Texas Longhorn Band
| Longhorn Band | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| School | The University of Texas at Austin |
| Location | Austin, Texas |
| Conference | Big 12 |
| Founded | 1900 |
| Director | Dr. Scott Hanna |
| Associate director | Dr. Ryan Kelly |
| Assistant director | Prof. Joshua Gall |
| Members | 375 |
| Fight song | "Texas Fight" |
| Uniform | "The Fringe" — burnt orange and white western-style jackets with Aztec-striped pants, white cowboy hats |
The University of Texas Longhorn Band, also known as the Showband of the Southwest or LHB, is the marching band of The University of Texas at Austin. The Longhorn Band was founded in 1900 by a distinguished professor of chemistry, Dr. Eugene P. Schoch. The band is currently under the direction of Dr. Scott Hanna. The band performs at all in-state football games, for various Texas Longhorn Athletics teams, and at special pep rallies and parades throughout the year. The band includes about 375 students, all of whom must register for a year-round course offered by the Butler School of Music.
The Longhorn Band performs a different show at each home football game throughout the year. These shows include 'Traditional Shows', which feature signature music and drill, and 'Non-Traditional Shows', which feature contemporary music and a modern marching style.
The curl-on entrance is a traditional entrance in which the marchers enter from both east and west sidelines. To reach this position, the section is positioned on the field, divided in the center, and then the marcher closest to the sideline begins a spiral towards the nearest end zone until all marchers are in a tight spiral with the last marcher on the sideline. This entrance is utilized for Wall-to-Wall Band performances, as well as other special occasions. Marchers enter with a Taps 8 to 5 stride, but adjust to a 6 to 5 interval for downfield marching.
Execution
After 4 whistles, the percussion will play eight "dead beats," during which time the band remains at attention. The function of these 8 counts is to establish tempo in a noisy stadium. Following the 8 dead beats, the person on the sideline leads on the marchers to the field. Marchers kick off from the sideline every two steps. After a designated number of counts, a 9-count halt cadence will be played.
First performed in 1957, "Script Texas" is a traditional halftime show performed every year. The Drum Major leads the band onto the field in a single-file line, spelling "Texas" in script writing. The band is split into two blocks at the start of the performance and begins by playing "The Yellow Rose of Texas." The Drum Major marches over to the front of block one and block one begins spelling out the T-E-X of "Texas". They only spell out the bottom part of the T and the / of the X, though. While the first block follows the Drum Major out onto the field, the color guard who are in block one march in a large circle to the side of the band before putting the top on the T after block one has marched to their positions. At the end of "The Yellow Rose of Texas," the band goes straight into "March of the Longhorns" and the rest of "Texas" is spelled out. Once "March of the Longhorns" is over, "Calypso" starts and the Drum Major leads the Saxophones, who are by themselves, into an arc that comes down and below A and S. This concludes Script Texas, and "Texas Fight" is played while the band marches off of the field.
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