Word: drum
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...growing. Thousands of pipes were crowded into the organ lofts, and the three basement rooms became filled with the complex wind and control machinery, e.g., five electric motors, coupler relays, etc. Besides the ordinary stops, Mayer acquired such theatrical effects as a cymbal crash, a tympani roll, a drum stroke. In 1950, a wealthy alumnus gave Mayer a second new console, a $35,000 item that contained 1,622 parts, including 757 stop keys, 218 combinations and 248 miscellaneous gadgets (e.g., a toe-touch stud that brings on a soft stop with one kick, adds a louder one with...
While no one complained of such a clamor, there is no doubt that the band, now under G. Wright Briggs '31, has come up with unusual sound provoked b y unusual musicians out of unusual instruments. The best-known of course, is the mammoth bass drum obtained in 1927. That year the band played for the Associated Harvard Club meeting in Philadelphia, and in appreciation, the group told' the band to go out and buy itself a bass drum. It did go out and buy a bass drum. The biggest one in the world, in fact, specially made...
Even larger than the six-foot six inch drum (eight feet high on its special carriage) is the band's gigantic sousaphone, one of the largest in existence. No one is sure just when it was purchased, but it seems clear that some enterprising bandsman picked it up for a mere $100 when it was unintentionally put on an inventory sale. Its mate, made by an English locomotive factory for John Phillip Sousa, is now in a New York music store, definitely not for sale at any price...
Ingenuity has been as much as trademark of the band as its drum and tuba, especially in "visuals," the half-time formations at football games. One of the more memorable drills took place at the 1949 Dartmouth game, when the visiting Indian band formed a beer stein, the content of which gradually diminished. The Harvard Band, aroused by the challenge them formed a champagne bottle, which tipped and poured into a thin-stemmed glass complete with bubbles. For this they received a tremendous ovation, a protest from the WCTU, and a mild reprimand form the administration which felt than...
Touchette also brought another member into the band--his young son, who until recently was employed sitting on top of the big bass drum wielding a mammoth beater. The days of socking the huge instrument are almost over, however; the gargantuan hides are in soggy condition, and the entire frame needs overhauling. Estimates of the drum's value have varied. "When I was a freshman," says Novick, "it was worth $6000. The next year they sat $7000. Last year it went up another thousand. Actually, it's closer to $2000, but even then we have to find a cow with...