The University of Pennsylvania Band

The University of Pennsylvania Band
The 2015–16 Penn Band
School	University of Pennsylvania
Location	Philadelphia, PA
Conference	Ivy League
Founded	1897
Director	R. Greer Cheeseman III
Members	100+
Fight song	"The Red and Blue, 'Fight on, Pennsylvania!, Cheer Pennsylvania!"
Uniform	Blue Sweaters with a Red P, khaki pants.
Website	The Penn Band

The University of Pennsylvania Band (commonly known as the Penn Band, or its vaudeville-esque performance name The Huge, the Enormous, the Well-Endowed, Undefeated, Ivy-League Champion, University of Pennsylvania Oxymoronic Fighting Quaker Marching Band) is among the most active collegiate band programs in the U.S.^[1] The organization is a part of the Department of Athletics at the University of Pennsylvania. Like most of the other 50 performing arts groups on the Penn Campus, it has no affiliation with any academic department and is sponsored by the Vice Provost's Office for Undergraduate Life. Typically ranging between 80 and 100 members every year, it is among the largest and most active student-run organizations on campus, performing upwards of 60 times during the academic year. Like most of the Ivy League Bands, the Penn Band is a scramble band.

History

Founded in 1897, the Penn Band stands among the oldest college bands in the country, and one of the nation's first traveling bands (1901).^[1] According to popular legend, the band began after a single cornet player named A. Felix DuPont played to the jeers of residents in the student quadrangle ("Shut up, frosh!"). A more understanding upperclassman, John Ammon, helped DuPont gather 27 volunteers who formed the school's first band.

Its history is marked with a sustained record of performance and achievement. In its first year, the Band performed twice for President William McKinley, as well as at the opening of Houston Hall, the country's first student union. The organization later became an integral part of Penn sporting events—one of the first college bands to play regularly at sporting events. It has been a staple at historic Franklin Field and the Palestra, and campus traditions such as ‘Hey Day,’ ‘Rowbottoms,’, and Commencement ceremonies.

Appearances during the 20th century include countless NCAA tournament games (including The NCAA Final Four in 1979), the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (one of the first collegiate marching bands to ever march in the parade), the 1964 New York World's Fair, and the Miss America Pageant Parade (on more than one occasion).

During its history, the organization has performed with notable musicians, including John Philip Sousa, Edwin Franko Goldman, members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the U.S. Marine Band ("The President's Own"), Doc Severinsen of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and the prominent composer Václav Nelhýbel. The band's performances also include national broadcasts and numerous recordings, beginning in the late 1920s and 1930s with the Victor Talking Machine Company (RCA-Victor Company) and nationally-broadcast performances on WABC. In popular culture, Chuck Barris of Gong Show fame performed with the Band in 1977, and the Band opened for the Maury Povich Show in 1980.

The group has performed at the pleasure of many dignitaries and celebrities over its history in the context of celebrations on-campus and within the city of Philadelphia. This list includes Governor Ed Rendell, Vice President Al Gore, Grace Kelly, President Ronald Reagan, Bill Cosby, Lech Wałęsa, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Lyndon B. Johnson, Peter Lynch, Dolly Parton, Dan Aykroyd, Chris Matthews, and Rudy Giuliani.

By the 1970s, along with most of the other Ivy League bands, the Penn Band became a scramble band. However, it had begun moving away from the traditional corps style in the 1940s. Its current uniform, however, is an inadvertent nod to the past—it is a near-exact copy of the uniform worn by the freshman band in the early 1930s.

The first one hundred years of the organization's history was recently described in a book from Arcadia Publishing: Images of America:The University of Pennsylvania Band (2006).

The Penn Band today

The Penn Band

Today, the Penn Band is a bastion of music and mirth on the Penn Campus, performing at campus events and traditions, all Football games, and nearly all Men's and Women's Basketball games. The group also tours along the East Coast; in the past decade, the group has toured Walt Disney World and Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, as well as San Diego, California. The group's appearances include eight NCAA tournament games on national television in the past fifteen years, ESPN Game Day Live, MSNBC Hardball, and the Fox and Friends Morning Show. In 2007, the band had the opportunity to perform with rock drummer Simon Kirke on the Penn campus. In December 2008, the Band appeared on a nationally televised sports special on CBS Sports, and in April 2008, the Band performed for Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton at an election rally on the Penn campus. Today, the Penn Band stands as one of the few, if not the only, college bands in the country that attends all conference men's basketball games, both home and away.

