Traditions…

I went to a school full of strange but wonderful traditions, and I am alway proud to admit that I am an Aggie. One of the many wonderful traditions at A&M is the Aggie Band. It was a nice treat to come across the website tonight and look through all of the information there – and I was thrilled to see that you can order an Aggie Band CD! Just looking at the photographs, I can hear the band in my mind – the opening notes of the halftime performance at the football games, the amazing moves of their routines, going with girlfriends down to the band field to watch them practice my freshman year, attending games with friends in the band my sophomore year – the only way to get a 50 yard-line seat in the student section!

My sophmore year in college was the first time a female was a senior in the Aggie Band – in 1989! Hey, I said it was a school of strange traditions. So it was neat to see in the photographs that they have so many females in the band now. When I was a freshman, there were very few – and life for them was hell. (Hazing wasn’t “allowed” but it was still happening throughout the Corps at the time.) A lot has changed since I left A&M back in 1989.

Key facts and figures about the Aggie Band:
:: With approximately 400 men and women musicians, it is the largest military marching band in the country.

:: The musicians all are members of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets. Band members live, eat and are housed together as a unit of the corps.

:: The infantry and artillery bands, which form the combined band, are the two largest units in the Corps of Cadets.

:: The band is led by members of its senior class, who wear distinctive senior boots.

:: There are no music majors among the band’s members because Texas A&M doesn’t offer such a major.

:: Band members pursue studies in all of the university’s undergraduates colleges.

:: Twelve senior cadets march on the band’s front row as the “bugle rank.”

:: The group prepares its drills with seven to 10 hours of actual practice time per week. Members say that’s possible only because of the discipline inherent in their military lifestyle.

:: Some of the band’s maneuvers are so complex that a computer says they can’t be done because they require two people to be in the same place at the same time.

Gig ‘Em, Aggies! WHOOOOOP!

Oh – did you want more? The last part of this post is dedicated to Robyn & Todd…

Just for them, I had to post the lyrics to my favorite song, “The War Hymn”. They may have gone to OU (a few years after I was at A&M) – but we are united in one thing … the rivalry with texas! This is for them:

Good bye to texas university
So long to the orange and the white
Good luck to dear old Texas Aggies
They are the boys who show the real old fight
‘the eyes of Texas are upon you’
That is the song they sing so well
Sounds Like Hell
So good bye to texas university
We’re gonna beat you all to
Chigaroogarem
Chigaroogarem
Rough, Tough, Real stuff, Texas A&M

Saw varsity’s horns off
Saw varsity’s horns off
Saw varsity’s horns off
Short! A!
Varsity’s horns are sawed off
Varsity’s horns are sawed off
Varsity’s horns are sawed off
Short! A!

Lyrics taken from the Singing Cadets site.