Princeton University Band

The Princeton University Band serves as the official marching band and pep band of Princeton University. Like most other Ivy League bands, it is a scramble band. To members and fans, it is often known as the PUB (pronounced Pea You Bee) or simply The Band. Many alumni refer to it as the Tiger Band.
The modern Princeton University Band was established in October 1919 when a group of undergraduate musicians decided that a regular musical presence was needed at Palmer Stadium, home of Princeton's 22-time national champion football team; however, these events were in many ways merely a reorganization of the preexisting ROTC Band that had served a much smaller role on campus several years earlier, making Princeton's Band one of the oldest of its kind in the country. Some of the band traveled to perform at the Yale Bowl for the season's only away game, beginning a long tradition of the PUB attending all football games, home and away.
For over a decade, the PUB performed on a tight budget, clad only in black sweaters with bow-ties and white pants; however, thanks to the contributions of many alumni supporters in 1936, the band was able to afford new instruments, music, and, most notably, new uniforms — black blazers with orange collars and a Princeton Band insignia on the breast pocket.
In 1937, the PUB expanded its role at Princeton by performing not only during football games, but also at basketball and ice hockey. By the 1940s, they were performing at nearly all home basketball and hockey games, as well as at several lacrosse matches and more formal spring concerts.
The 1950s witnessed an era of great transition for the band. Gradually, the band changed from a corps-style band to today's scramble band. Some alumni recall seeing the band scramble without spoken accompaniment as early as 1938, and records of scrambling exist as early as 1941. In 1955, the band began experimenting with comedic scripts to go along with the halftime scrambles. The first script on record was in a home opener against Rutgers University in 1955, by which time scrambling was a well-established feature of field performances. However, the band didn't entirely stop marching until the 1970s, which accompanied its dissociation from its sister organization, the Princeton University Symphonic Band, which has since separately evolved into the Princeton University Wind Ensemble. In 1952, the band switched from black to orange-and-black plaid blazers and continued to wear the straw hats that had been introduced a year or two earlier. With this change, the band started the tradition of wearing colorful formal wear on the field — something that has since been emulated by every Ivy League band at one point or another, as well as those of Stanford, Virginia, Rutgers, and Rice. The trendsetting new uniform was even featured on the cover of the October 1955 issue of Sports Illustrated.
From 1949 to 1981, the PUB did not miss a single football game. At 32 years and 293 games, this is one of the longest streaks in the history of college marching bands, passed only by the current holder of consecutive games attended, USC's Spirit of Troy. The PUB has never missed a home game in its near-century of existence.
The PUB's halftime format has caused problems over the years. Not only have a number of institutions banned it from performing, like the United States Military Academy at West Point and, until recently, Lafayette College, but there was serious talk in the 1970s and '80s of disbanding the group at Princeton.
To placate the concerns of administrators and alumni at Princeton, the PUB hired Jack Hontz, a marching band director from Strath Haven High School in Pennsylvania, as a musical advisor. The brother of a former band member, Hontz helped the band make the most out of its musical performances and steered the band away from behavior that may have attracted the ire of the university. While very helpful, Hontz filled only a consultory role for the PUB until his death in the summer of 2017, offering advice only when it was needed and leaving all leadership and decision-making responsibilities to the students. The PUB has since hired Joe Bongiovi, director of bands at Princeton High School and founder of the Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra, as their musical advisor.
As Princeton football became less nationally competitive in the latter half of the 20th century, the PUB began to focus on basketball, ice hockey, and lacrosse, following many teams to NIT, ECAC-HL, and NCAA tournaments, including several national championships, since as early as 1965. From 1990 to 2000 the PUB played at over twenty NCAA tournaments alone, including the 1998 field hockey national championship.
On campus, the PUB has come to represent the spirit of Princeton, and the PUB can be found performing or otherwise representing the University at numerous Princeton events, including building dedications, promotional videos, student performing arts showcases, orientation events, and Reunions, to name a few.
The Princeton University Band is a recognized student organization of Princeton University under the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students and is almost entirely run by a thirteen-member officer corps consisting of the President, Drum Major, Head Manager ("Mom"), Treasurer ("Dad"), Student Conductor, four Drillmasters, Alumni Coordinator, two Librarians ("Libes"), and Diversity Equity and Inclusion Coordinator. The professional music advisor, paid out of the band's operating fund, is the only non-student involved in directing the band.
The PUB is split into four sections, each of which is represented by a drillmaster. These sections are the flumpets (encompassing flutes, trumpets, and other miscellaneous wind instruments), saxinets (saxophones and clarinets), tubonerphones (mellophones, trombones, baritones, and tubas), and garbussion (percussion and garbage). Like other Ivy League scramble bands, the band has a section of unusual percussion instruments, which the band calls "trash percussion" or "garbage percussion," and may include street signs, lawn ornaments, car parts, and anything else that makes noise when struck.
