The Gold Star Marching Band or also known as "The Pride of North Dakota" is the marching band of North Dakota State University. It is a non-auditioned band (with the exception of the battery section), open to all majors. With approximately 160 members, the band is one of the largest organizations on campus.
About the GSMB
The GSMB does pregame and halftime performances for the NDSU Bison Football team in the Fargodome. The band usually plays seven shows a year including all football games and sometimes one away game, marches the homecoming parade, and does a handful of other performances at NDSU and in the Fargo-Moorhead area. The GSMB has also performed at the Minnesota State Fair in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022 marching in the Sunday parade. The band also visited Ireland over the years for a trip, as well as joining the football team in Frisco, Texas for the FCS National Championship games.
Rehearsal
The GSMB practices Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays form 4:00-5:45pm, and Saturday morning rehearsals on game days. When the band can't practice outdoors, they practice inside Festival Concert Hall in the Reineke Fine Arts Center. When the band is outdoors, they practice on Dacotah Field or a soccer practice field on the west side of the outdoor track complex. The GSMB usually does not regularly practice in the Fargodome, only on game day mornings and days when the dome does not have a prior event.
Game Day
Game Day starts with mandatory section breakfasts at 6 AM. All band members are then present for morning rehearsal at the Fargodome. After morning rehearsal the band has a later call time to be in the atrium of the music building. At call, all sections are accounted for and uniforms inspected. The band then goes outside to start the march over. The march over is a seven or so block parade-style march from the Reineke Fine Arts Center, through the heart of NDSU's campus, up to the Fargodome.
Once at the dome, the band performs a pregame show consisting of a field run-on entrance, a fanfare to different sides of the stadium, On Bison while marching down the field, a trio of patriotic songs (Battle Hymn of The Republic, Sousa Medley, You’re a Grand Old Flag/America the Beautiful}, while forming the shape of a star. The band plays the NDSU alma mater The Yellow and The Green and directly after the song the stadium announcer proclaims "We ARE the Pride of North Dakota!". The band then forms "NDSU" while playing Fight Song and forms "BISON" facing the student section side of the dome. The band marches towards the team entrance, forms a tunnel for the team to run out, and plays On Bison as the team runs out. When the lights come back on, the band plays the Star-Spangled Banner, and exits the field by the opposing team's locker room.
The band stands in the south end-zone directly next to the student section(s). The band then performs a show at halftime, and returns to the stands for the conclusion of the game.
Instrumentation
The Gold Star Marching Band (GSMB) currently includes: 4 Drum Majors Baton Twirlers Piccolos Clarinets Alto Saxophones Tenor Saxophones Mellophones Trumpets Trombones Baritones Sousaphones Cymbals Snare Drums Tenor Drums Tom Drums Bass Drums Front Ensemble Color Guard
History
The Gold Star Band owes much of its existence to a personal tragedy. In Spring 1903, Clarence Simeon Putnam, a local Fargo doctor, watched his downtown Fargo medical practice burn to the ground - five days after his insurance had lapsed. Essentially out of a job, Putnam landed a position teaching arithmetic at North Dakota Agricultural College (would eventually be known as North Dakota State University). While the next set of events is not entirely clear, a need arose for leadership of NDAC's ROTC band. Putnam, a cornetist, found himself in charge of 14 members known as the "Cadet Band" on April 14, 1903.
While the band regards the first full year of Doc Putnam's association with the band (1904) as its "birthday", student newspaper references indicate a band existed as early as 1901. In Fall 1902, Claude Nugent, Secretary of the college, and Harry M. Rudd, a local musician, purchased instruments from a local farmer with the intention of creating an NDAC band. Rudd directed the band in some capacity until April 1903 when C.S. Putnam took over.