Julia Garrison
News Editor
The Scot Marching Band and the Pipe Band performed a combined concert in McGaw Chapel on Nov. 24 to close out the fall semester’s outdoor season. The bands honored their 15 seniors and played selections from their stand tunes and halftime performances. Donning Wooster’s signature MacLeod in kilts and capes, the marching band was conducted by their three drum majors: Elizabeth Kotora ’25, Anna Puster ’25 and Ben Rozner ’27.
The concert opened with the voice of the Scot Band, Matthew Baumiller ’25, who announced the ensembles and the songs performed. The pipe band played first, offering performances of two 2/4 time marches: “The Brown Haired Maiden” and “The High Road to Gairloch.”
After the pipe band’s performance, the marching band entered and joined the pipe band to play their pregame routine, including “Are You From Wooster?”, “Score Wooster” and “Black & Gold,” all composed by professor emeritus and former band director Stuart Ling.
After the marching band’s pregame routine, the pipe band played another set that included a slow march (“Highland Cathedral”) and a jig (“Paddy’s Leather Breeches”).
The marching band then played a compilation of their stand tunes, including dances and cheers, all done “with a brick,” a tradition passed down from senior trombone player and section leader Ryan Yonek ’25 to Henry Walter-Wilde ’27. The WOO brick, a tradition within the Scot Marching Band, has been passed down through trombone players since at least the early 1990s as a part of stand tunes and in-game cheers to hype up the crowd. The brick is carried in a tartan bag with a label referring to the brick as a “cheering prop.”
One of the stand tunes included “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” –– with modified lyrics to match the rules of a football game. Other songs in the medley included “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin and “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes.
The band then played their halftime show, which highlighted the music of composer John Williams. The band opened with “The Imperial March” from “Star Wars,” moving into the “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” from the 1984 Olympics. The finishing number was a medley of “Main Theme” from “Star Wars” and “Fanfare” from “E.T.”
After another short set from the pipe band, the bands combined for one last time to play “Exit Scotland,” filling McGaw with the sounds of brass, woodwinds, percussion and bagpipes on their final note. The concert ended after little over an hour of music and entertainment, and seniors congratulated one another on their accomplishments during their time as musicians at Wooster.