"Who are you?"

The MIT Marching Band is composed of students from a wide variety of backgrounds who enjoy having fun and performing music. We perform regularly at MIT home football games, basketball games, and lacrosse games. We have also appeared recently at rugby, water polo, volleyball, quidditch, baseball, and field hockey games. We have even performed a "Marching Band on Ice" show between periods of an ice hockey game! We're a small little band, ranging from about 8 to 20 people, but we do our best with who we've got!

In addition to athletic events, we have performed at civic events such as the annual Cambridge Science Festival, the Boston St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Allston-Brighton Parade, and at LSC (MIT's provider of $2 on-campus movies--well, now $2.50 -- actually, it's $3--check that, $4). We also play Christmas carols on our annual Christmas tour through Boston, make mischief around MIT on Halloween night (including trick-or-treating at President Susan Hockfield's house), and sell romantic Band-O-Grams on Valentine's Day (because nothing says "I love you!" like a marching band!).

"How good do I have to be to join?"

The focus of the band is on having fun and enjoying our performances. Our membership includes people who were All-State musicians in high school as well as people who haven't picked up their instrument for years before joining us; we have people with drum corps marching experience and people who've never marched before in their lives, but thought it would be fun to try. So whatever you think your level of ability and experience is, you'll fit right in in the MIT Marching Band.

And if it's time commitment you're worried about, don't be - we understand that MIT can be a lot of work, so we're flexible. There are auditions, but they are pretty informal; everyone in the MIT Community is welcome to join at any time! Also, we have lots of instruments we could loan you if you don't have your own.

"Do you march Big-10 style or corps style?"

We are more of a corps style marching band, but if you have never marched before, don't worry! We'll teach you everything you need to know to march with us! We practice once to twice a week, learning music and drill. We perform halftime shows at all the home football games and some nearby away games, as well as pep tunes in the stands. Recent "novelty" field shows have included "A Day at the Beach", where we wore bathing suits and sat in the long jump pit while playing music by the Beach Boys, and "Monty Python", whose music's origins I'm sure you can guess.

Our season doesn't just end with football! We also perform at basketball in the winter and lacrosse in the spring (with other events scattered in as well). Our trademark is the MIT drill, where we spell the letters M-I-T individually to the famous school fight song "We Are the Engineers". So come on out and see what we have in store for you!

"Are you just a band, or do you have a color guard too?"

First of all, we are not "just a band" - we're The World Famous, Nationally-Renowned, Often Copied But Never Cloned, Unforgettable (No Matter How Hard You Try), Super Phat, Super Fly... The One, The Only MIT Marching Band!

That said, yes we do have a color guard. They're very talented, almost never hit people with their flags, and are a force to be reckoned with, when they're around.