|
The photo above shows a precursor to the famed Penn State Blue Band, one of the nation's finest college marching bands. The exact date is a bit of a mystery, however. In 1899, steel magnate and Penn State Trustee Andrew Carnegie gave a donation to purchase instruments for a newly formed Cadet Band. In that era, military training was a required of all able-bodied males, and the Cadet Band superseded a fife-and-drum corps whose purpose was primarily to set cadence to battalion marching drills and parades. We think this photo dates from the late 1890s. It shows a fife and drum unit with buglers, perhaps transitioning toward the Cadet Band, which had more brass. Within a few years, the Cadet Band was playing at football games, dances in the Armory, and similar campus and community functions and by 1913 was re-named the College Band. In the 1920s, blue uniforms replaced brown, and the name "Blue Band" came into common usage.
|
