update:
May 17, 2003

PURDUE UNIVERSITY

Learn about the All American Marching Band below:
Facts
Traditions
Travel Information
Schedule
Contact
Links

Facts:

• Location: West Lafayette, Indiana
• Mascot: Boilermakers
  *** contrary to popular belief, the official mascot is the Boilermaker Special, not Purdue Pete... but Pete is also cool.
• Stadium: Ross-Ade Stadium
• Campus Home: Offices, rehearsal rooms, concert bands, etc. - Elliott Hall of Music. Marching Band practice - Drill field, on Third Street next to tennis counrts, across from Shreve Hall
• Band size: Approx. 325-350, including auxiliaries
• Director: Dr. David Leppla ("Doc") - also Director of Bands, Director of Concert Band (spring)
• Assistant Directors:
  William D. Kisinger ("Bill") - also Director of Collegiate Band, and Boiler Brass
  Dr. Pam Nave ("Dr. Pam") - also Percussion Instructor, Director of Varsity Band and GABS
• Drum Majors: Bob Shrinet and Danielle Donovan
• Twirlers: Golden Girl - Christy Jane Stallings; Girl in Black - Krista Woodward; Silver Twins - Julie Thompson and Tracy Johnson
• Other Auxiliaries: Twirling Line, Golduster Pom Squad/Dance Line, Golden Silks Flag Corps
• Marching Block: Ranks of 10, with 1 alternate per rank.
  Fall 2002: 4 ranks trumpets; 3 ranks trombones; 2 ranks each of mellophones, alto saxes, clarinets, piccolos (no flutes); 1 rank of each tenor saxes, baritones; approx. 14 tubas, drumline (approx. 10 snares, 6 bass, 4 tenors, 10 cymbals).
• Marching Style: chair step style all the time
  
  "... which is rather interesting going uphill at 220 beats per minute in December when it's 20 degrees outside while practicing for the Rose Bowl. Good times, good times..." - Kim Conrad, Mellophone/French Horn
  
• Leadership: Each section has a section leader and if large enough, an assistant section leader. They act as rank leaders (march #1 spot/right guide). In large sections there is also a rank leader for each additional rank. Ratio is approx. 1 leader out of each 10 students
• Practice Locations: All marching rehearsals are at Drill Field; indoors at Elliott Hall.
• Rehearsal Times: M-F 3:30 to 5:30 every week. Mondays normally indoor rehearsals. Fridays before games are "Gold Day"" rehearsals and the band weras uniform hats and gray band t-shirts. Gameday rehearsals begin 3 hours before kickoff at the drill field.
• School Songs: Hail Purdue, For the Honor of Old Purdue, Fighting Varsity, Purdue Hymn (alma mater).
• Other Bands:
  Boiler Brass - men's basketball
  Gold and Black Sound (GABS) - women's basketball
  Symphonic Orchestra
  Symphonic Band
  Concert Band
  Collegiate Band (spring only concert band)
  Varsity Band (spring only concert band)
  Jazz Bands (2 in fall, 3 in spring)
  American Music Review (AMR) - "big band" with singers
  Winter Drumline
  Volleyball Band - volunteer pep band
  
  Purdue has no school of music and therefore no music majors. All participants are in band simply because they enjoy band.

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Traditions:

