Purdue All-American Marching Band

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Purdue All-American Marching Band

School	Purdue University
Location	West Lafayette, IN
Conference	Big Ten
Founded	1886
Director	Jay Gephart
Members	340
Uniform	Black military style, white overlay with gold trim and block P

The Purdue All-American Marching Band is the marching band of Purdue University. The Purdue All-American Marching Band (AAMB) is the primary source of auxiliary entertainment for Purdue University football games. AAMB does many service performances for high schools, junior high schools, and elementary schools, and has been the host band of the Indianapolis 500 race every year the race has been held since 1927. The band has grown from an original 5 members to over 300 members, making it one of the largest marching bands in the world. The two most famous parts of the AAMB are the World's Largest Drum and solo baton twirler the Golden Girl.

1 History
2 Marching band pioneers
3 Band members
4 External links

[edit] History

In 1886 the Purdue Student Army Training Corps produced 5 men who provided music for the Army trainees to listen to during their morning conditioning runs. While operating without a director until 1904, the band had started playing at Purdue football games and had grown to over 50 members. In 1904 the band's first director, Paul 'Spotts' Emrick, joined the band. The marching band, under Emrick, became the first band to break rank on a football field, and they formed the famous Block "P". In 1921 Emrick commissioned Leedy to construct the World's Largest Drum. It has been a part of the marching band ever since. During a Purdue football game at Northwestern University the band donned lights on their uniforms while performing at halftime. With the stadium lights turned off for the performance, the band drew such awe from the radio commentator, he referred to them as a "truly All-American marching band," hence the current title of the band.

Emrick retired in 1954, and to date the band has been under the direction of just four other men: Al G. Wright (1954-1981), William C. Moffit (1981-1988), Dr. David A. Leppla (1990-2006), and Jay S. Gephart (2006-present). Gephart took over as director on July 1, 2006.

In 1995 the All-American Marching Band was the recipient of the Sudler Trophy, the most prestigious award a college marching band can receive.

[edit] Marching band pioneers

The Purdue All-American Marching Band has pioneered a number of accomplishments. It was the first band to:

break rank on a football field to make a formation (The Block "P")
play opposing school fight song
carry the colors of the Big Ten
wear their hats backwards after a conference victory
have a member walk on the moon (Neil Armstrong)

[edit] Band members

Pre-game ceremonies at Ross-Ade Stadium

As the band stands now, it contains numerous woodwind, brass instrument, percussion and auxiliary members. The wind instruments are organized in ranks of 10, the percussion consists of a drumline, drum majors and the World's Largest Drum, and auxiliary performers are organized by their type of performance.