SophiaReinhardt

Bringing school spirit and energetic music to the stands of basketball games is Marian’s very own pep band. 

Pep band consists of a smaller band that sits in the bleachers during a basketball, football or volleyball game to play live music and school fight songs. 

Until last year, Marian had not had a pep band since 2016. But this year, the pep band played during games at Marian on Feb. 6 and 13, as well as joining the Creighton Prep pep band on Feb. 16.  

Mrs. Stephanie Dickes, instrumental music teacher and Fine Arts Chair, enjoys getting to “bring energy to the gym,” she said. “It’s fun to be able to bring energy through songs that the girls know and can sing along and dance to,” Dickes said. 

Some of the songs played this year include: “That’s What You Get” by Paramore, “The Best of Both Worlds” by Miley Cyrus, “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley and Marian’s fight song “All Hail.”

Pep band was able to return to basketball games this year because of student interest and more band members than they have had in the previous few years. “If students want to do it, then it is a lot of fun,” Dickes said. “It is a big student-led initiative to have a pep band.” 

Without the students wanting to do band, there would most likely not be a pep band at all.

Senior Hannah Butler, bassist, clarinetist and saxophonist, loves participating in pep band because “it helps [the teams] by bringing live music to an arena, which has a big impact to those around,” she said. 

Butler is a strong believer that live music can also bring emotion to the people around it. “It’s fun being able to engage in school spirit while playing music,” Butler said. “I think it also makes the student section feel more lively,” she said. Students often chime in singing along, causing lots of excitement and high energy in the crowds.

“It can be hard to have a pep band since we do not have as big of a band as the public schools,” Butler said. 

Where some of the bigger public schools have 50 or more people in their bands, Marian has only 16 band members. “But it’s still fun when we can make it work with everyone’s busy schedules,” she said. 

Dickes and Butler both agree that pep band is a great way to encourage band visibility. “It’s exciting to show off instrumental talent in our school,” Butler said. 

“Not as many people know about the band so we can show them what we do,” she said. 

Band students get only a few opportunities during the year to perform for the student body. “It is a great way to show how much fun we have playing music,” Dickes said. 

Although the pep band’s season ends with the winter sports season, there is hope to keep it going in the future.