HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The UC Davis Marching Band is the official marching band of the
University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...
, organized in fall of 2019. It is the successor to the student-run California Aggie Marching Band-uh!, which existed from the 1920s to 2019. In 2018, the Band-uh had roughly 250 members. It performs at home and away games to cheer on the
UC Davis Aggies The UC Davis Aggies (also referred to as the Ags, Cal Aggies or Aggies) are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Davis. Eighteen of the school's 25 intercollegiate sports - baseball, men's basketball, men's cross coun ...
sports teams, marches in
parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...
s, and plays at events on the UC Davis campus as well as in the surrounding Davis community. UC Davis administrators ordered the permanent dissolution of the Band-uh in the fall of 2019, after accusations of repeated misconduct and an investigation by an outside law firm. At the same time, the university announced formation of a new, university-administered organization called the "UC Davis Marching Band."


History

The original UC Davis marching band dates back to 1922, when E. H. Barger of the school's veterinary science department formed an 18-member group. That band disbanded after interest waned. The next incarnation of the band was formed in 1929 by J. Price Gittinger as a pep band for the home
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
games. There were 15 original members, all male. The first female members joined within two years. In the 1960s, the student body voted to exclude women from the Band-uh! after no women showed up for a game, although also allegedly to give the band a rowdier, more masculine spirit. During the women's rights movement in the early 1970s, pressure mounted to reopen the band to women, in part to comply with Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
. By 1973, the Band-uh! once again had female members. The Band-uh! was occasionally been associated with controversial and obscene antics. It was reprimanded several times in the 1970s, and in 1992 the band was put on probation after a
sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...
charge was made against the student director. In 2008, the staff director of the band, who was not a student, filed a sexual harassment complaint to the university after several incidents involving the removal of shirts, offensive language and gestures, and lewd behavior. In October 2008, he left temporarily on a "leave of absence because of all the band stress." On April 4, 2019, '' The California Aggie'' newspaper published an article citing former Band-uh! members' experiences with
hazing Hazing (American English), initiation, beasting (British English), bastardisation (Australian English), ragging (South Asian English) or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, ...
,
sexual assault Sexual assault is an act of sexual abuse in which one intentionally Physical intimacy, sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or Coercion, coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their w ...
, and other forms of misconduct. The Band-uh! released two albums of its music, ''Barn Party'' in 1998 and ''Noise Violation'' in 2002. The band's catalog was composed of its traditional marching songs, such as the "Aggie Fight" song, as well as renditions of popular rock songs such as
Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...
's " Welcome to Paradise",
Edgar Winter Edgar Holland Winter (born December 28, 1946) is an American multi-instrumentalist, working as a vocalist along with playing keyboards, saxophone, and percussion. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group and their pop ...
's "
Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...
", and
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
's "
White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dea ...
", among many others. Around April 2019, multiple accusations of hazing, sexual assault, and general misconduct instigated by current members of the now-dissolved Band-uh! and some of its alumni led to an investigation into the band's traditions and their true nature. Five months later, in September 2019, the UC Davis administration issued a public statement officially declaring that the student-run Band-uh! would "no longer exist" and would restructure the marching band completely, with strict oversight, a faculty director, and an entirely new constitution. The newly formed "UC Davis Marching Band" made their public performance debut on September 28, 2019, at a home football game against Montana.


Structure

The UC Davis Marching Band has an officer council consisting of 12 student officers, such as the Drum Major, Student Director, and Manager (the Big Three), among others, all being equal for voting rights in council meetings. Officers are elected by their peers every spring, and serve one- or two-year terms, with the second year requiring a second election. The officers work in conjunction with the Faculty director to manage the band. Each section in the band also had two section leaders, who manage their sections and act as a point of contact between the officer council and the general members. Participation is open to any and all UC Davis students, with no audition in order to join, and musicians of all experience levels accepted. The band is an entirely volunteer organization, and members are not compensated by units or scholarship money of any kind. For football games and parades, the UCDMB wears their formal, blue and gold, "full dress" marching uniforms. Prior to 2019, for other sports games and most other gigs, members wore their more casual white collared shirt, blue jeans, and button-laden floppy hat outfits, known as the "Mav'rik Band uniform." In 2009, the band received new, custom-made full dress uniforms to replace the ones provided for by Warren Mooney in the late 1970s. As of the band's restructuring in 2019, when not in "full dress" they wear an "informal uniform" consisting of blue jeans, a navy blue "Cow Shirt," sunglasses, and a UCDMB baseball cap, frequently adorned with buttons.


Instrumentation

There are 10 instrument sections within the UCDMB: Flutes (
flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
s and
piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...
s), Nets (
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
s), Altos (
alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...
s), Tenors (
tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...
s), Baritax (
baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...
s and
baritone horn The baritone horn, sometimes called baritone, is 3 or 4 valved tenor-voiced brass instrument in the saxhorn family.Robert Donington, "The Instruments of Music", (pp. 113ff ''The Family of Bugles'') 2nd ed., Methuen, London, 1962 It is a pist ...
s),
Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
s, Mellos (
mellophone The mellophone is a brass instrument used in marching bands and drum and bugle corps in place of French horns. It is a middle-voiced instrument, typically pitched in the key of F, though models in E, D, C, and G (as a bugle) have also historica ...
s), Bones (
trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...
s), Sousies (
sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...
s), and Drums (
snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...
s,
bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...
s,
cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...
s, and
glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...
s).


Traditions

The announcement used to present the Band-uh! at every Aggie home game was usually as follows, with occasional minor variations: Pre 2019 Announcement
''Fast, furious, and foaming at the mouth,''
''Bold, blue, and bitchin',''
''It's the pride of the Regents of the University of California,''
''The spirit of the Davis Campus,''
''The California Aggie Marching Band-uh!'' UC Davis Marching Band version 2019 and onward
''Fast, furious, and foaming at the mouth,''
''Bold, blue, and blazin',''
''It's the pride of the Regents of the University of California,''
''The spirit of the Davis Campus,''
''It‘s the UC Davis, Marching Band!''


References


External links


Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh!
* Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! on the Davis Wiki {{UC Davis College marching bands in the United States UC Davis Aggies Musical groups from California Musical groups established in 1929 1929 establishments in California