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{"id":1735,"date":"2019-08-25T09:45:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T09:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/?p=1735"},"modified":"2019-08-25T09:45:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-25T09:45:55","slug":"texas-reads-book-chronicles-125-year-history-aggie-band","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/?p=1735&lang=ar","title":{"rendered":"Texas Reads: book chronicles 125-year history of Aggie Band"},"content":{"rendered":"

An appreciation of the 125th anniversary of the Aggie band<\/p>\n

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Fans and former members of the Aggie Band will find plenty of good memories and history in the new 125^{th<\/sup> anniversary edition of The Fightin\u2019 Texas Aggie Band<\/em><\/a><\/strong> by Mary Jo Powell (Texas A&M University Press, $35 hardcover).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n}

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Powell wrote the 100^{th<\/sup> anniversary edition with her late husband Donald B. Powell, who was a member of the band in the 1950s. The new edition includes the earlier material and updates the band\u2019s history with profiles and photos from the last twenty-five years. Two chapters cover the current leadership of director Dr. Timothy B. Rhea and associate director Col. Jay O. Brewer. Another chapter discusses Aggie Band travel and television appearances.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n}

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Powell tells a near-tragic story from the band\u2019s centennial year of 1994 when a Reunion Band of more than 800 former band members joined the Aggie Band on Kyle Field at halftime. As the bands stopped for the presentation of a $1 million check to establish a band endowment, the stadium suddenly went quiet as a Reunion Band member collapsed\u2013Jack Jernigan, Class of \u201956. His heart stopped beating, but he received immediate medical attention and was revived. Jernigan lived another twenty years after his \u201cdeath\u201d on Kyle Field. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The two appendix chapters will be of special interest to former band members. The first appendix lists the band\u2019s directors, associate directors, graduate assistants, drum majors, commanding officers, and band association presidents\u2013from 1894 to the present. The second appendix\u2013covering seventy-two pages\u2013lists alphabetically most of the 10,000 young men and women who have ever marched in the band. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The new edition includes more than 170 photos\u2013with about thirty-five in color, most of those from the past twenty-five years.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Powell writes that \u201cunlike most college bands, the Aggie Band performs a different drill at each performance. Although the same elements and formations\u2026 are often seen from drill to drill, they are combined in a different order each week and the complexity increases.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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She also notes that being a member of the band is a life-altering experience. \u201cBeing in the Fightin\u2019 Texas Aggie Band,\u201d Powell writes, \u201cis a special privilege that no band member ever forgets. Your life is never the same after you have been a member of the finest military marching band in the nation. The friends you make in the Aggie Band are your friends forever.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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More Aggies: Another book due later this fall from Texas A&M Press is The Book of Aggie Lists<\/em> ($35 hardcover), focusing on A&M\u2019s military heritage and its Corps of Cadets. Among the lists are Aggies who served in wars, were decorated, or died in the line of duty. Also, a list of movies with some connection to A&M. The book is scheduled for a December release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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