Editor’s Note: This story is an expanded digital version and was originally published in the fall 2025 print edition of The Daily Campus.
It may be cold and gloomy with the potential for rain, but Marion Dunlap and the other members of the Mustang Band still play their instruments loud and proud as prospective families walk throughout SMU’s campus.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Mustang Band has played in unfortunate weather. For both the ACC Championship and the College Football Playoffs games this past year, the band played in freezing, negative-degree weather. But no matter the weather, the Mustang Band plays on.
Mustang Band Videographer Nathanial Ntuk shared his experience with stormy weather, yet the band keeps marching.
“At Penn State, we were cold, but we always have to play at least one tune,” Ntuk said.
The Mustang Band is the pride and spirit of SMU. Since its founding in 1911, the Mustang Band has been at the root of the SMU community, being at every home football game, move-in, and other school events.
Dunlap graduated in May 2025 and was the drum line captain. As a third-generation band member, Dunlap didn’t just join the band, she inherited it, growing up immersed in its traditions. By the time Dunlap got to SMU and joined the Mustang Band, she already knew the words to ‘Varsity’ from having sung it in the stands as a kid.
“Her grandfather on her dad’s side was in the band, and her parents met in the band,” Ntuk said. “She has been raised with band history.”
Ntuk, a recent SMU Law and undergraduate alumnus, has been a part of the band for the past seven years. It’s shaped his college experience and has kept him connected to the university through every stage of his academic journey. Ntuk is making a documentary about the Mustang Band and how important the band is to SMU’s history, including the people.
Things have changed a lot since Dunlap was a kid. Since SMU joined the ACC, the band has grown to 125 members, making it the largest number of band members in the band’s history. Now more than ever, more eyes are on the Mustang Band. But no matter how much the band grows, its traditions are woven into the foundation of the band.
“It feels like we’re more on a national stage. More people are looking at us, but at the same time, I’ve heard stories from my parents about traditions and things that they had done, and those have still stayed consistent even now,” Dunlap said. “The fact that we’ve been able to grow so much in size and what we do, but also keep some of those same things consistent that make us who we are, is really special to me.”
There truly is no other band in the nation quite like the Mustang Band. As part of his research for the Mustang Band documentary, Ntuk has looked into other university bands across the country. Compared to other Big Ten schools and other conferences, the Mustang Band is the only one that still keeps to its tradition of playing Jazz.
“The Mustang Band is unique because we play jazz on the field,” Ntuk said. “We were the first band to play jazz on the field back in the 20s.”
More than a hundred years later, the Mustang Band is still keeping to its tradition of playing jazz.
One of the consistent traditions that is specific to the band and has stayed the same is the post-game concert, the singing of “Shanty Town.”
“Shanty Town is a song that we sing at the end of every game. There is a specific set of lyrics that have been played since the university was founded,” Dunlap said. “It’s really cool because people who graduated from literally any year come back and sing it. We’ve had alumni from the forties come back and sing that song, and the lyrics are the same.”
One of the core traditions that the Mustang Band does every year is the name test. During the first week of band rehearsals, everyone has to learn each other’s first and last names, year and the instrument they play.
Band director Charles Aguillon has played a key role in evolving the band’s sound and spirit while keeping its deep-rooted traditions alive. He says the band strives for everyone to know each other’s names.
“We strive at the end of those first five days that everybody knows everybody’s name in the group. Every night we practice and we go through everybody to start memorizing everybody’s name,” Aguillon said. “When you come up to somebody and you can tell them hello and their name, it’s so much more powerful and more of a connection than just coming up and saying hi to someone.”
The unique thing about the band is that a lot of its bonding rituals tie into its traditions. One of these traditions that keeps the band such a tight-knit community is the tradition of freshman brothers.
“Everybody that’s in your freshman class is your freshman brother and you’re supposed to protect them,” Dunlap said. “They can do no wrong, so you’ve got to stick up for them. It sort of builds that sense of camaraderie within the larger group.”
The freshman brother tradition creates bonds that last far beyond college. Dunlap and her family are living proof that freshman brothers go a long way.
“Their [Dunlap’s parents] friends from the band are still in the area and they still come back to watch me. Even when my parents can’t come, their freshman brothers will show up, which is so special for me,” Dunlap said. “They call themselves my ‘Mustang Band Aunts and Uncles’ because they’re all just that close.”
This level of friendship and brotherhood doesn’t fade. It only grows and becomes strong over time. Like Dunpal, Ntuk knows these friendships he’s made will carry into the big moments in life after college.
“These are the people who are going to be at your wedding. These are the people that you’re going to have during big moments in your life because they become your best friends, and I think it’s pretty cool,” Ntuk said. “My wedding is probably going to be at least 50% Mustang Band people just because most of the friends I’ve made, especially best friends, have been a part of the Mustang Band.”
The band has its traditions that all members participate in, but within some of the instrumental sections of the band, they have their own unique traditions that help grow camaraderie between the instruments.
The tradition of the ‘Weather Man’ is primarily done by trombone players. Current band members pick a first-year trombone player who will ‘control the weather’ during football games. If SMU is kicking the ball and something goes wrong, the older members will blame the freshman. But this tradition is about more than the typical freshman tease; it’s about defending your fellow freshman brother.
“It’s up to all the other first years to defend that first year. It’s like ‘oh they [a football player on the field] missed that kick, it’s this kid’s fault,’ and they’re supposed to defend their own ‘fresh brother,’ like ‘don’t talk to my freshman brother like that.’ It’s something everybody goes through.”
Trombones aren’t the only ones with their own traditions. The drumline’s tradition is stickers, which Dunlap started two years ago.
“We have this really old equipment case and every time we travel somewhere, we put a sticker on it from wherever we are,” Dunlap said. “ I always make the first year’s go out and find them, and then we vote on them.”
One drumline tradition is the fountain walk through campus during move-in. This is their first big performance of the semester. The drumline will walk through campus and perform songs from inside the fountains on campus, wearing Hawaiian shirts.
“The first week of move-in, we’ve been here a week practicing, so we perform everything for the first time with our new drum line when everyone is moving in,” Dunlap said. “We hop in the Dallas Hall fountain, the Meadows fountain, the Laura Lee Blenton fountain, and we’ll play in them. That’s a lot of fun because it gives us something to work towards throughout the week.”
Another longstanding tradition is the beanie. Everyone in the Mustang Band gets a beanie hat that they write their names on, and they always keep it on their person. It’s something that all Mustang band members, past and present, share in common.
Alumni will often ask current band members to see their beanie as a way of connecting. Most alumni preserve their beanies and wear them for special events, while others take their beanies everywhere with them.
“There was one guy who was stationed in Iraq; he did three tours in Iraq. There’s this fun trivia fact that the furthest beanie is in the Persian Gulf because there’s a photo of him that he wanted to take a picture to send to his SMU friends. He was on a boat and the wind blew, and it went into the water,” Dunlap said. “That’s just a cool fact. Even though he was in the military, he thought to bring that with him. It just really shows how connected we all are and how special the band is that he would think to bring it.”
There is a sense of pride for SMU students when they hear the band play the ‘Varsity’ and it’s something the band feels to play ‘Varsity’ for SMU. Every time the band plays ‘Varsity,’ every Mustang, past and present, knows what it is and holds their ‘Pony Up’ high and proud.
As Dunlap reflects on her time in the Mustang Band and how this experience has been life-changing, she said she’s proud to have been part of what makes the band what it is today.
“I feel like I can leave knowing that we made a difference in the program, that we made a mark,” Dunlap said. “Now we’re ready to hand it off to the next person.”
