Music has played an important part in undergraduate life throughout Yale’s history. Although formed officially as a university program in 1918, written accounts of a Yale band have been found as early as 1775, when a group of Yale fife and drum musicians under the direction of Noah Webster (yes, the dictionary Noah Webster!) accompanied General George Washington to Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Webster reported that “they found Cambridge” “not to their liking” and returned within the week.) Organized musical groups have flourished for nearly 250 years. Compared with such organizations as the Glee Club, Banjo Club (now defunct), and Whiffenpoofs, the 107-year old Concert Band is a relative newcomer. Here is the history of the Yale Bands.
The idea of a Yale University Band first occurred to Joseph R. Ellis in 1918 when he was a lieutenant in the Army and was assigned to the Yale Student Army Training Corps. Prior to this he had been stationed in Washington, D.C. A good part of his work while there was to secure players and leaders for bands throughout the training camps of the country. On his arrival at Yale, he started planning the formation of a band. As no funds were available, he took up a collection from the military units, which were then in training and he secured the services of a professional coach, Charles F. Smith, a New Haven musician who had considerable band experience. A few instruments were purchased and musical talent was recruited from the S.A.T.C. (Student Army Training Corps). This band provided music for military formations until the Corps was demobilized in December after the Armistice. The instruments were turned over to the University with the hope that they would provide the nucleus for a student band later on.
Fortunately, Lt. Ellis remained at Yale to become Registrar of Freshmen. On October 1, 1919, he and Charles Smith succeeded in persuading 20 students to form the Yale Band, which played at some of the minor football games that fall. The following year there were 34 players and “they showed such improvement that they were permitted to play at the Princeton and Harvard games” in addition to the minor contests. Within a short time, a band of approximately 60 players represented Yale at football games and also presented occasional concerts of light and popular music. This continued for the next two decades. Joseph Ellis served as the dedicated Faculty Advisor and Treasurer of the Band until his death in 1934. His equally enthusiastic successor was Stuart H. Clement ’17, Associate Director of the Office of Counseling, Placement and Research, whose interest and efforts helped the band to function successfully for eight more years.
In 1942, after nearly a quarter of a century as the professional musical director, Charles Smith resigned. A major change in the musical and administrative direction of the Band took place when Alvin Etler was given a faculty appointment in the School of Music to teach wind instruments and to conduct the Band. However, because of war conditions, the normal operation of the organization became difficult. Several men in the military units at Yale helped to fill the depleted ranks so that the Band was able to play at most of the football games. Throughout the war Mr. Etler made plans for the development of a Concert Band in addition to the Football Band when conditions returned to normal. When the situation did present itself and an excellent beginning had been made, Mr. Etler resigned to accept another teaching position at Cornell University.
In September of 1946 Keith Wilson was appointed conductor and was charged to continue the expansion of the Band’s activities and to teach at the School of Music. Immediately following the football season the Concert Band was organized. This unit of 74 pieces gave its first performance of serious music in Sprague Hall in March of 1947 and a series of Twilight Concerts was inaugurated on the Cross Campus later that spring. The Concert Band rapidly became a first-rate organization devoted to performing music composed originally for band, as well as arrangements of orchestral music, traditional marches and school songs. For many years the Concert Band presented a number of concerts in other cities, sponsored by Yale Clubs, civic organizations, schools and colleges. Since 1950, when Commencement exercises were moved form Woolsey Hall to the Old Campus, the Band has performed the music for this final event of the academic year. In 1954 a “Pops” Concert was given on the Dartmouth and Alumni Board convocation weekend. This proved to be so successful that this “most entertaining musical evening” became an annual event at Yale, now called the Family Weekend Concert with the Yale Glee Club and Yale Symphony Orchestra.
Throughout the 1960s, the Yale Band contributed in a practical way to music education by sponsoring an annual Band Clinic for the Connecticut Music Educators’ Association. At this meeting new works from many publishers were played to give secondary school directors an opportunity to select good music for their own performances. In 1975, the Yale Band sponsored and hosted the first College Band Directors National Association Wind Ensemble Conference (CBDNA), where college band directors were treated to performances by Yale graduate and undergraduate ensembles. In the 1980s, the Yale Band hosted three conferences for the New England College Band Association (NECBA), presenting premieres of new music and old classics for the faculty and students of colleges and universities throughout New England and administering the needs of the Intercollegiate Honor Band (an ensemble made up of the select musicians from New England’s college bands). In 1987, Professor Keith Wilson served as the conductor of the first of those Honor Bands at Yale.
From its modest beginning the Yale University Band has grown into an organization of several performing groups involving approximately 150 student musicians. During the fall the Yale Precision Marching Band plays and marches at football games in the Bowl and at several of those played on other campuses. The highly selective Concert Band of 65 to 75 players begins its activities immediately in the fall and, every other year, continues its season in to the summer with an international concert tour. In addition, the Winter Pep Band plays for many winter sports events, and numerous brass and woodwind ensembles rehearse and perform throughout the year. Some students play in all of these groups, while others participate in a more limited schedule. These diversified and extensive activities offer many opportunities for wind or percussion instrumentalists to continue their music interest and education.