Generations of Brown Band alumni are coming together on College Hill to celebrate a century of camaraderie and music-making.
Known for its cheeky sense of humor, fun-loving spirit, and playful traditions, the Brown Band turned 100 years old in 2024.
To mark its centennial, the Brown Band alumni community, which spans several generations, is coming together throughout this academic year to celebrate one of the oldest student-led organizations on campus.
It’s been a unique celebration, unsurprisingly—because as most Brunonians know, there’s no band quite like the Brown Band.
Unlike traditional, corps-style marching bands, the Brown Band is a scramble band. Rather than forming intricate, geometric formations, the band “scrambles” across the field, creating pictures that accompany a satirical, humorous script read aloud by an announcer.
And of course, there’s also the iconic Brown Band buttons. For decades, the band has created custom buttons for each football game, emblazoned with quips, inside jokes and pithy catchphrases that lightly rib the rival teams — like “I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is less Cornell,” for the Big Red, “Legally Bland” for the Harvard Crimson, and “Why you always lion?” for the Columbia Lions.
Sean Briody ’19, a former band percussionist, published a book about the Brown Band just before its centennial. In his research, which included interviewing band alumni from the 1950s up through the 2000s, Briody discovered a history of playful pranks, like messing with the opponent by building a 15-foot-tall bass drum for a 1969 game against Harvard, which boasted its own 8-foot-tall bass drum dubbed “Big Bertha” — or the infamous 1973 “Foxboro Four” incident, in which four band members dressed up like news reporters and convinced the Harvard band that they wanted to record news footage of Big Bertha. Instead, they loaded it into the back of a pickup truck and attempted to haul it back to Brown, before getting stopped by Massachusetts State Police halfway down Interstate 95.
“Band alumni always tell great stories,” Briody said. “These are the things that you just don’t find when you’re looking through old Brown Daily Herald issues or old letters from the band. I never would have known about these stories if somebody had not brought them up.”
A Brown student dons a Bruno mascot costume, while the band members in the background are dressed in a different type of costume.
A band member playfully gives bunny ears to former Providence mayor Buddy Cianci, during a Brown football game.
The Brown Band forms an anchor, the symbol represented on Rhode Island's state flag.
The Brown Band, which is currently lead by head conductor Kanayo Duru '25, kicked off its centennial year with a band alumni reunion and performance at the Brown football team’s first home game against rival Harvard, in which the Bears secured a thrilling 31-28 win against the Crimson.
At the September game, nearly 200 band alumni spanning seven decades reunited and joined current band members to perform a halftime show on Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium. With more than 250 participants, it was likely the largest Brown Band performance in history, according to band advisor and percussion coach Karen Mellor, a member of Brown’s Class of 1982 and a former band percussionist.
Brown Band head conductor Kanayo Duru led a procession of more than 250 band members and alumni as they set out to perform the largest halftime show in the band's 100-year history. Photos by Nick Dentamaro/Brown University
A large section of the stadium seats were reserved for the 250 band members past and present who played in the Brown Band's centennial halftime show.
Nearly 200 band alumni spanning seven decades performed in the halftime show during Brown's first home game against rival Harvard, an effort organized to celebrate the Brown Band's centennial.
“It’s the shared experience of band that binds all these people together and enabled over 250 people who hadn’t necessarily ever played together to play together as a single cohesive unit,” Mellor said. “And even for people who’ve never met, they’re all part of the big Brown Band family.”
Later, participants celebrated 100 years of memories, camaraderie, and music during a special gala held at Alumnae Hall.
The Brown Band’s centennial commemorations have continued into 2025. The band’s 55th annual Alumni Ice Show took place at a hockey game against Harvard on March 1—with dozens of alumni spanning generations in attendance. And ever true to its annual tradition, the band will lead a procession through College Hill as part of Brown’s 257th Commencement and Reunion Weekend in May.
“ The band has always been an integral part of so many meaningful moments on our campus, and they have truly enhanced the athletics experience at Brown for our student-athletes, coaches and fans. ”
For members present and past, their hope is that the Brown Band will endure and celebrate its bicentennial in 2124. Jillian Belluck, a senior who plays flute in the band, believes it’s easy to envision the band marching on for another hundred years, singing and playing its traditional songs, making buttons and spreading joy.
“Regardless of who’s in the band, there will always be those core elements: the spirit, the goofiness, the love of music,” she said.
This article is based on and excerpted from the News from Brown story “Marching to the beat of their own drum: Brown Band celebrates 100 years” from November 2024.
The Brown Band is a part of the Brown University Sports Foundation’s Athletics Annual Fund, which helps provide additional funding for expenses like members’ travel to away games. Support the Brown Band with a gift today.