Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band
| Iowa State University Cyclone Football 'Varsity' Marching Band | |
|---|---|
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| Nickname | The Pride of Iowa State |
| School | Iowa State University |
| Location | Ames, Iowa |
| Conference | Big 12 Conference |
| Founded | 1881 |
| Director | Dr. Steven Laverne Smyth |
| Members | 345 |
| Uniform | Cardinal jackets with gold front and white trim; cardinal pants; white shako hat with white plume |
The Iowa State University Cyclone Football 'Varsity' Marching Band (ISUCF'V'MB) is the marching band of Iowa State University. Also known as the Cyclone Marching Band (CMB), it is nicknamed the "Pride of Iowa State", the "Best of the Midwest", and the "Varsity Band". The band performs in support of the Iowa State Cyclones football team at all home games (at the Jack Trice Stadium) and at some away games versus Big 12 Conference rivals. The band plays at high school band festivals, indoor concerts, and post-season bowl games.
Pep bands drawn from the membership of the ISUCF'V'MB perform for home volleyball and basketball games at Hilton Coliseum as well as the Big 12 tournament, National Invitation Tournament, and NCAA tournament. The band makes appearances at pep rallies, special occasions, and formerly in the annual spring VEISHEA celebration parade.
The first evidence of a marching band at Iowa State can be found in a newspaper article mentioning the reorganization of the band in 1881. In 1886 a drum major first performed alongside the band for a halftime show. The band competed in a band contest held in connection with the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa in 1928 and made its first appearance at an away football game in 1936. The band appeared in Pigskin Pageants, a college-produced documentary movie, in 1947.
Women were first allowed to march in the band in a limited capacity, as majorettes and percussionists, during World War II. Alvin Edgar first instituted "floating" marching formations in the 1940s, which have become a standard of the band's halftime and pregame performances. Basketball pep bands first made their appearance at Iowa State in 1951, and in 1953 the school hosted its first "Band Day". That same year, Mason City, Iowa native Meredith Willson, composer of The Music Man, composed "For I, For S", first played at the annual football game against the Kansas State Wildcats. The Cyclones and the marching band made their first appearance at a bowl game at the 1971 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, and appeared the next year at the 1972 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee. As a part of a national movement by college bands to open their ranks to female members, women joined the band in 1972.
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