Jamming in the Ivory Tower

Band (hand) n 1. A group of people b. A group of animals 2. A group of musicians who play as an ensemble. The American Heritage Dictionary

Every Harvard undergraduate musical organization fits one of these definitions. Sometimes more Especially on Saturdays in the fall.

On those mornings, as the bands that fit Definition 2 are just starting to get ready, a band that fits both parts of Definition I goes forth from 9 Prescott St., in the back of the Freshman Union.

This year if one listens to their critics--the Harvard Band came closer to fitting Definition 1b than ever before. On October 11, University of Massachusetts at Amherst President David Knapp said. "The Harvard Band, in about 14 years of watching them, has reached a new low of being neither gentlemen, ladies or scholars."

Knapp was so offended by the Band's performance that he sent a letter to President Bok, objecting to the Band's conduct at the September 26 UMass game, and complaining that the band used "obscene language" and "vulgar gestures."

At the following week's game at Cornell, the Band voluntarily broke with its tradition and yelled no obscene cheers. They also cut their customary practice of doing calisthenics in the end zone during the opposing band's performance.

But the damage was already done. Thanks in part to the Cantabridgians cavorting, the United States Military Academy banned performance by all Ivy League bands at West Point games.

But the dust of last fall's controversy seems to have settled. Next time Harvard plays at West Point, the Band will be allowed to perform, officials say. And next time Harvard plays anywhere, the Band will continue to conduct themselves a little better than usual, or at least a bit less like a group of animals.

"The Band's just like everyone else--we'll be following the same rules that everybody else does," says B. Russell Bloch '84, a senior staff member. "There's no alcohol allowed in the Stadium or in Bright Hockey Center and we'll be following that rule the same way everyone else does."

Asked to define the degree to which "everybody else" adheres to that regulation. Bloch declined to comment.

Consultations with Bok after Knapp's objections and those of several alumni resulted in no official sanctions on the Band's behavior, but the curtailment of activities that were perceived as offensive will continue, Bloch says.

As the well-established Harvard Band becomes more subdued, the excitement generated by the more ephemeral, less traditional student bands around campus continues to mount. Coming much closer than their counterparts to Definition 2 of the term in question, rock'n'roll bands with names like Hand to Mouth. The Girl Next Door and the Love Monsters entertained dancers and revelers in house dining halls and junior common rooms in greater numbers this year than any time in recent memory.

With constant shifting of personnel and, often, individual musicians playing with more than one band, the Harvard student band scene is like a playground where the same handful of kids regroups into different teams every day.

Take, for instance, the winners of the first Undergraduate Council-sponsored social event. "The Battle of the Bands," held in early February. The Love Monsters include two members of last year's popular group. Animal Dance, Daniel D. Wilson '83, and Matthew R. Wilson '85.

Matthew Wilson and "a bunch of guys on the same hall up in Briggs, in South House" began practicing together this year and eventually formed the new group, he says. It included Matthew Wilson singing lead instead of playing drums as he did in Animal Dance, and Daniel Wilson, Animal Dance's bassist, who had switched to drums.

"The Love Monsters started out practicing in a room underneath my room, so I have heard the genesis of the group," says Cyrus Patell '83 of Hand to Mouth. The Love Monsters have recently released an extended-play record featuring four original songs, but Daniel Wilson's graduation and another member's leave of absence make their future uncertain.

Hand to Mouth and The Girl Next Door have more definite outlooks. The bands will almost certainly cease to serenade undergraduates in the fall, according to members. Most of these are graduating, but as Patell explains, the demises are not unexpected.

"It's hard to keep a band together, given the outside pressure at Harvard," and easier to build an audience by confining appearances to campus locations, because of the transient nature of student musicians careers, Patell says.

Forming Hand to Mouth was "just a little Harvard fling," says Patell, but it did give rise to yet another soon-to-be-defunct group. The Girl Next Door.

"If there is a Girl Next Door [next year], it certainly won't be the Girl Next Door," says Millard Darden '83, the group's drummer. Darden, like numerous other rock musicians on campus, has played his instrument in more conventional groups as well, including the Harvard Jazz Band and various other jazz combos.

The formation last spring of The Girl Next Door, according to Patell, heralded a trend in which "There were a lot of bands, all of a sudden, where there hadn't been before--you'd always hear music coming from the bottom of the Union," where a practice room for rock bands is located.

Among these new entries and those that have appeared this year are three promising prospects, Speedy and the Castanets, Rhythm Co, and Jane's Parents.

"If they start to be more familiar with each other, they're going to sound real good." Noelani R. Rodriguez '83, bassist for The Girl Next Door, says of the younger groups. Rodriguez also played with Hand to Mouth and Rhythm Co., and organized dances with live bands under the pseudonym of the Performing Arts Committee.

The bassist also advises watching for a band called Final Cause in the fall, citing the group's "very peculiar technology." The places to look, she adds, tend to be Leverett. Adams and Quincy Houses.

"Different Houses have different philosophies" about the type of band they will hire to play at a dance, she says, adding, "the bands don't initiate--they really just have to wait" for the various House Committees to express interest.

"Speedy and the Castanets grew--they're getting better with practice," says Darden, adding that "Jane's Parents are just good."

But the major problem, according to Patell, is that playing in a band, any band, "has to come second to everything else--it's hard in this environment to keep something serious going."