The Spirit of Gold Marching Band is the collegiate

marching band A marching band is a group of instrumental musicians who play while marching. Historically they were used in armed forces and many marching bands remain military bands. Others are still associated with military units or emulate a military sty ...

organized by

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

Membership

A unique feature of the Spirit of Gold is that membership in the marching band is open to all students enrolled at Vanderbilt as well as students from other colleges in the Nashville area. This includes Belmont, Lipscomb,

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, Vol State and Nashville State. This does not apply to

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

as they already have their own marching band, the

Aristocrat of Bands Tennessee State University's marching band is known as the Aristocrat of Bands (AOB). History The band, much like the stage band of the time known as the Jazz Collegians of Tennessee State University, were primarily student led organizations whe ...

, nor to

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

who re-started their marching band in 2020 after a long hiatus.

Performances

Football

The band forms the core of the

student section A student section or student cheering section is a group of students, student fans that supports its school's student athlete, athletic teams at spectator sport, sporting events; they are known for being one of the most visible and vocal sections o ...

at intercollegiate football games hosted by Vanderbilt at

FirstBank Stadium FirstBank Stadium (formerly Dudley Field and Vanderbilt Stadium) is a football stadium located in Nashville, Tennessee. Completed in 1922 as the first stadium in the South to be used exclusively for college football, it is the home of the Vander ...

and performs at all

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's teams), 14 of which compete at the National ...

home football games, as well as one away game per season and any post-season games. The Spirit of Gold works with the Office of the Dean of Students to coordinate the band's performances at football games. The band has developed many traditions that help add to the exciting atmosphere of

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

football on game day. For example, the band leads a parade through campus before games and provides music for pre-game and in-game spirit. The band plays the university's fight song, "

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", throughout the game as well. The Spirit of Gold prepares a unique halftime show for every home game, performing from variety of musical genres and eras. Recent performances have featured music from

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Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

Earth, Wind, and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...

, and

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. The last halftime performance of the year is traditionally a completely student-run, student-organized show.

Basketball, Anchor of Sound

During the spring semester, a 50-60-piece pep band is formed for performances at Vanderbilt's men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

basketball games played in Memorial Gym. Members of the Anchor of Sound are divided into two bands, Black Band and Gold Band, each band playing at the same number of regular-season games. The Anchor of Sound, like the Spirit of Gold, travels to any post-season games for both men's and women's basketball. Anchor of Sound performs music similar to that which Spirit of Gold performs.

Additional Performances

In addition to their respective regular-season games, the Spirit of Gold performs at select home women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

games, while the Anchor of Sound performs at select home women's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

games.

Tau Beta Sigma

The Eta Phi chapter of

Tau Beta Sigma Tau Beta Sigma Honorary Band Sorority (, colloquially referred to as TBSigma or TBS) is a co-educational recognition and service sorority for collegiate band members. The sorority, headquartered at the historic Stillwater Santa Fe Depot in Still ...

serves the Spirit of Gold. The co-ed chapter consists of approximately 25 members, and, in 2009, received the Grace and A. Frank Martin Chapter Leadership Award, a biennial award that honors the outstanding chapter in the nation. All members of the Spirit of Gold, regardless of university, are able to seek membership in Eta Phi.

External links

The Spirit of Gold's Website

Notes

{{Authority control Vanderbilt University Southeastern Conference marching bands Musical groups from Tennessee Musical groups established in 1909 1909 establishments in Tennessee