Yale Precision Marching Band

The Yale Precision Marching Band (affectionately known as the YPMB) is the official marching band of Yale University. It is a scatter band (what some peers might call a "scramble band"), as distinct from university marching bands that emphasize precise movements and geometric field formations. Band members refer to themselves as "The Members of", which is derived from their introduction at Yale events.

The repertoire of the YPMB is constantly evolving, driven by student arrangers and pop music trends. Besides standard types of band instruments, the YPMB includes violins, bagpipes, accordions, keyboards and air guitars, and was the first scatter band to incorporate electric guitars.Fact|date=August 2008

The YPMB's "Squids" section creates large cardboard props for halftime shows. The Squids evolved from the "Appoges" (pronounced "əˌpʰodʒəz", after "appoggiatura", a grace note) of the 1980s and 1990s, who handled props but also carried their own "instruments" (frisbees, stuffed giraffes, lounge chairs). The Squids have also been known to handle more visually stunning aspects of the halftime show, such as flaming sousaphones, blank-loaded firearms, and other non-traditional marching band additions. The appearance at certain games of smoke- and flame-producing pyrotechnics has also been linked to the YPMB Squids, but this has never been successfully confirmed via official channels. Squid alumni have gone on to join The Flaming Lotus Girls, The Cacophony Society, professional pyrotechnic companies, and other groups.

The band is largely student-run. The Drum Major conducts the band during rehearsals and at games. The Manager works closely with the Drum Major to organize performances and events on-and-off campus, and ensure the well-being of the group. The Script Writer guides a script team that writes each week's show. The Student Arranger (STUD) heads the Musicological Junta, the student team that arranges music for the shows. Ten section leaders assist the Drum Major and Manager, lead sectionals, etc.

YPMB uniforms consist of white pants and dark blue blazers with the University emblem for football games; signature t-shirts for basketball and volleyball games; and hockey jerseys for hockey, lacrosse, and most other sports.

The band performs at most Yale football, basketball, and hockey events, and travels with Yale athletic teams across the country. It makes regular appearances in New York's Village Halloween Parade. It has been featured on Good Morning America and in many newspapers.

The Game

For the annual Harvard-Yale game - The Game - the YPMB puts on its largest halftime show of the year, featuring enormous three-dimensional props. Known as "Überprops", these typically serve as a means of destroying John Harvard. An Unterprop was used for the first time in 2001.

Überprops

*2007: "Bessie," a stegosaurus-like creature with a moving head and jaw and a moustache in the likeness of the one worn by Yale College's Dean.
*2006: "Peggy," a giant pegasus with a 40-foot wingspan.
*2005: "WWI Tank," with a turret, treads, and 15-foot-long PVC pipe gun that shot out smoke as it destroyed the Harvard observation balloon
*2004: "Alain," a giant blue dodecapus with 70-foot tentacles
*2003: "The Spider," a 30-foot-long, 20-foot-tall spider with independently moving legs and bloody mandibles, accompanied onto the field by a roughly 300-square-yard web
*2002: "The Snake," a snake that was 105 feet long and 10 feet wide
*2001: "Peaches," an enormous fire-breathing blue dragon
*2000: "The Booty Hunter," a two-story pirate ship with simulated cannon fire
*1999: "The Train," a 40-foot train with several boxcars
*1998: "The Tank," a tank with gun turret
*1997: "Nessie," the Loch Ness monster
*1996: "The Shark"
*1995: "The Gallows", a hangman-style noose erected to tear the tab off of a large soda can
*1994: "The Volcano", a 12-foot smoke-belching volcano into which a Harvard student was sacrificed (the student was spit out by the volcano)
*1989: "The Drum", a drum twice the diameter of the Harvard drum, out of which the Yale Bulldog Mascot jumped after the drum exploded
*1988: "The Guillotine", a giant guillotine that spanned half the width of the field

Ünterprops

*2007: Three pterodactyls in the service of Harvard.
*2006: A hydra that sprouted two heads when one was cut off.
*2005: A Helium-filled observation balloon (the first ever flying ünterprop), Yale biplanes (Allies) and Harvard triplanes (German).
*2004: The "HSS Compensation," a 30-foot long ship operated by John Harvard and commandeered by "Alain."
*2001: The Harvard Castle, attacked by "Peaches" the dragon.

Notable stunts

In the early 1970's the YPMB could not afford to go to one game at Brown. The band's announcer and the drum major went alone. The drum major marched out by himself as the announcer gravely stated , "For the first time anywhere, the Yale University Invisible Marching band forms ... THE FACE OF GOD!!" [ The Yale Daily News no. 18 September 28 1979]

In September 1977, at the conclusion of the halftime show at the Yale-Brown game, the YPMB formed a giant diaper on the field. The members of the YPMB dropped their pants "en masse" to reveal that all members were wearing diapers. (The band marched "Down the Field" with their pants around their ankles.) This became known as one of its more infamous stunts; the band parodied that stunt at the Princeton game in 1983, where the band dropped its pants "en masse" again, this time to reveal that all members were wearing sweat pants underneath their white uniform pants.

In October 1985, six YPMB members were suspended after dropping their pants at halftime during the Yale-Holy Cross game (New York Times, October 20, 1985, 11CN p. 17). Only one week earlier, the band was forbidden by West Point officials from performing its halftime show during the Army-Yale game for the script's insinuation that certain government officials were communists. The following season, in the Yale-Army game at New Haven, the YPMB took the unusual step of marching in straight lines for several minutes before breaking into its usual scatter formations. (NYT 10/7/86, B4) Before the band left the field, members removed their blue blazers on the field, spelling out "USA."

In 1992, before the combined playing of the "Star-Spangled Banner", the Harvard marching band attempted to "X-out" the Yale Precision Marching Band while the Yale band stood in its traditional Y formation; however, the Yale band caught wind of this plan and, as the Harvard band marched onto the field, shifted its formation into a large H, thus making Harvard X itself out.

In 1992, the Yale-Fordham halftime featured the marriage of two former band members. ("At Yale, Wedding Band Takes On a New Meaning", "New York Times", October 10, 1992.) During the ceremony, the band formed a three-tiered wedding cake; at each corner of the cake, serving as a candle, was a sousaphone that was on fire.

In 1993, the Yale-Harvard halftime show included the "assassination" of the Energizer Bunny(a bass drum player) -- the band formed a forty-yard bow and arrow, and "shot" the arrow at the Bunny. After they missed, the drum major took out a shotgun and blew the Bunny away. He was carried off by band members dressed as dining hall workers.

After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the YPMB became a source of minor controversy for performing a halftime show parodying the history of jingoism in American media and culture, including patriotic bowdlerization, and addressing the possibility of conscription. A strong negative reaction from a several audience members, including boos (especially when "War" was spelled on the field) and angry letters to administrators and newspapers, led the band to limit the often aggressive political content of its shows through at least the 2002 season. Negative reactions were heightened by the fact the show took place on Yale Parents' Weekend.

Miscellaneous

In order to raise donations for Yale's 2007 Relay for Life, the YPMB created and sold Men of the Band calendars. They were an instant hit.

External links

* [http://research.yale.edu/yaleband/ypmb/index.html Yale Precision Marching Band]
* [http://www.yale.edu Yale University]