Toot your own horn

By Al St. Germain

It's a cold Saturday in November in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is...The Game. The Yale Precision Marching Band (YPMB) has just finished its field show, which featured not only a fine repertoire of current hits, but also a 17-foot long cardboard shark. The Harvard band takes the field while the shark circles ominously beyond the endzone. The chant of "Send the shark!" echoes from everyone's mouth, the youngest freshman to New York Governor George Pataki, PC '67. The Harvard band scrambles to protect their beloved bass drum. The crowd works itself into a frenzy. The shark begins to creep over to the Harvard side, and the rest is history.

This is just one of the YPMB's many exploits in every football season, whether it be unleashing large ocean predators on opposing bands or leaping into a Princeton campus fountain to play "Bulldog." Other halftime hijinks have included setting sousaphones on fire and the wedding of two YPMB alums. It would take an entire Herald Freshman issue to describe them all.

Undoubtedly one of the athletic program's biggest supporters, the YPMB brings its sound, fury, and witty irreverence not only to football games but to other major athletic events throughout the year. The alter ego of the YPMB, the Winter Wonder Band, appears at Yale hockey and basketball games. In fact, nothing is safe from a YPMB visit: not students cramming away for a Spanish final in the Language Lab, not First Lady Hillary Clinton, LAW '73, making a speech at New Haven City Hall.

This is not your regular marching band. Those bands march in straight lines. The YPMB doesn't even march. They wear polyester uniforms. The YPMB wears jeans. They play John Philip Sousa. The YPMB plays John Lennon. The YPMB prides itself on being on the cutting edge of the college band scene. Student arrangers work furiously to expand the band's repertoire. Recent hits include A-Ha's "Take On Me," Black Box's "Strike It Up," and the theme to Super Mario Brothers.

All are welcome to join the YPMB: orchestra caliber trombonists, second saxophones, viola players, and even non-instrumentalists. Yes, non-instrumentalists play a vital role in the YPMB; who do you think piloted the shark? YPMB shows are not just an auditory feast but a smorgasbord of props and other visual elements provided by these "squids." It does not matter who you are--if you go to Yale, you can be a part ofthe YPMB.

Don't be the one sitting in the Language Lab when the man with the whistle and sweater comes in followed by an army of Yale fanatics. Be a fanatic. Join the YPMB.

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