Princeton University Band
| The Princeton University Band Tiger Band, P.U.B. |
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|---|---|
 On the steps of Blair Arch in the fall of 2010 |
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| School | Princeton University |
| Location | Princeton, NJ |
| Conference | Ivy League |
| Founded | 1919 |
| Director | Michael Torre III '17 |
| Members | 60-70 |
| Fight song | "Princeton Cannon Song" |
| Uniform | flair-adorned, tailored blazer made of custom-woven plaid in a copyrighted orange and black tartan; straw, Italian boater hat with orange and black ribbon; white, oxford shirt; long, black tie; black pants; white bucks. |
| Website | puband |
The Princeton University Band serves as the 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 multi-time national champion football team; however, these events were in many ways merely a reorganization of the preexisting R.O.T.C. 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 playing not only during football games, but also basketball and ice hockey. By the 1940s, they were playing at nearly all home basketball and hockey contests, as well as at several lacrosse matches and in some 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 half-time 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. 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.
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Wikipedia