Traditional Musical Effort of the Band

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

After talking with one of your reporters over the phone recently, it occurred to me that it was about time that someone set down the facts regarding the Band's traditional musical effort and what lies behind it. Since the Band's "modus operandi" has always been unique among large college bands, it has been frequently misunderstood.

At about the time when Leroy Anderson took over the conductorship of the Band, which was approximately 1930, he began to compose original arrangements, almost always in medley form, in order to give the band something more unique to play than the regulation marches and the rather stolid, staightforward settings of college songs which had been largely the fare of college bands up to that time. One of his greatest successes, of course, was "Wintergreen for President" which he based on the famous song from Gershwin's "Of Thee I Sing" which was published about 1930 or 31. Where the original version used old campaign songs he inserted instead various tunes of Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth (Princeton was omitted because there was a break in relations at that time). This device worked out very well and was an instantaneous success--subsequent audiences have found it just as entertaining. In a sense this was the first Ivy League medley even though only short snatches of the tunes were involved; curiously enough, there was a gap of at least 25 years before another Ivy League medley was done for the Band. Anderson then proceeded to do numerous other scores; I list them below:

Medleys

Two Dartmouth, Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Army, Cornell

A special symphonic arrangement for the Tercentenary of Harvard songs which he called "Tercentenaria"

An arrangement of Radcliffe songs call "Radcliffiana" (both the above are in large format and are only used at concerts).

Anderson's output ceased shortly after he left the Band and eventually became engrossed in composing and publishing his own compositions in New York.

In the year 1943 I had a very talented student at the Conservatory by the name of John A. Finnegan. After a year with me he went on to Harvard and subsequently graduated after a stint in the Navy. He very quickly displayed the same type of talent for arranging that Anderson had displayed before him and so a considerable library of Finnegan's work has been built up and is used continually by the Band. A partial list follows:

Medleys

Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Two Brown, Two Columbia, West Point, Colgate, B.U., Penn.

He has also devised various pieces of underscoring for band marching routines, and written scores for special occasions such as a Wellesley medley.

Since I assumed conductorship of the Band in 1953, I have done considerable writing also. My list includes:

A Cornell medley, A Harvard medley, A new Ivy League medley, A Walt Disney Fantasy, A special scoring of "The Star Spangled Banner" which we use at games and appropriate situations; Two concert arrangements, one of famous popular songs by Harvard alumni and a brief setting of "All the Things You Are" by Kern, and Two original marches.

Other people through the years have composed material for the Band, but a great deal of it was lost during the war, especially the scores. Isolated people have also done work recently, such as the Massachusetts medley written by my brother, Class of '41, formerly a musician and now in the bond business. Ken Mittell, a former Harvard track man, has also composed a new Harvard medley which we hope to use at the Dartmouth game.

It can easily be seen that the above represents a considerable amount of creative activity over a period of years by a number of people; therefore, the recent fire which did most of its damage in the library assumes serious proportions when one realizes that a substantial percentage of the parts to these arrangements was ruined. By great good fortune most of the scores and some of the masters, which are the first parts taken from the scores and duplicated therefrom, were saved. This means that the creative efforts are still there and we can eventually refurbish our material--however it will take time and quite a bit of money. Of course, as time goes on there will be other pieces of creative arranging done for the Band. It must always be borne in mind, however, that the Band is an extracurricular activity in the same classification with the Dramatic Club, the CRIMSON, the Orchestra, the Hasty Pudding, etc., and is not financed or supported by the University in any way other than partial support regarding transportation to football games, and (through the good will of the Varsity Club) the use of a portion of their quarters as Band offices. We hope to resume "residence" there after a forced abandonment during the rebuilding period.

Naturally, we also own a good deal of printed material including a great many marches and concert music. Unfortunately, a good percentage of this was ruined also. The above does not mean that we shall curtail our effort in the slightest this season. We shall be at all the ballgames and shall give our Dartmouth concert, which we hope will be better than ever, and we have some surprises in store.

This is rather lengthy but I felt the time had come to set the matter straight once and for all on how the Band operates.

In view of alumni interest in the Band, you are free to use a portion or all of the above material if you so desire George Wright Briggs '31   Director--H. U. Band