staff is selected by the previous Senior Staff. The official transition takes place annually in the HUB section of the stands after the completion of the halftime show at The Game.

Bertha

• The Band's bass drum, depicted on the HUB logo, is towed on wheels and measures approximately 8 feet across. The HUB newsletter is also named the "Bass Drum Journal". The drum is called Bertha, and it is the largest playable natural skin bass drum in the world (made from cow's hide). In the past, Bertha was the target of thefts by the rival bands from Yale and Brown. In 1963, the giant drumstick used to sound rhythm on Bertha was spirited away during the second half of the Columbia game at Harvard's home stadium; members of the Columbia University Marching Band at the time, and their progeny, have no idea who may have taken the stick.
  • Bertha originally was purchased in 1927[3] by the Associated Harvard Clubs, when the band requested a bass drum to play at their convention. Given a blank check, the band purchased the largest drum available. The band has not been invited to play for any Associated Harvard Club conventions since. The current one was purchased in 1956 after a series of fundraising concerts when the other became too damaged to play.
• HUB owns one of the world's largest working tubas: a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m) triple B-flat Besson that is more than 50 years old. The musician playing this instrument must experiment and relearn which valve combinations are appropriate for each note. Musicians who have played the tuba in public performances include Boston Symphony Orchestra tubist Chester Schmitz,[4] and Sam Pilafian.[5] The tuba last had a large accumulation of dent damage removed somewhere between 1994 and 2002. The Tuba is engraved "Besson & Sons, London England, Carl Fischer, U.S Agent, New York", and is one of three sub-bass Tubas.[6]
• The band owns a large wooden chair (the Throne) which is ornately decorated with the Harvard logo and HUB motto. It was a gift of the university and the Class of 1903, which the band received in 1953. Currently it is the seat of the Drill Master during drill meetings at which the show for the next week is planned.

The Band "Prop Crew" is part of the Harvard Band and is an integral part of the band's spirit and performance. Prop crew members do not play instruments but generally assist with putting on the halftime show (often acting as extras in the performances) and playing "Bertha." The attire for Prop Crew members is a white jumpsuit with "HARVARD BAND" emblazoned in red stitching on the back.

The HUB's then-largest baton

• 1954 – On March 6, the band took to the ice for the first time to skate and play for the Yale Hockey game.
• 1968 – The band is invited to play graveside at the interment service for Senator Robert F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery.
• 1970 – To celebrate the integration of the (female) Racliffe students into the traditionally all-male Harvard Houses (upper class dormitories), the band suggested that language study would be particularly improved by these "cunning linguists." Ever since all halftime shows have been reviewed by administration officials.
• 1971 – Director Thomas Everett founds the Harvard Jazz Band
• 1972 – Members of the Brown University Band, posing as an ABC News crew complete with blazers, jump suits, camera and truck, persuades a band freshman to help them transport the "Big Bass Drum" down to Soldiers Field for pre-game filming whereupon they absconded with the drum. A friendly Massachusetts judge (and Band alumn) issues a bench warrant and the malefactors are soon caught by State Troopers. Future band manager Sam Coppersmith remains the only person ever to be awarded "Turkey of the Year" by two separate Ivy League Bands.
• 1975 – At the Princeton game, student conductor Tom McGrath, in a tribute to the Boston Pops, led the audience in a mass sing-along of the "Ode to Joy" from the Finale of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, in the original German.
• 1976 – At the Brown game, student conductor Jack Barbash lands in a helicopter on the field dressed as Leonard Bernstein, and the impersonation is said to have been believed by the audience.
• 1979 – Diane Wasserman is the first woman named manager of the band.
• 1994 – At the 75th Reunion, the 1812 Overture was performed on the field with the explosion of hydrogen balloons serving as cannon fire.[7] The idea was inspired by Harvard residence Lowell House's traditional courtyard rendition of the same song using the same method.
• 2006 – At the Lafayette game, student conductor Kenton Hetrick '07 conducted the HUB with a 12' 6" baton, which broke the Guinness World Record for largest baton. This has since been broken by the Harmonie Amicitia Roggel of the Netherlands, with a baton measuring 13' 11".[8] On October 20, 2007 The University of Pennsylvania Band unveiled a 15' 9" baton nicknamed "The Maestro," setting the new world record.[9]

To mark the 100th anniversary of the band, hundreds of alumni joined the band on the field on October 12, 2019.

• Leroy Anderson (pronounced luh-ROY) '29 (Trombone) was director of the HUB first in 1929 and then from 1931 to 1935. He also played as an undergraduate beginning in 1926, and was student conductor from 1928 to 1930. Composer of The Syncopated Clock (used for 25 years as the theme music for "The Late Show," the WCBS late-night movie.), Fiddle-Faddle, The Typewriter, Blue Tango, A Trumpeter's Lullaby and the Christmas classic Sleigh Ride among many others.[10] The Harvard University Band's new headquarters was named the "Anderson Band Center" in 1995 in honor of Leroy Anderson.[2]
• Theodore Kaczynski '62 (Trombone) is also known as the Unabomber. He briefly joined the HUB as a freshman in 1958.
• G. Wright Briggs '31 was band director from 1953 to 1959 was a member of the theory and composition faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music and program director for the famous Boston public radio station WBZ.
• Thomas Eugene Everhart '53 (Trombone) was the president of Caltech from 1987 to 1997.
• David M. Dobson '91 (Tuba) is the creator of the computer game Snood. As a Tubist, Dobson was known to play Flight of the Bumblebee and also arranged a 3-tuba Pachelbel's Canon.
• Tom McGrath '76 (Trumpet) was a founding member of the Harvard Jazz Band and Student Conductor from 1975 to 1976. He is a Hollywood and Broadway producer. Produced the film The Princess Bride and the Broadway revivals of West Side Story and Hair
• Sam Coppersmith, 1975-76 Band Manager and victim of the Brown University stolen bass drum stunt, later became a Congressman from Arizona.

There is an old saying that, "You can always tell a Harvard Man (now Grad)....but you can't tell 'em very much." In keeping with that tradition, the main Harvard fight song, Ten Thousand Men of Harvard features a first verse in Latin. The verse is intended as an extended Latin pun and makes little sense when translated: The verse was written in 1953 by Ed Upton '53, Alan Robinson '54 and Charles Lipson '54.

Illigitimum non Carborundum, Domine Salvum Fac.
Illigitimum non Carborundum, Domine Salvum Fac.
Gaudeamus Igitur,
Veritas, non Sequitur,
Illigitimum non Carborundum, Ipso Facto

Tom McGrath '76 and his father Joe McGrath '44 at the Harvard Band's 75th reunion

Uniquely among college bands, the Harvard Band holds its own reunion every five years. It is also the oldest college band reunion in the world, with the first held at the Harvard University Band's 30th Anniversary in 1949.[11] The Band's 90th Reunion in 2009 had almost 200 alumni return to perform in Soldier's Field. These reunions allow a member to reconnect with friends from several graduating classes. By contrast, a typical class reunion is only for people who all graduated in the same year.

The band's 100th anniversary in 2019 attracted ~520 band alumni to the October 12 game against Cornell University.[12] Other centenary festivities included an evening of performances and a performance by the newly restored Besson tuba.[12]

• HUB Official Site See also the HUB History page
• The Big Tuba
• Harvard Gazette 80th Reunion
• MOM Article on "Mom" (Alice Tondel)
• Big Tuba Photo of Sam Pilafian (photo #25) playing the Big Tuba.
• Big Tuba 2 Photo album of Sam Pilafian playing the Big Tuba in Memorial Hall, on October 8, 2004, as well as some closeup photos