Harvard University Band

The Harvard University Band (HUB) is the official student marching band of Harvard University. The Harvard Wind Ensemble, the Harvard Summer Pops Band, and the Harvard Jazz Bands also fall under the umbrella organization of HUB.Currently, the band plays for all football games (both home and away) as well as home men's and women's ice hockey games. Occasionally it plays at men's and women's basketball games. The uniform for both football games and formal "gigs" consists of a crimson wool HUB blazer worn over a white shirt with a black HUB logo tie, black pants (since 1961), and black shoes. In the early days of the Band, white sailor hats and khaki pants were worn. For hockey games, the band wears (over casual clothes) a custom Harvard Band hockey jersey, modeled after the home jerseys for men's hockey, which features images of Bertha (the huge bass drum) on the sleeves. Band alumni, known as crusties, maintain strong ties to the HUB, sometimes continuing to act as regular members well after graduating from the University. Illegitimum non carborundum (INC) is the HUB motto. Written correspondence from HUB or HUB members is frequently signed with INC.

History

The band was formed in 1919. By 1930 the band had become a scramble band, a method that was also adopted by most other Ivy League marching bands (as well as the Stanford Band and the Rice Marching Owl Band), with the exception of the Cornell University band. While the inventor of the scramble band technique...
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