The Cornell Big Red Pep Band is

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

's student-run pep band that performs primarily at Cornell Men's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

, with frequent appearances at Women's ice hockey, Men's and Women's lacrosse and basketball, and occasional appearances at a diverse array of other events, such as wrestling, soccer, field hockey, building dedications, and other university events.

History

Until 1986, the Big Red Pep Band was a subsidiary of the

Cornell Big Red Marching Band The Cornell Big Red Marching Band is the only corps style marching band (as opposed to a scatter band) in the Ivy League. It performs at all home, and most away, Cornell Big Red football games. In addition, the band has performed at halftime fo ...

, with the Marching Band's Drum Major serving as one of the two conductors, and the Pep Band's Head Manager was simply an elected member of the Marching Band's board. In November 1985, the Big Red Bands voted to make the Big Red Pep Band a separate organization in order for it to secure its own funding, have more independent direction, and cater to members who were not necessarily part of the Marching Band. However, there is still much overlap between the two organizations, with a majority of Pep Band members also being involved with the Marching Band, and the elected Pep Band Head Manager serving on the Marching Band's Board

Beginning in the late nineties, the Pep Band began branching out from playing primarily for hockey games to play at the majority of home men's lacrosse games, numerous basketball games, along with other assorted events. Despite this, the band remains dedicated to hockey, appearing at all home games and a majority of away games.

BRPB Today

Rehearsals and Performances

As of May 2017, the Pep Band rehearses from 4:45-6:00 pm every Monday in the Fischell Band Center during the regular fall and spring semesters. Rehearsals are typically run with each of the two conductors taking turns going over one to two sets of three songs each, with a short break in between conductors. Important announcements are made by the pep band manager during this break. The band performs at sporting events most weekends, with many weekends in the Spring semester containing two or more events in a single day. If the band is scheduled to perform at two conflicting times, the pep band manager splits the group based upon instrumentation and priority points. Those attending less popular events (e.g. Women's basketball) are rewarded with more priority points than more popular ones (e.g. Men's Ice Hockey.) This gives new members of the band a chance to accumulate priority points quickly and helps assure good instrumentation at less popular events.

Board and Conductors

Every December, the Pep Band meets and elects the board for the next calendar year. The positions are: *Manager: responsible for all the logistics for the band, including arranging for accommodations, travel, and tickets for away games, and generally being the band's public representative *Treasurer: responsible for keeping records of band expenditures and formulating budgeting requests in association with the Big Red Bands Alumni Association (BRBAA) and th
Cornell Student Assembly Finance Commission
*Librarian: makes sure copies of music are distributed to all members *Secretary: publicizes Pep Band events and keeps minutes of all board meetings *Historian: takes pictures and otherwise records or maintains information about the band for posterity *Equipment Chair: works alongside the Big Red Marching Band equipment chair to maintain or order instruments for the band In addition, 2 student conductors are elected at the end of each semester to serve for the next semester

Instrumentation

The Pep Band is allocated 51 tickets for home hockey games, and travels with 25 to 41 members to away games. Typical instrumentation for a home hockey game might be as follows : *12 Trumpets *10 Trombones and Baritones *8 Saxophones *6 Flutes *4 Clarinets *2

Mellophone The mellophone is a brass instrument typically pitched in the key of F, though models in E, D, C, and G (as a bugle) have also historically existed. It has a conical bore, like that of the euphonium and flugelhorn. The mellophone is used as the m ...

s *5 Percussionists *3 Tubas *1 Conductor However, instrumentation varies depending on availability of members and how many priority points members have accumulated by attending past performances and rehearsals. Due to the extreme academic pressure inherent to an institution as prestigious as Cornell University and student leadership, participation is purely voluntary without any strict attendance policies or lengthy auditions. Despite (or perhaps because of) this relaxed demeanor, the Big Red Pep Band is acknowledged as one of the best pep bands in college hocke

Music

The Pep Band has a large and diverse repertoire, much of which consists of custom arrangements done by members of the band. This allows the band to go multiple events before it is necessary to repeat songs, and have enough shorter pieces to perform during stoppages in play to last even triple overtime games without repeating. The actual pieces are widely varied, from traditional List of Cornell Songs, Cornell songs such as " Give my Regards to Davy"(the official

fight song A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...

), the Alma Mater " Far Above Cayuga's Waters", and "My Old Cornell", to more modern pieces, such as The Who's "

Pinball Wizard "Pinball Wizard" is a song written by Pete Townshend and performed by the English rock band the Who, featured on their 1969 rock opera album ''Tommy''. The original recording was released as a single in 1969 and reached No. 4 in the UK charts ...

", "Everybody's Everything", " Rock & Roll part 2", "España", " Paradise City", and "

Gonna Fly Now "Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from ''Rocky''", is the theme song from the movie ''Rocky'', composed by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, and performed by DeEtta West and Nelson Pigford. Released in 1976 with ''Rocky ...

". The band is also (in)famous for such shenanigans as mockingly greeting the

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Men's Hockey Team (see Cornell-Harvard hockey rivalry) with '' the theme from 'Love Story''',

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

with " Hail to the Victors," Colorado College with " DU, Rah!,"

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...

with "The Notre Dame Victory March,"

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

with " Anchors Aweigh",

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...

with " Baby Elephant Walk" and

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

with "

On, Wisconsin! "On, Wisconsin!" is the fight song of the Wisconsin Badgers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. A version with modified lyrics is the official state song of Wisconsin. "On, Wisconsin!" was also the cry that Arthur MacArthur Jr. used in the ...

External links

Cornell University Big Red BandsCornell University Big Red Pep Band
{{Cornell Big Red men's basketball navbox Cornell Big Red Pep bands