“Pep band is fun, but it’s not fun to suck.”
This motto, coined by pep band director junior Hank Prim, has guided the band through its journey from lesser-known campus club to its current standing as one of the most widely-recognized and appreciated ensembles at Hillsdale College.
According to junior Conor Woodfin, assistant director of the pep band, the group had only 15 students in fall of 2013. Nevertheless, after two years of consistent growth, the band now boasts more than 30 members and has its sights set on reaching 50 before spring of 2017.
The band charges up the crowd at Hillsdale basketball and football home games with classics like Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” as well as new additions like Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” and Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling.”
“One of the biggest improvements we’ve made this year is our new music selections,” alto saxophone player sophomore Brant Cohen said. “Conor Woodfin has put in a lot of work to find us relevant pieces to play.”
In addition to selecting music to purchase, Woodfin personally transposes some pieces for each of the 10 instruments in the band.
While transposing music is time-consuming, Woodfin said he enjoys the task — plus, it saves the pep band money.
According to Woodfin, the pep band has nearly doubled its music collection over the past two years.
“We’ve really wanted to focus on playing relevant music,” Woodfin said. “We have plenty of cliche pep band pieces, so most of our new additions are songs immediately recognizable from pop culture.”
Students attending football games this year may have recognized new pieces like Fall Out Boy’s “Light ‘Em Up,” Avicii’s “Hey Brother,” and Fun’s “Some Nights.”
The changes made in music selection have resulted from a shift in members.
According to Prim, the band lost one-third of its members when the class of 2014 graduated.
“We were essentially sent back to square one in the fall of 2014,” Prim said. “It was my first year as director, and there were only 10 of us. Some of us had fewer than three years of experience playing an instrument.”
Prim and the other members of the band immediately focused on recruitment.
“We set up a stand at the Source and sent out emails to the music department, but we definitely found the most success through word of mouth,” Prim said. “We wanted to recruit as many underclassmen as possible to ensure that when a class graduated, the pep band wouldn’t be gutted again.”
By the spring of 2015, the band doubled to more than 20 members, the majority of whom were well-experienced performers involved in a number of other ensembles on campus — students like sophomore Dean Sinclair, whose band August Hotel has frequently played at Hillsdale events.
“I joined pep band because I love the style of music we play,” Sinclair said. “And it’s the only ensemble on campus that gets you an audience, but doesn’t make you wear a tux.”
The pep band’s appreciation of informality, however, does not result in a lack of quality.
“Everyone in pep band is really invested in the band’s success,” junior trombone player Shaine Timmins said. “Everyone wants to be there and wants to sound great.”
The band’s improvements have allowed the group to gain an excellent reputation on campus.
“We’ve started being invited to official school pep rallies and other events,” Cohen said. “It’s really encouraging to see us gaining ground like that.”
“We’ve had a number of people, from parents of athletes to referees, even Dr. Arnn himself, approach us after games just to tell us how much we’ve improved over past years,” Prim added.
The band is grateful for the appreciation.
“We’re really proud of how far we’ve come in the last two years,” Prim said. “As we keep growing and improving we need to remember that we’re just a group of fun people, playing fun music, having a fun time.”