• The Purdue All-American Marching Band (AAMB) is a long standing tradition at Purdue University. It began in 1886 as a military band consisting of 5 people and since has grown into one of the top band programs in the country. In 1904, Paul "Spotts" Emerick joined as a student and in 1905 became a student director of the band. In the years following, Spotts led the band to many "firsts" and established many of the traditions that the Purdue AAMB still carries on today
• Some Purdue AAMB Firsts:
  1907: First band to break ranks - they formed a letter - the Block P that is still used today
  1919: First to carry all of the Big Ten colors (flags) on the field
  1920: First to play an opponent's school song (still done today during pregame)
  1930: First to use fanfare trumpets on the field
  1935: Used lighted night formation (Spotts was an electrical engineer), and earned the nickname "All-American" Band
  1954: First to use a dancing line of majorettes
  1963: First college band to play at Radio City Music Hall
  1992: First college band to appear in the Singapore Chingay Procession
  1995: First college without a school of music to win athe Sudler Trophy
• Interesting Fact: The AAMB was the first band to have an alumnus walk on the moon: Neil Armstrong (baritone)in 1969
• Big Bass Drum:
  In 1921, Purdue's Big Bass Drum was built by the Leedy Manufacturing Company of INdianapolis for just over $900. It is considered to be the largest drum in the world. The UNiversity of Texas challenged Purdue to a big bass drum push in August of 1961 to the Kappa Kappa Psi/Tau Beta Sigma national convention in Wichita, Kansas. Members of Kappa Kappa Psi, Gamma Pi chapter and Tau Beta Sigma, Beta Sigma chapter pushed the Big Bass Drum through all the major citis between Lafayette, Indiana and Wichita. The Texas drum did not show up, and therefore Purdue's drum was officially declared to be the "World's Largest" by the Convention.
  The Big Bass Drum, affectionately known as the BBD, is still used at all home football games and away performances. The BBD crew consists of 6 members: 2 beaters who play the drum and 4 "tractions," one for each corner. They manuever/run the drum on the field and in parades.
• Orville Redenbacher is an alumnus of the band. He played tuba.
• The band performs at the Indianapolis 500 each spring.
• Auxiliaries:
  Purdue is known as a "cradle of twirlers." The Golden Girl Position was created in 1954 as the band's counterpart to "Purde's Golden Boy," the then quarterback, Lenny Dawson. Purdue also has the Girl-in-Black and the Silver Twins solo-twirler positions. While there have been 6 sets of identical twins to be Silver Twins, they are generally unrelated but perform synchronized routines. In addition to these four solo twirlers, the AAMB also has a twirling line, which normalliny consists of 4 to 7 members. Also performing with the AAMB are the Golden Silks Flag Corp, which consists of between 15-20 members, and the Golduster Pom Squad/Dance Line, also 15-20 strong.
• Student Offices:
  Without the 6 student offices there would be no band. The offices are: Operations (responsible for band's "stuff" including ladders, water jugs, and luggage on away trip); Supply (take care of university owned instruments and equipment); Clothing (uniforms); R&R/PR (Records, Recruiting, Public Relations - maintains records and works with the Public Relations Director); and Outreach (organizes community events). Students volunteer for these offices and in turn earn military rank. These offices date back to the early days as a military band.
• Band Cheer:
  In response to the drum majors' question of:
  "Have we got the best damn band in the land?"
  the band replies:
  "Hell yes, Damn right, You bet, No sweat, Gung-ho, Cha-cha-cha, Uuhh, Samba, Bicycle, Cervesa, Scooby-dooby-doo, All the Jazz, Roses, Yup, Bufori, El Baño, Smax, Howaya, Peaches, Reerr, Butter, Ciao, Bush, Chinguay, Sudler, Alamo, FISS, Awesome!!!"
  - Each word in the cheer signifies an important event in the band's history, such as "Roses" from the 1967 Rose Bowl, and "Bush" for President Bush's 1989 inaugural parade.
• Gameday:
  - Report time is to the drill field, normally 3 hours before kickoff in full uniform. Rank Leaders do uniform inspection, checking for things such as clean gloves, clean spats, proper pant length, shined shos, etc. The band runs through the pregame and halftime shows twice each and then prepares for the march to Slayter for the pregame concert.
  - The Slayter Center Pregame Concert begins 90 minutes before kickoff and is a long standing gameday tradition. Come hear a musical preview of out halftime show, among other things. Buy band merchandise at a table located just to the left of )as you're sititng on the hill_ the stage. Donate money to the "Hail Challenge" at this table and win a chance to conduct the band in "Hail Purdue" at the end of the concert. After the concert at Slayter, follow the band as we march to the stadium.
  - Pregame generally follows a standard pattern. The band does "run-on," coming on in pairs of files to form the fanfare block. The band then plays the Boilermaker Fanfare as the solo twirlers and drum majors are introduced, the plays For the Honor of Old Purdue as the block marches down the field and splits into smaller blocks. The band then marks time as they face backfield and play the visiting team's fight song. The band then does a "rank option" (each rank follows their rank leader) into the traditional "Block P" as they play the verse of "Hail Purdue." Once in the Block P the band sings the chorus of "Hail" as they mark time and do the traditional arm swing. They then play through the chorus of "Hail" while marking time and swaggering. After this, Purdue Hymn (the alma mater) is played, still in the Block P formation. From the Block P, the band rank-options into a sheild formation for their famous rendition of America the Beautiful and the long-time traditional "I Am An American" speech used in every home pregame since the 1960s. In the sheild, the band also perform the Star Spangled Banner while the auxiliaries display 2 large flags - one an American flag, the other the Indiana State Falg. From the sheild, the band rank options into their famous "Floating Purdue" formation to the strains of "Fighting Varsity."
• During the game the band sits in bleachers on the field in the curve of the horseshoe of Ross-Ade
• The AAMB learns a new halftime for each home game - about 7 shows per season. Recent show themes have included PBS (Sesame Street, etc.), John Williams, Micheal Jackson, Jerome Robbins, Gene Kelly, and Chase (Open Up Wide, Get It On, Run Back to Mama), just to name a few.
• After each home game the band marches down N Universit St (next to Cary Quad) and Stadium Mall Dr. to the Fountain on the Engineering Mall for the fountain concert. Come sit on the steps of Hovde Hall and listen to the final rendition of the music from out halftime show, as well as some auxiliary feature tunes. The band ends each concert by singing Purdue Hymn, playing Hail Purdue and doingthe traditional run-out. Make sure you're standing out of the way for this, or else you WILL be run over! After run-out, the band returns for yet another tradition, the drum major/drumline breakdown.

