An Introduction to Tau Beta Sigma

Tau Beta Sigma National Honorary Band Sorority provides service to collegiate bands, encourages the advancement of women in the band profession, and promotes and enriches an appreciation of band music through recognition, leadership development, and education of its members.

Be it known that Tau Beta Sigma, National Honorary Sorority for members of the college band, is an organization operating exclusively in the field of the college and university bands, for the following purposes:

1. To promote the existence and welfare of the collegiate bands and to create a respect and appreciation for band activities and achievements among the listening public everywhere.

2. To honor outstanding members of the band through privilege of membership, in the Sisterhood, extended in recognition of musical achievement, demonstrated leadership, and an enthusiastic approach to band activities.

3. To develop leadership through active participation with the band, and through it, to strengthen those traits of conduct, thought, and idealism which characterize the responsible membership of the band.

4. To encourage a close relationship between collegiate bands and promote a high average of attainment by the performance of good music and selection of worthwhile projects.

5. To provide a meaningful and worthwhile social experience for all engaged in collegiate band work, and to cooperate with other musical organizations and societies in every manner consistent with our mutual purposes and those of the institution at which chapters are located.

Tau Beta Sigma operates primarily as a student service and leadership recognition society whose chief aim is to assist the directors in developing the leadership and enthusiasm that they require of their band. Our goals are not only to provide the band with organized and concentrated service activities, but to give our membership valid and wholesome experiences in organization, leadership, and social contacts. The honorary nature of membership is based on our premise that “it is an honor to be selected to serve”—this band, its department of music, its sponsoring institution, and the cause of band music in the nations colleges and universities.

The Sorority is presently active on more than 125 campuses and since 1946, over 38,000 band students have devoted their efforts to strengthening their band through group and individual service projects. The Sorority’s program of continued service to music has attracted the attention of the best in the American band tradition. We number among our ranks William D. Revelli, Manley Whitcomb, Sigurd Rascher, Paul Creston, and other well-known contemporary composers, conductors and music educators.

Through its commissioning program, the Sorority has presented such noted works as Francis McBeth’s The Seventh Seal, Claude T. Smith’s Symphony #1 for Band, Fisher Tull’s Prelude & Double Fugue, and Alfred Reed’s Hymn Variants.

On the local level, chapter responsibilities include concentrated service activities as well as providing the intangible items of morale, spirit, enthusiasm, atmosphere, and attitude within the band. As noted in the Preamble of our Constitution and as charged in much of our Ritual, the cultivation and maintenance of an agreeable and enthusiastic attitude is mandatory for all of our members, and this serves to foster the wholesome and cooperative spirit that each director wants for his/her band.

The actual petitioning process and colonization period are designed to make sure that the student membership is ready to render valid service to their band, as well as for the director and administration to determine if this is the type of organizational activity that is needed in the band program. There is a colonization period of about one year in which we, the director and students, all have an opportunity to assess any programs the group undertakes. The services of the National Headquarters and any of the surrounding chapters are available to petitioning groups at all times for advice, suggestions, and assistance during this period to insure adherence to our goals.

The educational value to the student of participation in a smaller group’s activities cannot be overemphasized. Experience in planning, organizing, and carrying through projects to benefit the larger band organizations is necessary if a well-rounded and responsible student leader is to be trained. The fraternal group, embodied by our active Sorority chapter, provides this needed training ground for the student by establishing both worthy goals and worthwhile dynamics for a meaningful college experience.

Membership in Tau Beta Sigma thus becomes an educational and service activity as well as a social one. And it is this kind of endeavor that enriches the band student’s life and sharpens an appreciation for both the best in music and what it takes to achieve it. It is to this end that our National society is dedicated, and we cordially invite your participation in this effort.

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