Famous alumni

Roland F. Seitz, famous Bandmaster and composer of "The University of Pennsylvania Band March"
Adolph Vogel, former director of the Penn Band (1908–1941) and former member of the Philadelphia Orchestra
Lucien Cailliet, former member of the Philadelphia Orchestra and arranger of the Penn fight songs for marching band
James DePriest, Class of 1957
Ted Weems, Class of 1944
Elliot Lawrence, Class of 1944
Bruce Montgomery, longtime Penn Glee Club Director and former Director of the Band (1957–1958)
Greer Cheeseman, current band director and originator of toast-throwing tradition

Traditions

Script Penn – At Homecoming, the Band and Band Alumni form a script PENN on the field during the halftime show
Toast-throwing – At every home Penn football game, during the singing of "Drink a Highball" after the third quarter, fans throw a piece of toast onto the field while the band plays the lyrics 'here's a toast to dear old Penn.' This was started by the band's current director, Greer Cheeseman, in a reference to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Hang Jeff Davis – The Band sings Hang Jeff Davis every time the football team scores
Alumni Day and Commencement – The Band leads the parade of alumni and graduates during these springtime festivities.*
"Hey—Rowbottom!" or "Yea Rowbottom!" was a common cry on the West Philadelphia campus from about 1910 until the 1970s. Once a "Rowbottom" got underway, automobiles might be overturned, windows smashed, and trolley tracks doused with gasoline and set ablaze. In the 1940s "panty raids" of the women's dormitories became a prominent feature. Rowbottoms were most frequent in the fall, particularly after football games.^[2]^[3]

Songs

Hail, Pennsylvania! (The Alma Mater)
The Red and Blue
The Field Cry of Penn ("Hang Jeff Davis")
Cheer Pennsylvania!
Drink a Highball
Fight on, Pennsylvania!
Men of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania Band March
- In 1901, the renowned bandmaster Roland F. Seitz (1867–1946) of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania wrote the famous University of Pennsylvania Band March. The march is generally regarded as one of the finest compositions ever written for a student band, and ultimately was adapted by many other organizations throughout the country.
Franklin Field March
- Edwin Franko Goldman, who was generally regarded only second to John Philip Sousa in the early 20th century, composed the Franklin Field March for the University of Pennsylvania Band. On November 5, 1932, Goldman's Franklin Field March was performed for the first time at the annual University of Pittsburgh-University of Pennsylvania football game.

Discography (known)

The University of Pennsylvania Band (RCA Victor #20040, 1926)^[4]
The Songs of the University of Pennsylvania (1954)
The Songs of the University of Pennsylvania (1958?)
The University of Pennsylvania Symphonic Band (1963)
Sports Marches: The University of Pennsylvania Band and the All-American Band (SESAC, 1965)^[5]
Cheer Pennsylvania! (1983)
Penn Band: World Tour (1986)
Live at Smoke's (1989)
A Toast to Dear Old Penn (1993)
Five Score and Several Years to Go (1997)
The Band That Rocks the Cradle (2001)
The Band Before Time (2007)
Where in the World is the Penn Band? (2012)
The Band in Space (2016)

References

1 2 Images of America: The University of Pennsylvania Band (2006) (Arcadia Publishing)
↑ "Documented Rowbottoms, in the University's online history". Retrieved 25 March 2010.
↑ University of Pennsylvania Band. 2003. Retrieved 25 March 2010.
↑ Victor Discography: Victor 20040. http://victor.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/object/detail/17454/Victor_20040
↑ Broadcasting (weekly), August 9, 1965, page 60.

External links

Penn Quakers football

Venues	Franklin Field (1895–present)

Bowls & rivalries	1917 Rose Bowl Brown Cornell Harvard Princeton Yale

Culture & lore	The Penn Quaker "Fight on, Pennsylvania!" Marching band

People	Head coaches NFL draftees

Seasons	1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

National championship seasons in bold

Penn Quakers men's basketball

Venues	The Palestra (1927–present)

Rivalries	Drexel Princeton

Culture & lore	History "Fight on, Pennsylvania!" City 6 Philadelphia Big 5 (Robert V. Geasey Trophy) Penn Pep Band

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–00 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearance in italics

University of Pennsylvania

Schools	Annenberg School for Communication Annenberg Public Policy Center Center for Global Communication Studies School of Arts and Sciences School of Dental Medicine School of Design Graduate School of Education School of Engineering and Applied Science School of Law Perelman School of Medicine School of Nursing School of Social Policy and Practice School of Veterinary Medicine Wharton School

Programs	Center for Advanced Judaic Studies Fels Institute of Government Graduate Group in the Art and Archaeology of the Mediterranean World Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business Jerome Fisher Program in Management and Technology Lauder Institute Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics Singh Program in Networked & Social Systems Engineering (NETS) Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences

Places	University City Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts College Hall College Houses David Rittenhouse Laboratory Fisher Fine Arts Library Historic District Houston Hall Institute of Contemporary Art Irvine Auditorium Kelly Writers House Meyerson Hall Moore School of Electrical Engineering Morris Arboretum Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology New Bolton Center Penn Park Perelman Quadrangle Richards Medical Research Laboratories Van Pelt Library

Athletics	Penn Quakers Band "Fight on, Pennsylvania!" Basketball Men's Women's College Boat Club Lacrosse Penn Relays Soccer Men's Women's Class of 1923 Arena Franklin Field Meiklejohn Stadium Palestra

Media	The Daily Pennsylvanian Pennsylvania Punch Bowl University of Pennsylvania Press Wharton School Publishing WQHS Radio WXPN

Life	Student life Notable alumni and faculty Wharton School alumni Mask and Wig Penn Glee Club Penn Masala Penn MERT PennApps Philomathean Society "Hail, Pennsylvania!" "The Red and the Blue"

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