Duke University Marching Band
From Duke Wiki
The Duke University Marching Band (DUMB) is both Duke University's marching band during football season and pep band during basketball season. It is directed by Jeff Au.
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[edit] Performances
[edit] At home
DUMB plays both a pre-game and half-time show at all Duke home football games in Wallace Wade Stadium. They also play in the stands throughout the football games. The band also plays at home men's and women's basketball games in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Other appearances have included women's volleyball, men's lacrosse, and a Team USA v. Team Australia game in 2006.
[edit] On the road
Every year, DUMB travels to two away football games, where it plays in the stands. It also travels to support the men's and women's basketball teams at the ACC and NCAA tournaments. For transportation, the band travels in a bus to the football games. For basketball, they travel with the team.
[edit] Entertainment
The music that DUMB performs is mostly modern popular music arranged by its director. For the 2008-09 season, a huge fan favorite has been the DUMB rendition of "Every Time We Touch" by Cascada. Some of the new songs for the 2006-07 seasons were "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects and "Ridin' Dirty" by Chamillionaire. These have joined the ranks of such past DUMB songs as "Vehicle" by the Ides of March and "Final Countdown" by Europe. DUMB is always revising its playlist in response to both the quality of its songs and student interest.
DUMB also spices up some of its songs in order to make them even more fun. The Cameron Crazies easily recognize "Hey, Baby," and sing along while waving their hands in the air. The band itself sings along to the chorus of Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise." However, the biggest game for DUMB is body surfing - while the rest of the band plays "Wipeout," a small contingent runs out onto the floor and lies down with a surfboard on top of themselves. The Blue Devil then stands on the surfboard as the band members roll the surfboard over their bodies and down the court.
[edit] Practices
During football season, DUMB practices twice a week for two hours at a time. The practices are held on East Campus on both the athletic fields there and in Bone Hall, in the Biddle Music Building. Band members are allowed to register on ACES for the marching band course MUSIC 102, which gives them a half-credit towards graduation. There is also a band camp that runs in conjuction with Freshman orientation.
Once football season is over, the band discontinues its weekly pairs of practices, and instead only has a few review practices scattered throughout the basketball season. The basketball season practices sometimes include recording sessions for making DUMB cds.
[edit] Uniforms
Every DUMB member is issued a marching uniform at the beginning of the year, consisting of a pair of pants and a jacket. Each member is also expected to purchase a DUMB baseball hat and a pair of black shoes for marching in. They also have DUMB t-shirts for wearing underneath their uniforms. When basketball season begins, the uniform becomes jeans and the signature DUMB rugbies.
[edit] Organization
DUMB is headed by a director, student officers, drum majors, and section leaders.
[edit] Instrumentation
The band has trumpets, mellophones, trombones, saxophones, flutes, clarinets, and tubas, along with a drumline. The drumline consists of bass drums, snares, cymbals, and quints during football season, and a drum set complemented by cymbals and a bass drum during basketball season. The instruments are stored in Bone Hall and DUMBHell, which is located in the underground tunnel connecting Wilson Recreation Center to Cameron Indoor Stadium.
