The MIT What!

The MIT What! impressively deep= announcers= voice= /impressively/p pAND Now, Ladies And Gentlemen, For Your Viewing Pleasure/p pThe World-Famous, Nationally Renowned, Often Copied But Never Cloned, Unforgettable (No Matter How Hard You Try), Super Phat, Super Fly /p pIts the One, the Only, MIT MARCHING BAND!/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/crrazy_640x475.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/crrazy_640x475.jpg width=520 alt=I3MITMB/p p/p pFor some reason, people are often surprised to learn that MIT has not only a href=http://web.mit.edu/varf-ball/www/index.html _cke_saved_href=http://web.mit.edu/varf-ball/www/index.htmla football team/a, but also a a href=http://web.mit.edu/marching-band/www/ _cke_saved_href=http://web.mit.edu/marching-band/www/marching band/a. With a a href=http://www.youtube.com/user/MITmarchingband _cke_saved_href=http://www.youtube.com/user/MITmarchingbandYouTube Channel/a./p pThis is, in fact, the 30th anniversary of both the marching band and the modern football team. Looking through this a href=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/newspaperarticle.pdf _cke_saved_href=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/newspaperarticle.pdffascinating piece of history/a from 1978, we see on page 12 that the band enthusiastically played rousing tunes. It also mentions the infamous Gimme an M, gimme an A, gimme an S cheer, which is a personal favorite of mine. Spelling out Massachusetts Institute of Technology takes a while. Nowadays, we often just pull out our ID cards and read off of them to avoid spelling mistakes like the one they mentioned in the article./p pOne of the band members out there was Doug Pape 81, also the trumpet player on the left in this photo:/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/ombponcho_640x440.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/ombponcho_640x440.jpg width=520/p pHe t ells me that the MIT Marching Band grew out of a group from 2nd East. The guy in the shorts was also on the new football team as well, and gave up his halftime break to play in the band./p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/o2ndEastMarBand_637x480.JPG _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/o2ndEastMarBand_637x480.JPG width=520/p pThey advertised around campus, and the MIT Marching Band was born!/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/oApproachingSteinbrenner_637x480.JPG _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/oApproachingSteinbrenner_637x480.JPG width=520/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/oMarBandInStands_640x477.JPG _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/oMarBandInStands_640x477.JPG width=520/p pEd Kinney, the first band director, wrote to the current officers recently to tell us that this was a tim e when they had bake sales and sub sandwich sales to make money. They had to take the train back and forth to NYC to rent sousaphones. Mostly they played Sousa marches, which were easy to acquire, but they went all out on an arrangement of The Imperial March for $300. They eventually got red t-shirts./p pIf I were to tell you about the next 17 years, I would basically be pulling things from a href=http://web.mit.edu/marching-band/www/oldmb/history.html _cke_saved_href=http://web.mit.edu/marching-band/www/oldmb/history.htmlhere/a and rearranging the words in an attempt to avoid blatant plagiarism. I totally recommend reading it though. It covers The Rise and Fall of the Smith Administration, The Triumphant Year 1 AB, The Year of Fascism, The Communist Revolution, and The end of the reign of James./p pSometime after 1995, the band fizzled out, as far as I know. It doesnt seem to have been for lack of creative advertising::/pblockquotebr Join the MIT Marching Band! Sign up NOW to join this prestigious, unforgettable MIT tradition that is our marching band. No experience necessary or assumed, satisfies HASS-D requirements, Institite LAB, (register for 21M666, Riots, Stikes, and Contemporary Marching Bands in Polynesian Society Today, (0-12-0), and youll be eligible to win 10 MILLION DOLLARS or a position as MIT MARCHING BAND AMBASSADOR TO THE ALIEN NATIONS! So sign up NOW, you may already be a winner! (NOTE: Were not all as weird as Dennis; if you want to join a cool marching band but dont care about being ambassador to alien nations, read on wed love to have you! JS)/blockquotep/p pThe next time The Band surfaced, it was due to the efforts of the amazing Bill 07. Hes on the left in this picture. Im next on the right, followed by a href=http://www.mitadmissions.org/Sam.shtml _cke_saved_href=http://www.mitadmissions.org/Sam.shtmlSam/a. Also pictured are Caroline 08, Ken G, Michael 09 (Current President), Diana 08, and Matt 09./p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad /Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/waterpolo_640x480.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/waterpolo_640x480.jpg width=520/p pBill rewrote the constitution, got us cool shirts, and drummed up (I guess trumpeted up, since he was a trumpeter, not a percussionist) a bunch of members. The bands been approximately doubling in size each year since Fall 04. Its not exactly your traditional marching band; the picture above is from a water polo match, at which we featured music from Jaws./p pOther awesome things in recent history include performing on ice,/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/on-ice_640x480.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/on-ice_640x480.jpg width=520/p pMaking our own incredible capes,/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/capesT_640x480.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/capesT_640x480.jpg width=520/p pBuying Engineers caps,/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/tstop_640x338.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/tstop_640x338.jpg width=520/p pGetting Out, as well as About,/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/statehouse1_640x480.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/statehouse1_640x480.jpg width=520/p pAnd obtaining some Snazzy New Uniforms,/p pimg src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/andcrowd_640x480.jpg _cke_saved_src=http://web.mit.edu/kimfad/Public/rightsize/MarchingBand/andcrowd_640x480.jpg width=520/p pTheres even a colorguard now!/p pAt least, so I hear. I, unfortunately, have become too hosed to partake of the bands awesomeness these days. Although I do show up once every blue moon or two./p pFor those of you interested in admiring the World-Famous, Nationally Renowned, Often Copied But Never Cloned, Unforgettable (No Matter How Hard You Try), Super-Phat, Super-Fly MIT Marching Band, theres a Basketball game versus Emmanuel this Saturday. If youd like to iplay/i, or get more info, give an email to the officers at marching_at_mit_dot_edu, or show up at a Wednesday rehearsal. And if youre a prospective freshman, Im guessing (but cant promise) that the Marching Band will be leading its Amazing Tour of Campus during Campus Preview weekend again./p pHappy 30th, MITMB!/pp/p