Trumpet Stories

Come and learn the lore of the Big Red Trumpets. These are our stories as told by the Trumpets themselves. They highlight some of our greatest moments and achievements. If you are a Big Red Trumpet, past or present, and you have a story to tell, email the Webmaster and they will put it up...

The 2012 Columbia Halftime Show

by Louis "Luigi" Widom '16

In the fall of 2012 I was a freshman who had joined the BRMB after four years of membership in a really intense high school marching band. Our second away trip (and last one of the year) was to Columbia. Shortly before we went on the field for halftime, I was pulled aside by Schwegger '15. I was told that I had been chosen to carry out one of our newer trumpet traditions, the hijacking of the Columbia halftime show. I was instructed to march out onto the field with the Columbia Band in order to upstage their performance, something done previously by Frodo '12 in 2009 and 2010, and by Eli Doris '15 in 2011.

The BRMB took the field first and performed the Spy Show (with the addition of an unexpected helicopter flyover during the opening bars of Michaela Olson '16's trumpet solo in "Live and Let Die"). As our band exited the field I made my way along the sideline until I was close to the waiting Columbia Band, and I followed them back out onto the turf. For what transpired afterward, I called upon all of the precision and marching technique I had learned in high school and at Drum Major Academy (Can you tell I'm a little full of myself?). With such refined marching, it was an easy task to make the Columbia Band look terrible. Furthermore, the Columbia Band stood mostly still while playing since they're a scatter band. This meant that I was usually the only object in motion on the field, naturally drawing the crowd's attention to me. When the Columbia Band scrambled to their next positions between songs, I stopped in place; being the only non-moving object had a similar effect. Highlights included promptly reclaiming my hat after it was stolen by one of the Columbia bandsmen, performing a "step-and-wail" (a.k.a. a "park-and-bark", or "spreading your legs and having a good time"), and the now famous exaggerated version of the bionic spin. As a freshman, it was quite gratifying to hear the entire BRMB chanting my name from the sideline during the show. Out of respect, I marched off the field when the announcer began honoring the senior members of the Columbia Band.

Drum Major Jess Reno '13 told me after the fact that she'd been pissed when I initially marched out onto the field, but was laughing her ass off with the rest of the BRMB by the end of my performance. Other spectators included my family and some members of my extended family in the stands, who were pretty confused but still entertained.

Thanks to this cool thing called the internet, it was possible to track down a video of my 2012 performance recorded from the Columbia stands. Watch it on YouTube HERE. Note that during their third song, the Columbia Band just sat down and pulled out their laptops instead of attempting to play their instruments. Are they even a band? Since this appears to be the Columbia "Band's" official YouTube channel, you can find and view several other shows that were improved by members of the Big Red Trumpet Section.

I did the same thing again during Columbia's show in 2013 before passing the torch to Bethany Angeliu '18 in 2014. Hopefully this tradition continues for many more years. After all, somebody has to put the Columbia Band in their place.

Luigi '16, 1-4-15

Commando Raiding and Press Boxes

by Marc Goldman '90

There was a classic moment at Columbia once, where the press box is tough to get to, when Vic Seidel and Tom Baxter approached the first staircase and a guard would not let us go up. Soooo, they went to the next staircase and told the new guard that the first guy told them it was cool to go up, and lo and behold we went right to the top with no problem!!!

There was also the time at Harvard I think when we got a gun pulled on us by security to keep us from doing our commando raid. Unreal. When I started at CU, we ONLY raided at other stadiums. That was the whole point. In recent years, it seems you guys raid at home too.

I once did an AARDVARK out of the Columbia press box during a commando raid. Pretty nuts and stupid, but hey my trumpet ego demanded it!!

Did ya know there were 2 different Mick Gilbert's in the trumpet section??? One graduated in 1987 or so and the other got out in 93. On Mike Gilbert's first day in band in 1989, we immediately christened him MICK in honor of the former Mick from the RANK 7 days!

---Marc Goldman '90, 8-13-96

The Hip-Stud Bus

by Peter Lee '88

And to answer a question you posed a while ago... The hip-stud trumpet was pretty much a one-shot deal. It all happened during a band trip to Hahvahd during Fall Break. Well, there was the Sherman, Noisy, and Study buses. Well, NOBODY was going to study, so the trumpets commandeered the Study bus and renamed it the Hip-Stud bus. Not really a tradition, more like trivia.

---Peter Lee '88, 8-30-96

Playing the Michigan St. Fight Song for Michigan Fans

by Arik Marks '89, '90, '91

Spring '91 brought the Big Red Hockey Team to Ann Arbor for a best of three 1st round NCAA match. Cornell won the opening game in heroic fashion, with a Kent Manderville goal to tie the game with 3 or six seconds remaining, followed by a quick OT goal. We got killed in the second game, and I was assaulted by an overzealous and drunk Michigan fan (he was thrown out) and screamed at by a nearby 10 year old girl for the entire game. (Yes, even more annoying than hearing Reprints! Reprints!)

