Peter Andrews

May

2016

Reunion Weekend 2016: June 4

Reunion is coming! Which means we hope to see you at the University’s reception for alumni of Columbia instrumental and singing groups, set for Saturday, June 4 at 4 p.m. in Lerner room 555 and is complimentary.

Even if you aren’t a member of a ‘x1 or ‘x6 class, we hope you’ll join us. We’ll be back to you with location and other details, but at this point it looks as if we can expect to be joined (and serenaded) by kids with musical instruments, and we’re pretty sure Columbia will offer us something to eat and drink.

You can register for the event here, and check out the full schedule of events here.

If you are a member of a five-year or ten-year reunion class, incidentally, we’re told you can earmark your reunion donation to the Columbia University Marching Band or Columbia University Wind Ensemble and have it count towards your class total. Ask your school’s alumni office how to make this happen. Columbia’s future alumni instrumentalists will be thrilled.

We hope to see you on June 4!

Feb

2016

Winter 2016 News and Notes

Basketball Reunion

If you can be near campus at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 4, come join the Marching Band and us as we watch the men’s basketball team (currently a happy 9-3 in Ivy League play) take on Brown. In fact, if you played in any Columbia musical ensemble – Marching Band, Concert Band, Wind Ensemble or Jazz Band – you’re invited to bring an instrument, sit in the stands, and play if you dare. Buy tickets here or at the door. Join Bandies past and present at a post-game get-together, with assorted hijinks, immediately following the game.

Wind Ensemble at Carnegie Hall

Planning to attend the Wind Ensemble’s return to Carnegie Hall at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 12? Tickets for the concert start at $20, but a 15% discount awaits if you enter the promo code FAM23271 when you buy seats at the Carnegie website here. Or phone the box office at 212-247-7800. The program, under conductor Jason Noble, will feature recent works by emerging composers and a guest shot by Johan de Meij, who will conduct his own 2014 composition, Downtown Divertimento. The group will share billing with the National Festival Chorus and Texas A&M University Century Singers.

Send us your tapes!

Our call for alumni to dig out old recordings of the Band is bearing fruit: Jazz Band alums have unearthed some more vintage cassettes. As soon as we have them digitized, we’ll list them in the Audio Vault on our website and you can go back a few decades and hear them yourself. We’re always looking for vintage audio and video of any Columbia Band performance. Check your closet!

Radio (and Video) Stars

For Columbia football fans, the highlight of the 2015 season – other than the end of the team’s losing streak – may have been the 11-part podcast “The Season” in which New York radio station WNYC followed the Lions’ fortunes throughout new coach Al Bagnoli’s first year. The Marching Band figures heavily in Episode 10, and WNYC produced a short video extra on the Band. Check ’em out.

CUBAA on Facebook

Check out a new way to stay connected with your fellow band alumni and keep up with all the latest news: we’re on Facebook! Join the CUBAA group on Facebook here.

Oct

2015

Homecoming 2015 Schedule

Homecoming is almost here!

It’s almost time for our first Homecoming under the New Era of Columbia Football, with our annual gathering at Baker Field and then an informal get-together in the evening near campus, at 1020 Bar. Here’s our schedule for the day, Saturday, October 17.

1:30-3:00 – Come to the CUBAA table in the alumni tent at Baker Field to schmooze with other Band and Wind Ensemble alums, watch clips from Meet the Professor (the Band has a starring role in this 1935 short film) and buy copies of the Carnegie Hall CDs.

3:00-6:30ish – Cheer along with the Band as we watch the Lions play the Quakers. Bring your instrument and play along if you feel like it! The Band welcomes alumni participation. FYI, kick off is at 3:30. Halftime is estimated to start around 4:45.

8:00 – Join us at 1020 Bar on Amsterdam between 110th and 111th for an alumni-band event that hopefully will include some singing. The bar’s management knows we’re coming and will be setting aside the back of the space for us.

And finally, take a moment to listen to NPR’s podcast series on the latest iteration of the football program. Guess who provided some of the music for some of the episodes? The band!

Hope to see you all on the 17th, either in the stands or at 1020.

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