The Trojan Marching Band (TMB) appeared under the stage lights earlier this year with band members performing at both the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards as well as sports shows, news programs, a game show, a sitcom and a movie soundtrack.
At the 81st Academy Awards on Feb. 22, 50 percussionists performed with Hugh Jackman and Beyonce Knowles during a tribute to the recent rise of musicals. The USC Drumline joined the stars at the conclusion of the medley for “Top Hat,” “Mamma Mia” and other famous musical numbers. Just two weeks earlier, 32 band members performed “15 Step” live with Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Johnny Greenwood at the 51st Grammy Awards.
The TMB also worked on several television projects that aired in early 2009. On Super Bowl Sunday, the band was part of a special sports-themed episode of ABC’s reality game show “Wipeout” that ran counter to postgame of Super Bowl XLIII.
In January, Trojan band members got their chance to be extras as they portrayed the fictional Arizona Tech Fighting Hens Marching Band in an episode of the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” titled “Three Days of Snow,” which aired on Jan. 19. Clarinetist Jonathan Meyer, joined by 24 other band members, serenaded Lily (played by actress Alyson Hannigan) with a rendition of “Auld Lang Syne” as she and her husband are reunited at the airport.
And with the Trojan football team once again near the top of the college football world, the band made appearances this past fall on a few sports programs including NFL Network’s “College Football Now,” the ESPNU sports talk show “The Herd” and FSN’s “Lexus Gauntlet LIVE.” The band was also profiled for an entire segment of KTLA’s football-themed “5th Quarter.”
And hear those young musicians on-screen backing up Bernie Mac and Samuel Jackson in the movie “Soul Men”? They were actually playing music recorded by TMB musicians at Capitol Records in December 2007.
For more information about the Trojan Marching Band, visit http://www.uscband.com/.
