Pep Band

I write this as I sit in my school gym at a basketball game. No, I'm not a spectator, I'm not here for the game. I'm here in the band. I sit here thinking about posts I can write, and what better to write about than what I'm doing right now? 

A pep band is the band that comes to the sports events and plays music during time-outs and half time, as well as between quarters and before and after the game.  Our job is to pep up the crowd, and get them to have even more fun. Hence the name, pep band. 

We don't play our traditional band music. We are given flip folders of music and are expected to turn them in at the end of the night. This folder is our lifeline. We don't get a chance to practice them, except for the approximate hour we have before we go into the gym. The music is more current and well known pieces, which makes it more fun for the crowd to listen to. They actually recognize the music, which helps to get them pepped up. This also helps with us not being able to practice it that much. We can recognize the tune, which makes it easier. 

A major aspect of a pep band is the drumline. They play cadences, which is a tune played only on the drums. This is my favorite part.  In my opinion, they have more energy and just sound clean and sharp. It could be that I know the percussionists and how rowdy they can be, and that's where I get the energy, but I love it. From watching the crowd, they do too. We hear the crowd and fellow students yelling props to the drummers all the time. They love it. 

The two sporting events we go to are football in the fall, and basketball in the winter. At football, we don't play often, but part of that is that we don't get many opportunities. We are on the field at halftime, and there isn't a real break for us to play in otherwise. At basketball, we are usually able to play our whole folder aat least once, sometimes having to reseat a couple of our favorites. There isn't much other entertainment when the clock is stopped, so we fill in the gaps. 

The band works hard to put together a pep band. It may not seem like we do a lot, but playing music in the spot is difficult. Sometimes, even though our job is to engage the crowd, we don't get appreciation. We are just taken for granted. Next time you hear the pep band and it makes you bob your head or tap your foot, make it a point to thank the band when you get a chance. We love having the praise.