They started in the band room by socializing and getting their instruments ready. Mr. Birdall casually tuned the woodwinds to A and then the brass to Bb. That was that and we went on over to the game. The Star-Spangled Banner was incredible! The arrangement was simple and reverent. There were some great ornaments for brass at the end. The band seemed very disciplined. They all wore white tee-shirts and looked sharp.
The instrumentation of the pep band was different from my pep band in Polson. They had a barry, a few tenors, some altos, a bass clarinet, and some trombones. Their three trumpets seemed to project well enough. They also had some big bass trumpets that I had never seen before. Their ten clarinets, ten flutes, and a piccalo were hard to hear any of them over the brass section. They had five bass drums, four marching snares, and a trap set. I would have liked to see some tubas, more trombones, and a bass guitar, but I know you can't have everything.
The repertoire was pretty standard. Mostly pop tunes from the 60's and 70's with the pep band classics mixed in. I thought Mr. Birdall was very organized with a little flip-chart that cued the band for each song. They had a few contemporary pop tunes that they played during half-time, but I definitely could have done without the Lady Gaga. I would have liked to see a few more modern tunes and maybe even some funk and jazz. Mr. Birdall could be busting out his own instrument as well to add to the energy of the group. Overall, an impressive group that was fun to watch and hear.
Great observation!
ReplyDeleteUsually pep bands are volunteer, so instrumentation is sometimes left to chance. KB has a huge marching band, so it probably isn't too difficult to have a pretty good-sized band.
Normally the pep band ranks fairly low on the list of priorities for a music program--not in terms of performance quality, but in terms of time spent refining difficult arrangements. So it is typical to use easy arrangements of pop tunes that sound good right out of the gate.
Bozeman has 2-3 games a week for approximately 8 weeks, so it is a time consuming venture for the KB. He may not feel up to performing with the group that often...maybe I will ask him sometime.
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