The Boston College Band made its official debut with 30 members on October 20, 1919 for the Boston College-Yale football game. The groundwork for its establishment was laid by Chemistry professor Robert Parsons, SJ, in partnership with student conductor J. Carey Martin (class of 1921), who initially created a military band comprised of Students’ Army Training Corps members in 1918.
With the appointment of Peter Siragus as director in 1957, the Bands Program gained university administrative oversight. Before that, the Marching Band was largely a student-directed effort. Women were admitted into the band in 1969, predating Boston College’s shift to formal coeducation and the enacting of Title IX by more than a year. By 1970, in addition to numerous women musicians, the Bands implemented a 19-member majorette squad.
Throughout the band program’s history, various ensembles have been created, though not all have survived. Under Sebastian Bonaiuto, BC Bands added the University Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band (known as “SymBa”). Bonaiuto and David Healey (class of 1990), Marching Band Director, are credited with establishing BC bOp! Jazz Ensemble: in 1987, Healey—then an undergrad—and other student musicians had organized a jazz band, and asked Bonaiuto, then an MBA student at BC, to be its director.
As of 2023, the Bands Program reported to the Office of Student Involvement, and encompassed six ensembles with nearly 300 members: Marching Band (1919-), Wind Ensemble (2005-), BC bOp! Jazz Ensemble (1987-), Symphonic Band (1969-), Pep Band (1956-), and Dance Team (1990-). While most members of the Boston College Marching Band were students of Boston College, the Band also had a partner-school program, which incorporated a wide variety of students from Boston-based institutions, including Berklee College of Music, Emerson College, Emmanuel College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Simmons College, Suffolk University, and Wentworth Institute of Technology.
