Texas A&M alumnus accidentally joins band, says he pretended to play for 4 years

A Texas A&M alumnus has gone viral after claiming he accidentally became a part of the university marching band and pretended to play an instrument for four years.

In a TikTok video posted on Monday, Gerardo Juarez shared an unexpected journey from his undergraduate years.

As a first-generation college student, he admitted to being unfamiliar with the process of preparing for his first semester in fall 2015.

In an attempt to find the most affordable on-campus housing option, Juarez unknowingly selected a hall reserved for the university’s Corps of Cadets, he said in a post.

“I tried choosing the cheapest dorms, not knowing they were the band dorms,” the user explained in the post. “This included doing the Corps of Cadets, which I also didn’t really understand until I got there.”

On-campus housing costs for the 2024-2025 academic year range from about $2,300 to $6,990 per semester, according to the university’s website. However, as a member of the Corps, which is required for band membership, housing costs about $3,300 per semester.

A month before his first semester began, Juarez received an email about orientation for the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band, the nation’s most traveled collegiate marching band, which boasts over 300 members.

“I had only played band in the sixth grade, but it was kind of late to find alternative housing, so I just showed up,” he said in the post.

During the orientation, the directors overlooked Juarez, and he allegedly didn’t have to participate in an audition.

For the next four years, Juarez traveled with the band to various Southeastern Conference (SEC) events, a sports organization that hosts 16 universities and governs student athletics, he said in the post.

Typically, instrumental auditions for Texas A&M University students are before or during the university’s New Student Conference (NSC) which is mandatory for new undergraduate students.

Juarez signed up for the last available NSC date during Fall Orientation Week (FOW), intended to prepare freshman cadets for success in the Corps. When asked if he had auditioned, he was honest about not being approached for it, he said in a comment.

“They told me ‘Someone will come get you throughout the week,’” Juarez said in a post. However, no one ever did.

Band practice and FOW began, and he just rolled with it.

The qualifications needed to pass an audition are strict, requiring both high school playing and marching band experience, according to the Texas A&M website. Prospective cadets are asked to play a prepared piece of music and “demonstrate their sight-reading skills by sight-reading a march.”

If a member passes the audition, it only gets more difficult.

“Some of the band’s maneuvers — such as the four-way cross — are so complex that a computer says they can’t be done because they require two people to be in the same place at the same time,” the university states on its website.

Juarez’s ruse remained unnoticed for a while. But eventually, his friends realized he wasn’t playing, he said in a post.

“You’re not allowed to talk at all as a freshman,” Juarez said in a comment. “My buddy next to me figured it out sometimes freshman year, and then the rest of my buddies. It was funny at that point.”

Social media users were baffled by Juarez’s story, asking how he managed to get away with faking his instrumental skills for multiple years.

In response, Juarez told users it was “easier than you’d think” since the band plays “military marching songs.”

“The marching band is basically follow the leader,” Juarez said in a comment. “I was one of hundreds.”

Other TikTok users praised Juarez’s stubborn–but impressive–perseverance, with one commenting, “As a band kid, this is honestly kind of epic.”

As for his family’s reaction to his accidental band membership, Juarez posted: “I am the first in my entire extended family to go to college. No one knew what was going (on). My parents asked zero questions.”