The Spirit of Gold Marching Band is the collegiate

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who perform while marching, often for entertainment or competition. Instrumentation typically includes brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. Most marching bands wear a uniform, ofte ...

organized by

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Membership

A unique feature of the Spirit of Gold is that membership in the marching band is open to all students enrolled at Vanderbilt as well as students from other colleges in the Nashville area. This includes

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, Lipscomb, Fisk,

Trevecca Trefeca (also Trefecca, Trevecca, and Trevecka), located between Talgarth and Llangorse Lake in what is now south Powys in Wales, was the birthplace and home of the 18th-century Methodist leader Howell Harris ( cy, Hywel Harris, italic=no). It was ...

, Vol State and Nashville State. This does not apply to

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tenness ...

as they already have their own marching band, the

Aristocrat of Bands Tennessee State University's marching band is known as the "Aristocrat of Bands" (AOB). History The band, much like the stage band of the time known as the Jazz Collegians of Tennessee State University, were primarily student led organizations wh ...

Performances

Football

The band forms the core of the

student section A student section or student cheering section is a group of student fans that supports its school's athletic teams at sporting events; they are known for being one of the most visible and vocal sections of a sports crowd as well as for their occ ...

at intercollegiate football games hosted by Vanderbilt at

Vanderbilt Stadium FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vander ...

and performs at all

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's team ...

home football games, as well as a select number of away games. The Spirit of Gold works with the Office of the Dean of Students to coordinate the band's performances at football games. The band has developed many traditions that help add to the exciting atmosphere of

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

football on game day. For example, the band leads a parade through campus before games and provides music for pre-game and in-game spirit. The band plays the university's fight song, "

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", throughout the game as well. The Spirit of Gold prepares a unique halftime show for every home game, performing from variety of musical genres and eras. Recent performances have featured music from

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Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

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, and

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. The last halftime performance of the year is traditionally a completely student-run, student-organized show.

Basketball, Anchor of Sound

During the spring semester, a 50-piece pep band is formed for performances at Vanderbilt's men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

basketball games played in Memorial Gym. Anchor of Sound performs music similar to that which Spirit of Gold performs.

Tau Beta Sigma

The Eta Phi chapter of

Tau Beta Sigma Tau Beta Sigma Honorary Band Sorority, (, colloquially referred to as TBSigma or TBS) is a co-educational service sorority. The sorority, headquartered at the historic Stillwater Santa Fe Depot in Stillwater, Oklahoma, numbers over 3,800 active m ...

serves the Spirit of Gold. The co-ed chapter has a history of being one of the largest chapters in the nation and is the most recent recipient of the Grace and A. Frank Martin Chapter Leadership Award, a biennial award that honors the outstanding chapter in the nation. All members of the Spirit of Gold, regardless of university, are able to seek membership in Eta Phi.

External links

The Spirit of Gold's Website

Notes

{{Authority control Vanderbilt University Southeastern Conference marching bands Musical groups from Tennessee Musical groups established in 1909 1909 establishments in Tennessee