In addition to its garbussion instruments, the band has also featured many other instruments not typically found in marching bands, including recorders, melodicas, Otamatones, kazoos, Yamaha venovas, valve trombones, alto trombones, mellophoniums (sometimes referred to by band members as "elephant horns"), frumpets, Aztec death whistles, and more.
During the fall football season, the band performs at all Princeton home games and all away games to which it is allowed by the host institution. At each game, besides playing in the stands during pauses in the game, the band performs a pregame show and a halftime show, each of which consists of one to three songs with accompanying formations, accompanied by a humorous script. The PUB also has a repertoire of cheers which are invoked throughout the game - often mildly offensive, but amusing nonetheless.
Every Halloween, the PUB is invited to participate in the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade, to which it is particularly well suited thanks to its orange and black uniforms and colorful performance techniques. The band has also made appearances in a number of other parades including the South Amboy St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Gross National Parade, and Philadelphia's Independence Day Parade.
After the conclusion of the football season, the PUB transforms into a pep band and plays in the stands at as many Princeton men's and women's hockey, basketball, and lacrosse games as possible, including some away games. The band makes an annual trip to Penn's Palestra for the Princeton-Penn game, as well as occasional trips to nearby schools such as Columbia, Yale, Brown, and even Cornell for basketball and hockey contests. As Princeton's basketball and hockey teams are often among the best in their respective conferences, the band regularly travels with the teams to post season tournaments. Other than the absence of scrambling and formations, the Band's presence at these events is much the same as at football games.
At the end of the academic year, the PUB remains on campus for Reunions, a three-day celebration of Princetonians past and present. Since 1936 the band has led the annual P-Rade, a parade of alumni that begins with the University President, the oldest attending alum, the band, and the 25th reunion class.
The standard full uniform of the PUB, used for football season, parades, Princeton Reunions, and other formal events, consists of black pants, white shoes, a white dress shirt with solid black tie, Italian "boater" hat, and the distinctive orange-and-black plaid jacket. The drum major and student conductor wear white pants, long-tailed dinner jackets (known as "whitecoats") and bow ties, and the drum major wears a signature hat of their choosing. The plaid wool used in the uniforms was custom manufactured and donated by a Princeton alumnus in 1952 at Bennington Mills in Vermont. As such, the band owns the exclusive rights to the particular plaid design found on the jackets.
At most athletic events outside of football and tournament games, the band wears an informal uniform consisting of a plaid jacket and boater hat over jeans and a black t-shirt, preferably bearing a Princeton logo.
For a brief period beginning in 2001, the PUB replaced its typical off-season uniform with custom orange-and-black striped rugby shirts. However, in recent years, "hats and jackets" has replaced rugby shirts as the off-season uniform once more.
Graduating seniors often find a way to adorn their beer jackets with the plaid in some fashion, making alumni of the band easy to spot. Alumni often replace the typical plaid jacket with their beer jacket when playing with the PUB for homecoming or Reunions.
After every Princeton victory or special occasion, the Princeton University Band performs an arrangement of Rock Lobster. Band members walk around while performing and often engage with other band members, students, or fans. In the middle of the song, where the lyrics "down, down" are found in the original recording, band members lay on their backs on the ground or pieces of furniture and kick their legs while playing. The student conductor and snare drummers cue the band to stand up once more and continue the song. Known as "lobstering," this has come to be recognized as a signature of the PUB, particularly by fellow Princeton students.
Throughout the years, several smaller traditions linked to lobstering have developed:
A common instrument used in the Princeton University Band is a large plastic Santa that gets beaten with a plastic bat. There have been several Santas in the PUB's possession throughout the years, each of which is named. The PUB also employs a plastic Frosty the Snowman, though less often than Santa.
In 2023, enthusiastic playing of one of the PUB's Santas resulted in it breaking. It has since been replaced.
Traditionally, the PUB ends its football pregame shows with a formation known as the "Double-Double Rotating P." The formation is a large outline letter "P" comprising an outer loop in a "P" shape and a smaller inner loop forming the interior of the letter. In this formation, the PUB plays the march "Going Back to Nassau Hall." When the band reaches the trio, the P itself remains stationary, but the members of the band start to move around the perimeter of the P, with the outer loop moving clockwise and the inner loop moving counterclockwise. The band plays the trio twice, and upon beginning the second time through the trio, the two loops reverse their respective directions.
At home games, this performance may immediately lead into a performance of The Star-Spangled Banner.
The Princeton University Band begins every halftime show by marching on to the field to the Princeton Forward March. The band begins by marching in uniform lines split by section, but at the trio of the march, the leader of each line may march wherever they like, with all other members in their line following. This has led to instances where band members have ended up underneath the student conductor's podium, in audience seating areas, and in the end zones of the field, among other locations.