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Purdue Travel Information:

• Good place to park: Intramural Fields west of campus - great tailgating, short walk to Slayter Center concert

  Good restaurants:

• Within walkinh distance of campus:
  - ***Snowbear - awesome frozen custard (corner of Northwestern and Stadium)
  - Jimmy John's - On Northwestern, across from Mackey Arena
  - Chinese - Next to Jimmy John's
  - Subway - On Northwestern in the Village (SE of campus), also in Purdue West - Plaza (west of dorms, near IM field parking)
  - Pizza Hut - Purdue West
  - Fazoli's Chuncey HIll Plaza (in the Village)
  - Einstein Bagels - Village (Nothwestern)
  - ***Jake's - Chauncey (becomes 21+ after 9:00, but if you've already ordered food they won't kick you out.)
• Bars:
  - ***Harry's - the infamous "choclate shop" - on State Street in the village
  - Wabash Yacht Club - Chauncey
  - Where Else? - Village (State St.)
  - *** AJ Wingers - Village (Northwestern ) - great wings
• Down on the Levee: down the hill, this side of the river
  - ***Bruno's Pizza
  - ***XXX - excellent late night greasy-spoon diner. Orange and Brown building on the hill up to campus.
  - Panera
  - Snowbear
  - Wendy's
  - Starbuck's
  - ***BW3s - back in the plaza by the Cactus
  - ***Neon Cactus - good dance floor (one of two bars on the levee)
  - ***Pete's - the other bar on the levee
• Applebee's just north of campus on Northwestern by Wal-Mart
• Pretty much anything else you want is due east of campus, on St Rt 26 near I-65. (Olive Garden, Grindstone Charley's, Spageddies, etc.)

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Schedule:

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Contact:

Want to contact a Purdue Band member? Here's your chance. Members are listed alphabetically by instrument:

Mellophones:

• Kim Conrad

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Links:

Purdue University
AAMB - All American Marching Band
Purdue Sports

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The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author unless otherwise expressed.
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