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125 Celebrating
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Volume 126, No. 34
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
1891
2016
Who killed No. 5?
Popular trombone routine cut due to cost, safety NEWS
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CSU looking for answers after Border War PAGE 8
Trombone players perform with the Presidential Pep Band during Friday Night Lights in downtown Fort Collins.
PHOTO BY TONY VILLALOBOS MAY COLLEGIAN
By Tatiana ParafiniukTalesnick @tatianasophiapt
Due to overwhelming cost of instrument damages, growing concerns for safety and suspicion of hazing, Trombone No. 5, formally known as Trombone Suicides, will no longer be performed by the Colorado State University Marching Band. Trombone No. 5 is a routine performed by the trombone section of the CSU Marching Band in which trombone players line up shoulder-to-shoulder and alternate swinging their instrument and ducking. If band members fail to time themselves correctly, they can be smacked by a band member’s instrument
in the back of the head or in the face. It is popular among audiences who watch them, but more so among those who perform them. “I actually came to CSU to do No. 5,” said Kaelin McDonald, a former CSU marching band trombone player and part of the graduating class of 2016. “I saw the routine first being performed when I was a sophomore in high school. I saw that (routine) and I was like ‘no no no, I’m going to CSU, forget everything else, forget academics, forget everything, that’s what I want to do.’ So I did.” On August 15, the Marching Band was informed they would no longer be performing the routine that had been a staple of the band since the Trombone sec-
tion created it in 1995. The official statement and student suspicion The official statement on the issue cited safety concerns. “The marching band faculty and the director of the school of music, theater and dance, had reviewed some concerns about the safety of students in the band routine known as Trombone No. 5,” said Gary Ozzello, the Colorado State University vice president for external relations. “We’re always cognizant of any and all safety concerns and continually review anything related to our program to address any issues, so as a result we have made the decision to suspend performances of this routine.” According to emails ob-
tained by the Collegian through Colorado’s Open Records Act, Dan Goble, director of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance (SoMTD), Rebecca Phillips, director of bands, and Richard Frey, associate director of bands, agreed to use the word “suspend,” but that the word “does not leave the door open for a return to No. 5.” But, the students, alumni and especially band members, were not satisfied with the answer of safety concerns. “I feel like they’re using injuries for a bigger scapegoat that they don’t want to talk about,” McDonald said. McDonald graduated last May, and while at CSU she marched for the band for three
years. She was part of the trombone section, making her a “Bruce.” CSU trombone players guard why they call themselves “Bruces” – but how they feel about their lost routine is no secret. After she first saw the routine performed when she was a sophomore in high school visiting Colorado from New Mexico for a band competition, McDonald decided CSU was her school of choice. Attending a school out-ofstate to perform a routine may sound extreme, but this is not an unusual amount of enthusiasm for the routine. In fact, many students decide, or at least are heavily influenced, to attend CSU for see ROUTINE on page 4 >>