So, going into the third and deciding game, we knew that though we might not win, we could certainly have more fun as a band than Michigan could. We decided that we had to get the Michigan State fight song and play it. We tried calling the now defunct Scooter Jeneary in Ithaca since he came from Iowa before, but he didn't have a copy, and wished us good luck at staying alive if we found one. Finally, after a full-day of scouring Ann Arbor, we found the "Songs of the Big Ten" in a bookstore, bought it, photocopied the sheet music, and then returned the book. Someone, I don't remember who, arranged parts for us on the spot - there were definitely no harmonies.

So we show up at the game and are losing maybe 8-3 late in the third period. It's time for us to play. So at a quiet break we rip off the Michigan State fight song. I don't think I've ever heard bigger boos in my life. Those listening on the radio said we even pissed off the announcers!

So we had to play it again a few minutes later, and then escaped quickly back to Ithaca.

---Arik Marks '89 (not), '90 (not), '91(Finally), 11-11-96
Lame forever

The Origin of the "Mary" Cheer

by John Calhoon '86

I was on the ground floor for the Commando trumpets. I even took part in the "writing" of Mary. It didn't start out as a hockey cheer. We first did it at a lightweight football game (my freshman year) they liked it, the Varsity Football team never really understood it and a couple years later it really became popular between the second and third periods at hockey. The rest is history. The commando stuff started out at the lightweight football games. It all started my freshman year and the credit has to go to Mike Darrow from the class of '83. We found that it was a lot easier to get into the president's box when the crescent was empty. Once we honed our technique, we were ready to get kicked out of places like the roof of the press box at Columbia and the top of the stadium at Harvard.

---John Calhoon '86, 1-7-97

An e-mail to the drum major regarding "The Moose"

by Dave Samuels '07

What is the moose?
--an adaptation of the Columbia fight song played by the trumpet section at the beginning of a song during a marching band concert.
--after playing through once, the next verse is sung, asking the question "who eats the moose"
--the answer, of course, is the drum major. in case people don't hear us correctly, we proceed to spell out the name.
--after completion of the thrid verse, which is played, the drum major regains composure and the original song is played as intended
--what the moose is and why the drum major eats it are unimportant matters.

What is the purpose of the moose?
1) Fun: The moose is neither played for it's musical value nor the profound message which its lyrics deliver. It is merely intended to throw a wrench in the drum major's system. The look of shock/disgust on the drum major's face is always amusing for the trumpets. Not being hogs, we enjoy letting the drum major share this look with other sections as well as spectators.
2) A check on the drum major's power: Every individual in the marching band has goals. The drum major is elected because we, the individuals, believed that he can help us achieve these goals. We are members of the Big Red Marching Band, not the (Drum Major's Name) Band. If he is leading the band in a way in which the members don't approve, there are methods of redress. Since he is in power at the concert, the moose reminds him that the real power of this band lies in the people who comprise it. We have made a decision to play a different song and have the power to play it.

Why is surprise necessary?
--If the drum major knows about the timing of the moose beforehand, he will, in a sense, be conducting the moose.
--When he conducts the moose, the drum major removes any check on his power that it holds.

Will this hurt recruitment?
--No. There are several reasons behind my logic here:
1) Even though the current drum major has run and been elected on a platform of "more hard work, less fucking around," this does not mean in any way mean that we can no longer have fun. The moose, as described above, is fun. There are two things that will recruit new members: amazing precision and current members who look like they're having fun. The amount of order and precision that is removed by playing the moose is certainly regained in the fun column.
2) Past precedent has shown that playing the moose will not hinder recruitment. After playing the moose at both the '03 and '04 Cornell Days, we were rewarded with the classes of 2008 and 2009, respectively. These are pretty damn good classes (nothing like 2007, but that's another argument). They would be even larger had we not lost several of them during/after the season.

But the current drum major has been quoted as saying, "Whoever does it that way just won't march next year. It's as simple as that." Should I be worried about this if we play the moose?
--The answer to this depends on who your primary affiliation is with. Do you see yourself as a member of the Big Red Trumpets, or The Big Red Marchiing Band? In a marching band without the Big Red Trumpets, you would play in a section like the bones or the clarinets.
--One of the defining characteristics of the Big Red Trumpet Section is the moose. If the drum major requires prior notification of moosing, he will essentially be removing the Big Red Trumpets from the marching band. I think many members of this section would rather not play, than to play in a section that's not the Big Red Trumpets.
--Should the drum major prevent anybody who identifies themselves primarily as a Big Red Trumpet from the marching band, then, for the sake of the Big Red Marching Band, I sincerely hope that he and the other sections can recruit 15-20 freshman trumpets who feel comfortable coming into this band with no upperclass leadership and filling the shoes of the trumpets from the class of 2007, 2008, and 2009 who would be reduced to little more than spectators.

For these reasons, I say we play the Moose whenever we want to tomorrow. Who's with me?

Da "proud member of the Big Red Trumpet Section since 2003" ve

---Dave Samuels '07, 4-7-06