TBDBITL Answer

Courtesy of Michele (with one L) and her friend who is an Ohio State band alumnus, here is the answer to the question I posed a few days ago about the band going all-brass!

The answer to your question, straight out of my Script Ohio yearbook: October 6, 1934, OSU vs. Indiana was the first game with only brass and percussion. I believe the switch was “cold turkey”. It became the first all-brass college band and the largest in the world (at that time, don’t know if it’s still true) However, in 1944 during World War II, numbers were down because of the war and at that time there were no women in the band, so woodwinds and even singers were recruited to fill needed positions. It is the WW II era woodwinds that we tend to see now in the Alumni band. Not sure if the next and final change to all brass (after the war, don’t know what year) allowed men to grandfather in or if the change was like the original.

Thanks a ton for the info! I guess there are still some things the internet can't answer!