Green Wave band marches in pink

Fran Simon fsimon@tulane.edu
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Real sousaphone players wear pink, as have other members of the Tulane University Marching Band during October to acknowledge Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Tulane University Marching Band, pink

Sporting pink plumes, the Tulane University Marching Band plays music from Les Miserables as the French flag waves at halftime during the Homecoming football game in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Oct. 5. (Photo by Sally Asher)


Every time the band plays this month, the musicians wear pink plumes on their hats, sousaphone players wear pink gloves, the color guard and baton twirler sport pink accessories and dance team members shake pink pompoms.

The Green Wave band can be seen next getting down with the pink at the Saturday (Oct. 26) football game against the University of Tulsa.

“We've grown each year and we expect that trend to continue,” says Barry Spanier, director of bands. Originally founded as a military band in 1920, the Tulane University Marching Band returned after a 30-year hiatus to march in Mardi Gras 2006 with just 25 members. This fall marks the eighth football season for the spirited band, which now has 83 members.

In November, the marching band will switch back to wearing white plumes with the green and blue uniforms. Next year, Spanier hopes the band can don new uniforms that the members will wear in the new Yulman Stadium.

Spanier is asking the Tulane community and friends of the band for support by contributing to the Marching Band Endowed Fund. The endowment will provide annual revenue to support the band's most pressing needs: student awards, instruments and uniforms, and travel expenses.

“The marching band is an integral part of American culture,” Spanier says. “The band brings people together like nothing else can. Without the band, the new stadium wouldn't be the same.”