Highty Tighties
| Highty Tighties | |
|---|---|
 |
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| School | Virginia Tech |
| Location | Blacksburg, Virginia |
| Conference | ACC |
| Founded | 1893 |
| Director | Senior Chief Jim Bean USN (Ret.) |
| Members | 140 |
| Uniform | Dress Alpha |
The Virginia Tech Regimental Band, also known as the Highty Tighties, VPI Cadet Band, or Band Company, is a military marching band and unit in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Virginia Tech also has a non-military marching band, The Marching Virginians.
In 1881 the Blacksburg Cornet Band was replaced by the Glade Cornet Band, another local citizen's band, which served as the college's post band until a Cadet Band was organized in 1892.
The ten piece Glade Cornet Band was formed in 1883. It was organized by Thomas Schaeffer.
The first Cadet Corps Band company was formed in the 1892–1893 session, ten years after the founding of VAMC. The first 12 musicians included 1st Lt Frank Daniel Wilson (commander); Sergeants Clifford West Anderson, John William Sample, Theodore Graham Lewton, and Lorenzo Montogery Hale; and Privates Harry Woodfin Phillips, William Marshall Watson, Charles Lewis Pedigo, William Rufus Prige, James Archer Walsh, and Robert Beverly, Jr. Professor and LtCol Ellison Adger Smyth was also a member of the band and a key figure in establishing the band, as well as the first football team in 1892. The first band director, Major James Patton Harvey, was appointed by the Board of Trustee in May 1893.
In 1894 the Corps traveled to Richmond for the first time for the unveiling of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. In 1896, the Band played at the Jefferson Davis Monument dedication in Richmond, Virginia. They were the only band so honored. In 1896, the band, along with the entire corps, traveled to Roanoke, Virginia for the first annual Thanksgiving Day VPI-VMI football game and pre-game parade to the stadium. This tradition continued until 1970, when Virginia Tech and VMI stopped playing in Roanoke. (The final Virginia Tech-VMI football game was played in Norfolk, VA in 1984.)
In 1898, the Band volunteered for duty in the Spanish–American War. The War Department authorized the organization of bands of twenty-four pieces for the volunteer infantry regiments. A Major Shanks wrote to Major Harvey, Director of the VPI Band, requesting him "to prevail upon his Band to join the Second Virginia as its regimental band. The director, Major James Patton Harvey, and 20-members of the band joined some Blacksburg, Virginia townspeople and former bandsmen to form the Regimental band for the US Army's 2nd Virginia Regiment.
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