The horns (left) wore a birthday message for the 100-year-old Penn Band at the Homecoming half-time show on Franklin Field Nov. 8.
Officially monikered The Huge, the Enormous, the Well-Endowed, Undefeated, Ivy-League Champion, University of Pennsylvania Oxymoronic Fighting Quaker Marching Band, the group is arguably the oldest in the Ivy League.
In 1897, founders H.P. Beck and W.J. Goeckel, class of 1896, placed notices calling for its formation in the Daily Pennsylvanian. Goeckel, by the way, also composed "The Red and Blue."
The organization suffered no serious damage when it went coed in 1970, and continued to play an instrumental role in maintaining the tradition of University songs, while changing enough to reflect contemporary music styles.
To mark its 100 years, the band-current members and alums-recently recorded a compact disc, "Five Score and Several Years To Go," which features Penn songs and more modern fare. To order a CD, call 898-8719 or visit the Penn Band's Web page at http://dolphin.upenn.edu/~pennband/.
-Gariel Aherne
Return to Compass Features for November 25, 1997