After football victories at Princeton Stadium, the Princeton University Band goes to the fountain at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and plays a concert from inside. Before 2012, this would occur regardless of the game's outcome if the Brown University Band were present at Princeton.
Immediately following the final football game of the season, the Princeton University Band performs a small concert inside Nassau Hall. The president, drum major, head manager, and student conductor present short speeches, the band performs one song of the student conductor's choosing, and the band sings Old Nassau before taking pictures and departing.
The PUB is one of the only student organizations allowed inside Nassau Hall, as the building is not normally accessible to students.
At the conclusion of each school year and prior to Reunions, the band takes a trip to White Castle and holds an eating contest. No time limits are enforced. Whoever can eat the most sliders in one sitting (before vomiting) is named King, Queen, or Royal of the Castle for that year, and the runner-up is named Prince, Princess, or Royal of the Castle. This event is sometimes colloquially referred to simply as the "Meat Tolerance Challenge."
Style points are awarded for some eating methods, though they do not influence the outcome of the competition. Style points may be awarded for methods including but not limited to:
The Band is famous for its irreverent antics and illicit behavior. As an incentive to motivate members to maintain this tradition, the band has for many years presented several awards to its members commemorating a variety of outrageous acts.
The Princeton University Band awards postnomial tags to members to indicate officer positions and awards (both current and past). These follow a band member's name and class year when their name is written out (ex., John Doe '00 PE xDrM xDM xA xTotY, where John Doe graduated in 2000, held the positions of president, drum major, drillmaster, and announcer, and was awarded the Turkey of the Year award).
After the conclusion of an officer's term or after another band member is named a recipient of an award at the annual band banquet, each of these postnomial tags (with the exception of President, which becomes "PE" to indicate "President Emeritus") is prepended by an "x" to indicate an ex-officer or ex-awardee (ex. xDrM or xFL). As such, one band member may hold many postnomial tags depending on their level of involvement and commendation within the band.
Tags denoting officer positions are always organized in the order in which an individual served in those positions, but tags for awards and appointed positions may either be written in chronological order or in an arbitrary order at the discretion of the awardee (with the exception of currently-held awards and positions, which are always listed before previous awards and positions). For example, a previous recipient of the Grossest Member award who serves as head manager and previous served as treasurer and drillmaster may choose to write their name as John Doe '00 HM xT xDM xGM (award tag following officer tags) or as John Doe '00 HM xT xGM xDM (award tag listed chronologically).
There have been several more eclectic postnomial tags throughout the years, and there exists some debate over the legitimacy of some tags. Below are some examples of non-traditional postnomial tags from recent memory:
The Band's repertoire includes dozens of other songs, primarily featuring classic rock, '90s hits, and recent pop tunes.
The lyrics to the band's theme song:
Memories of Princeton Vol 1 - undated Princeton University Band - 1927 Princeton Symposium of Music - undated (1940s) Rally Songs by the Princeton University Band - 1947 Songs of Princeton: In Praise of Old Nassau - 1951 Band - Tiger Tones, Boomerangs, etc. - 1955 Going Back: The Songs of the Ivy League - 1960 Traditional Songs of Princeton - 1962 Princeton University Band (shield album) - 1978 Going Back... Marching Forward - 1985 The Orange and the Black - 1989 Goin' Back: Songs of Old Nassau - 1994 Songs to Beat Yale By - 2000 The Princeton University Band (The Plaid Album) - 2007 Songs in the Key of LOUD - 2011 The Good, the Plaid, and the Ugly - 2015 Plaid to the Bone - 2019 So Plaid It’s Good - 2023
The PUB has an ongoing presence in, of all media outlets, Sports Illustrated. Among the highlights:
The Band won ESPN's Battle of the Marching Bands in 1996, beating the Stanford Band, another scramble band, in the final round. The other competitors in this online poll were: Rice, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Grambling, Michigan, Stanford, and Texas A&M. It is suspected, though unconfirmed, that the Band won partly due to very strong voting in their favor by bands previously eliminated who did not want any of their rival bands to win. None of Princeton's rival bands were in the competition, therefore the PUB was something of a neutral choice.
The Band has been on national television playing for the Princeton University basketball teams at the NCAA tournament.
The Band has also made television appearances at the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. They played at Princeton's first-round loss to the Bulldogs of University of Minnesota Duluth at Minneapolis in 2009 and the year before when they lost to University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux in Madison, as well as at Princeton's first-round loss to Ohio State in Allentown, PA in 2018.
Friends of Tiger Band (FOTB) is the official organization for alumni and other supporters of the PUB. Proving that the PUB is forever, band members automatically become members of FOTB upon graduation. FOTB has three key functions: Hosting Band Reunions following the Home Big Three game and the P-Rade, publishing the FOTB newsletter, and (most importantly) providing support, both financially and in dealings with the University administration.