Alumni to Return To Help Celebrate Band's 55th Year

The Harvard University Band is having its 55th birthday party this weekend, and over 200 alumni bandsmen and their families are returning to Cambridge to join in the celebration.

The anniversary concert Friday night in Sanders Theater will open the festivities. Both the concert and marching bands, with help from the alumni, will perform under the direction of conductor Thomas G. Everett.

Big Bass Drum

Leroy Anderson '29, the band's first full-time student conductor, will be back to play the big bass drum. The concert band will also play one of Anderson's original works.

In addition to the drum, the concert will feature the world's second-largest tuba, standing seven and one-half feet tall and weighing 200 pounds.

All Join In

Returning bandsmen will march in Saturday morning's parade through Harvard Square and play during the halftime show of the Harvard-Penn football game.

George L. Russell '75, the band's manager, said yesterday, "Like many other organizations, we depend heavily on alumni for support. The last reunion in 1969 was a bust, so we want to make this one a lot of fun."