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Princeton University Band

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The Princeton University Band serves as the marching band and pep band of Princeton University. Like most other Ivy League bands, it is a scramble band. To members and fans, it is often known as the PUB (pronounced Pea You Bee) or simply The Band. Many alumni refer to it as the Tiger Band.

About The PUB

Founded in 1919, the PUB is a recognized student organization of Princeton University and is almost entirely run by a twelve-member officer corps consisting of the President, Drum Major, Student Conductor, Head Manager, Alumni Coordinator, and Treasurer, along with two Librarians ("Libes") and four Drill Masters ("DMs"). A professional music advisor, paid out of the band's operating fund, is the only non-student involved in directing the band.

Supporting Princeton Athletics

During the fall football season, the band performs at nearly all Princeton football games, both home and away. At each game, besides playing in the stands during pauses in the game, the band puts on a pregame show and a halftime show, each of which consists of three or four songs with accompanying formations, interspersed with a humorous script. The PUB also has a repertoire of cheers which are invoked throughout the game - often mildly offensive, but amusing nonetheless. After the conclusion of the football season, the Band transforms into a pep band and plays in the stands at select Princeton hockey, basketball, and lacrosse games. Other than the absence of scrambling and formations, the Band's presence at these events is much the same as at football games.

Uniforms

The standard uniforms of the PUB, used during football season and for parades, Princeton Reunions, and other formal events, consist of black pants, white shoes, white shirts with solid black ties, Italian "boater" hats, and distinctive orange-and-black plaid jackets (which are rumored to be quite obnoxious to those seeing them for the first time). The Band actually owns the rights to the particular plaid design found on the jackets. For hockey and basketball games, the band adopts less formal attire: orange-and-black striped rugby shirts and jeans. At lacrosse games in the spring, the band wears the hats and jackets (from the standard uniform) with jeans. Also, graduating seniors find a way to adorn their beer jackets with the plaid in some fashion, making alums of the band easy to spot.

Alumni and Friends

Friends of Tiger Band (FOTB) is the official organization for alumni and other supporters of the PUB. Proving that the PUB is forever, band members automatically become members of FOTB upon graduation. FOTB has three key functions: (1) hosting Band Reunions following the Home Big Three game and the P-Rade, (2) publishing the FOTB newsletter, and most importantly (3) providing support, both financially and in dealings with the University administration.

Traditions

Double-Double Rotating P

Traditionally, the PUB ends its football pregame shows with a formation known as the "Double-Double Rotating P." The formation is a large outline letter "P" comprising an outer loop in a "P" shape and a smaller inner loop forming the interior of the letter. In this formation, the PUB plays the march "Going Back to Nassau Hall." When the band reaches the trio, the P itself remains stationary, but the members of the band start to move around the perimeter of the P, with the outer loop moving clockwise and the inner loop moving counterclockwise. The band plays the trio twice, and upon beginning the second time through the trio, the two loops reverse their respective directions.

At home games, this performance immediately leads into performance of The Star-Spangled Banner.

The White Castle Meat Product Tolerance Marathon

At the conclusion of each school year, the band takes a trip to White Castle and holds an eating contest. No time limits are enforced. Whoever can eat the most Slyders is named King of the Castle for that year. Style points are awarded for some eating methods, including:

  • Stacking two burgers and eating them simultaneously (Two-at-a-Time, Three-at-a-Time, etc.)
  • Stuffing the entire burger in your mouth and swallowing it (the White Castle Chug)

The current record holders are David R. Turner III '02 and Erik Williamson '05, who both have recorded 32 burgers in one sitting. For more information on the competition, refer to the official website.

Favorite Songs

  • Princeton Songs
    • The Princeton Cannon Song
    • Going Back to Nassau Hall
    • Princeton Forward
    • Tiger Rag
  • Chuck Mangione's Grammy-winning theme to The Children of Sanchez
  • Rock Lobster - traditionally, at a certain point in this song, band members lie down on the ground and wave their legs like lobsters, a perennial crowd-pleaser.
  • Tequila

The Band's repertoire includes dozens of other songs, principally featuring classic rock and, more recently, 90s hits.

The Princeton University Band Song

The lyrics to the band's theme song:

Oh here we are, the Princeton Band,
Playing songs of Old Nassau.
That old refrain will sound again,
And you will hear the tiger roar!
The slide trombone, the saxophone,
And the bass drum sounding grand!
With a boom, boom, boom!
And a zoom, zoom, zoom!
Oh, when you hear the Princeton Band!

Trivia

Notable Moments and Anecdotes

  • The PUB has an ongoing presence in, of all media outlets, Sports Illustrated. Among the highlights:
    • The PUB appeared on the cover of the October 17, 1955 issue. This was the first time any Ivy League students appeared on the cover.
    • After Princeton's stunning knockout of the UCLA men's basketball team in the 1996 NCAA tournament, SI wrote "If there really is a hoop heaven, the house band would be Princeton's, troubadours in straw hats who played the theme from "Underdog" late in the Tigers' victory."
    • Most recently the PUB was cited in the on-line version of SI. Paul Zimmerman, in his column of February 26, 2004, claimed "for years, the fastest rendition [of the Star-Spangled Banner] I regularly clocked was that of the Princeton band. Always around 53 seconds."
  • The Band has been banned from Lafayette College due to an irreverent comedy show of which the administration did not approve.
  • The Band has been on national television playing for the Princeton University basketball team at the NCAA tournament. In 2004, they traveled to Denver to watch the Princeton Tigers take on the Texas Longhorns.
  • For the 2005 P-Rade at Princeton's Reunions, the weather was threatening to downpour for the first several hours of the festivities. Just as the graduating Class of 2005 was joining the procession, a severe thunderstorm entered the area, soaking eveybody in attendance. Undeterred by the weather, however, the Band led the senior class on to the traditional parade-ending sprint across Poe Field.
  • Later the same day, the traditional evening orchestra concert celebrating the close of Reunions was cancelled due to the weather, though by the time of the concert itself the storm had long since cleared the area. Never to let an audience go to waste, a small group of band members who had come to watch the concert grabbed instruments and music and assembled to entertain the crowd until the fireworks display an hour later.
  • Finally, during the 1967 Harvard game, nationally televised on ABC, the Band intentionally spelled out the letters NBC. The network was not amused.
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