Scramble band

A scramble band - also known as a scatter band - is a particular type of field-performing marching band with distinct characteristics that set it apart from other common forms of marching bands; most notably, scramble bands do not normally march. In fact, the name comes from the way in which the band moves between formations – members run to each form without using a predescribed path; this is known as scrambling or, in the western half of the United States, scattering.

Contents

1 Characteristics 2 Particular ensembles 2.1 Well-known scramble bands 3 Stunts and antics 4 Censorship 5 External links

Characteristics

Scramble bands often take pride in their diversion from the normal marching band. In fact, most scramble bands do not march at all, regardless of whether their official group name contains a form of the word "March".

Like their marching counterparts, scramble bands almost always perform music using traditional band instruments. They will also stand in formations on a field, but that is usually where the similarity between scramble bands and "normal" marching bands ends. The formations themselves are often simple shapes or crude "pictures" that lend themselves to a particular section of the performance instead of intricate geometric or abstract shapes. Additionally, scramble band performances often rely on a humorous or satirical script, read during the performance by an announcer using a loudspeaker or public address system.

Scramble bands are generally student-run and tend to be smaller in membership than what one would expect from a marching band.

According to the self-appointed "Cleverest Band in the World" at Columbia University, the origin of scramble bands is as follows:

"See, in the 50s, our great country was going through a lot of changes. Disco was at its peak, little Shirley Temple was charming the hearts of Americans everywhere, Jesus was walking the earth, and Ronald Reagan was pushing hard for the new Women's suffrage movement. The Columbia University Marching Band, which had always been slightly wacky, took a good look at itself. "How," we asked ourselves, "could we make being in a marching band even more fun?" Well, we decided that the whole marching around and forming rhombi thing had gone out of style with World War II. So we introduced the world to the "scramble band" concept - so named for the way bandies would scramble from one interesting formation to the next."

While there is no widespread agreement as to which school actually invented the scramble band concept (Harvard, among other schools, also lays a claim), it is probably safe to assume that the process was pretty much as described.

Other characteristics of scramble bands vary by the particular group and may include:

• Non-standard instrumentation - Some bands include string or electronic sections to offer membership to musicians who would otherwise be excluded from participation in a marching band. Instruments in this category might include violins, cellos, string bass, electronic keyboards, and electric guitar. More absurd instrumentation such as bagpipes and accordions is not unheard of.

• Non-musicians - Just as membership often includes non-standard instrumentalists, it may also include people who have little or no musical talent at all. These members may "play" homemade instruments (washboards, trash can lids, mailboxes, etc.) or may participate in other various capacities.

• Skits or other dramatic performance - Members may dress in costume and/or employ the use of props (usually handmade) to mime to the audience a scene described or suggested by the announcer's script. Such scenes are often overdramatic (to aid audience members seated far away) and make use of slap-stick comedy, where appropriate (or not).

Particular ensembles

This style is practiced mainly by a number of college marching bands, primarily in more academically elite or liberal schools such as the Ivy League, Stanford, the University of Virginia, and Rice.

Well-known scramble bands

• Brown University Band
• Columbia University Marching Band
• Dartmouth College Marching Band
• Harvard University Band
• Michigan Technological University Huskies Pep Band
• University of Pennsylvania Penn Band
• Princeton University Band
• Rice University's Marching Owl Band
• Stanford University Marching Band
• Virginia Pep Band
• Yale Precision Marching Band

Besides school scatter bands, there are other traditional arenas for similar comic treatments of outdoor marching music — such as Mummers Parades, the pre-Rose-Parade parody - the Doo-Dah Parade, Chinatown parades, Mardi Gras parades, etc.

Stunts and antics

Scramble bands are notorious for their irreverent stunts, and some of these prove to be controversial. The most upsetting events usually have consequences (see also: censorship) regardless of whether the band intended such controversy. Listed below are some of the more notable events in scramble band lore:

• Columbia's altar-boy joke (tuition going down faster than...) while playing at a Catholic school.
• UVa's Inbred Family Feud gag against West Virginia.
• Stanford's band accidentally rushed the field before a game against rival Cal ended. This memorable accident, seen to the right, became known as "The Play," and is often seen on highlight reels.
• More recently, Stanford's band was disciplined for a show with jokes about polygamy during a game against Brigham Young University in September 2004.
• Rice launched a weather balloon-based "UFO", eventually tracked by bewildered air traffic controllers.
• Yale was banned from West Point after a Yale-Army halftime show in which band members formed "USA" on the field, then dropped their pants and marched off, leaving the letters spelled out in clothing.
• Another Yale halftime featured the marriage of two former band members. ("At Yale, Wedding Band Takes On a New Meaning", New York Times, October 10, 1992.)

Occasionally, the tables are turned. The Texas A&M Aggies misinterpreted (or simply didn't like) a 1973 performance of Rice's MOB and formed an angry mob (no pun intended) outside Rice's own stadium, trapping the Owl band inside for hours until police dispersed some of the crowd and allowed the band to exit, transported by food service trucks.

Censorship

In recent years, school scramble bands have come under pressure to calm their ways, as today's athletic departments have less patience for students' sometimes embarrassing attempts at humor. The traditional pull between individualism of bands/staffs/schools and those more Puritannical or marketing/corporate interests will no doubt continue, as it always has.

Such interests have led to the censorship of many scramble bands in the form of:

• Pre-approval of all show content
• Replacing student leadership with university faculty or staff
• Simply refusing to allow the band to perform (whether by decision of the school, an opponent, or stadium facility)
• Disbandment (no pun intended)

External links

• Princeton University Band
• Yale Precision Marching Band
• The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band
• Michigan Tech's Huskies Pep Band
• Rice University Marching Owl Band (The MOB)
• The University of Pennsylvania Band (The Penn Band)
• The Virginia Pep Band
• The Columbia University Marching Band

See also: Scramble band, 2004, Brigham Young University, Brown University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Ivy League, Marching Owl Band, Marching band